T&T: Anchor clone

[Chuck and Susan]

Of course I can't speak for others but I can tell you why the CQR was our
primary anchor for 17 years and in every imaginable bottom. And the reason is
that it set well and quickly, reset well in reversing conditions and would dig
in deeper the harder we or the seas or the wind pulled on the boat. We have
anchored all along the ICW, the Chesapeake, all over Florida and the
Caribbean, oh and the Gulf of Mexico. The Only time the CQR would give us a
problem setting was in grass. And then our back up danforth and Bruce would
not dig in either. So we would have to search for a sandy spot to set it.
Highest winds we dealt with at anchor was 80 knots in the Chesapeake during a
hurricane and 100+ in Florida in a hurricane. In both cases we did have two
anchors out, one a 45 CQR and the other a 35 CQR. And yes it stowed well on
our bowsprit. So that is why it has been our preferred anchor. Chuck

To follow our adventures, go to

http://trawler-beach-house.blogspot.com/

http://sea-trek.blogspot.com/

--- On Thu, 4/23/09, Faure, Marin <marin.faure at boeing.com> wrote:

 

>The farm plow is restricted from burrowing and is curved to roll the
dirt - not what a plow anchor does.


Having been around farm plows some (the horse-drawn kind) and looking
carefully at anchors like CQRs, the plow anchor is basically two farm
plows welded together upside down.  There are some differences in the
blade/fluke shape of course, but essentially it's the exact same idea
only instead of picking dirt up and rolling it over the "upside down
plow" anchor digs itself down into the dirt (bottom).  But of course the
basic "flaw" is that the whole thing is pointed forward and
"streamlined" to move in a forward direction.  Other than its wedging
action, the plow anchor's only resistance to moving forward is its
tendency to dig deeper in.  This obviously works great most of the time
but if it can't dig itself deeper most of its resistance to forward
motion is gone.  As opposed to an anchor with one or more flukes that
end up broadside to the direction of pull (Danforth, spade, etc.).  The
only way they can move forward is to be levered completely out of the
bottom or be inserted in a material so soft that it simply "bulldozes"
the material ahead of it.  It's been interesting to ask the long-time
sailors I've met why the CQR is so popular with the sailboat crowd, at
least in this area (PNW).  The only answer I've ever gotten is that it
was one of the first anchors to stow well on sailboat's bow roller.

The link to the anchoring article that was posted a few messages back is
worth reading.


______________________________
C. Marin Faure