T&T: Anchor Size Recommendations

[Nosy 34]

Milt,

You're quite right. The lightweight CQR was a stupid decision made by
committee actually it's heavier than 40 lb, but it's certainly not
100 lb, maybe 60. We have two similarly sized backup anchors.

We're trying to get a Rocna 55, which, as Rudy pointed out on this
list, weighs a lot more than 55 lb, probably 150 lb. We have a good
NZ-made 24V windlass. It has a manual crank backup, hope that works
if we ever need it.

Subic and Olongapo are much quieter now that the US Navy has left,
but there are maybe 50 ships of varying nationalities parked in the
bay, waiting out the recession. The San Miguel is still cold.

On 06 2, 09, at 9:34 PM, Milt Baker wrote:

Rafael,

I do my best not to be judgmental of my fellow captains . . . but a
40-pound CQR on a 50-ton 58-foot trawler blows my mind.  C'mon!  OF
COURSE you dragged in windy weather.

For comparison, my 58-ton (100,000 lb.) 51-foot trawler yacht carries
a 110-lb. Delta and 400 feet of 3/8-inch HT chain, and we sleep very
well at anchor.  I can recall dragging only once in hundreds of nights
of anchoring over the past four years.  Before this boat, my 42-foot,
37,000 lb. Grand Banks trawler carried a Delta 55-lb. anchor for a
dozen years with pretty much the same results.

Maybe if I'd had a Rocna I'd never have dragged at all! ;-)

By my estimate, a 55-pound Rocna--no matter how good it is--is about
half the weight you need.  And after you get a big, hunkin' anchor,
a good, reliable power windlass for dealing with the ground tackle needs
to be next on your list.  Seriously.

One guy's opinion.

--Milt Baker, Nordhavn 47 Bluewater, Hampton, VA

P.S.  I'd love to see Subic Bay again . . . when I was last there in
the 1970s on a Navy ship, the U.S. Navy owned the place and the bar
girls seemed to own the adjacent town of Olongapo.  Besides the
delicious San Miguel, what I remember most is the beautiful sunsets
over the mountains to the west--some of the prettiest I've ever seen!