T&T: anchors

[Jeffrey Siegel]

> We cannot help but think that this may have been the
> reasons that these plow anchors dragged, not the
> design itself.
>

I think that both weight and design come into play.  The general  
desire of an anchor is to get the best holding for the smallest  
weight.  Adding weight will ultimately fix any anchoring problem.

An anchor consisting of a rectangular rock would probably be laughed  
at as an anchor.  It certainly doesn't grab the bottom very well.  And  
yet, my storm mooring is nothing but a big granite rectangular block.   
Weighing 10,000 lbs really helps hold my boat in all situations.  I'm  
not sure I'd want to haul it up and carry it on my bow though.

Correspondingly, my Bruce anchor is 66 lbs and holds in many  
conditions very well.  But drop that Bruce over hard packed sand and  
it can't dig in and does a very poor job.  So in that case, it's the  
design that's at fault.  What's needed is a design that can penetrate  
the hard surface.  Of course, give me a 10,000 lb Bruce anchor and I'm  
pretty sure it'll hold me just fine over packed sand too.


====================================
Jeffrey Siegel
M/V aCappella
DeFever 53RPH
W1ACA/WDB4350
Castine, Maine

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