T&T: Anchor Size Recommendations

[KevinR]

In determining what size anchor to put on a boat, many owners will just use
the size charts put out by the various manufactures and vendors - but what
are these vendor recommendations based on? What wind speed was assumed in
making the recommendation, and will you always be anchoring in winds below
that speed?

When I did a survey on this back in the late-90s, I found that most vendor
anchor size recommendations were only based on a 20 knot wind speed (with
the exception of the Bruce which was specked at a higher wind speed). That
means if you bought into the vendors recommendation, you got fairly minimum
protection - certainly not an anchor that would hold you in a storm.

Of course the vendors had an ulterior motive with the small recommendations.
They were trying to show that their smaller anchors were good for a bigger
boat, and therefore not lose the sale to a competitor!

With this recent anchor thread running, I went back and reviewed my old
notes, and also reviewed current vendor specifications. I found that the
vendors listed below had charts that recommended a specific sized anchor for
various sized boats. The big question is what wind speed was assumed in
making the recommendation. I found:

     VENDOR                  ASSUMED WIND SPEED
    Lewmar CQR                None specified
    Lewmar Delta              None specified
    West Marine               None specified
    Fortress                  30 knots
    Ronca                     50 knots

That data makes using the vendor recommendation size charts a real crap
shoot - except for Fortress and Ronca. It was a pleasant surprise to find
that Ronca was being both very conservative and open with their data, while
Lewmar and WE$t Marine were giving owners really no useful information for
using the size charts.

When I set an anchor for an overnight stay, I want to know that the boat is
definitely going to put though the night. As such, I want to know what wind
speeds the anchors were tested at. Ronca and Fortress were the only ones I
found of the vendors reviewed providing this data.

Kevin
www.BoatMoves.com