Hi Deena and Harvey, I carry a small Bruce, with rode in a rectangular vented plastic box in my port sail locker. I have a second, Danforth type with rode there too.
My final insurance policy is the small Fortress with chain and rode in the forward compartment under the berth where it's weight does the most good. I know that with the M15 that's vast overkill, but from my big boat days I learned you never can have too many anchors of different types to suite different bottom conditions. One anchor is never enough. What do you do when a powerboat drives across the rode and cuts it? ...or someone trying to anchor close to you manages to wrap your rode around his propeller, leaving you and he to drift around helplessly? No, two anchors are the minimum (each with chain and rode), and a third, if a front blasts through the anchorage at 2 AM with 40 knot gusts, makes sure that you at least stay where you want to stay. When I anchor, (lunch, snooze, bird watching) I just open the sail locker; pull out my Bruce and drop it over the side. There's no need to go forward to drop the anchor. Once the anchor is on the bottom and starts to dig in, the M15 will swing around, bow to wind, and then you can leisurely walk forward and cleat off the anchor rode on the bow cleat. When dropping the lunch hook on my old boat, I did the same. From the cockpit: then walk the rode forward and cleat it off, as the boat slowly pivots into the wind. There is also no law that says you can't anchor with the stern facing the breeze, but this should be reserved for calm conditions, otherwise waves hitting the stern may splash, making for a damp lunch! Connie ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
