I've been anchoring out in Monterey Bay for over a month. I bought an 11 lb Bruce copy at West Marine and I'm using it with 20ft of 1/4 inch chain and 150 feet of rode in about 23 ft of water. After two weeks of dancing around the 3/8 inch rode looked like it had untwisted/retwisted in the middle. The guy at WM didn't think it had been weakened so I didn't replace it but I did add a swivel.
I'm sheltered from the big swells but it's not what I would call a peaceful anchorage. When the breeze picks up the boat dances around a lot. The bottom is heavy sand with some rock outcroppings here and there. I'm now using this ground tackle as a kind of poor man's mooring. I put a 10 lb. mushroom at the end of the chain and attached a 30 ft piece of 3/8 to that with an eye in the end which attaches to the main rode. When I take the boat out I pull the rode up to the eye, detach from it and leave a float tied to the eye. It all seems to be working fine so far. The Bruce copy... http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product/10001/-1/10001/2 39615/10001/212/11206/5 Norm > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of stephen gray > Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2005 20:16 > To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats > Subject: Re: M_Boats: New Boat-what anchor? > > >For most bottom conditions, your Bruce type should work for > > a starter, but I would go to a larger size....say around 11 pounds with > a > > short piece of 1/4" chain and 150' of 3/8 nylon rode. > > Not exactly true...It's less about the weight of the anchor and more about > the system. Never use a SHORT piece of chain. Use one that is properly > sized > for the load of the boat you are anchoring. Any good book on anchoring > will > tell you how to calculate the loads. And, 3/8 is way too stiff for such a > small boat. The goal is for the rode/chain combination to keep the anchor > grounded. Smaller rode (within reason) is always better as it will give > and > take without lifting the chain then the anchor etc. Anchoring is a lost > art > that's worth learning. Even a bad anchor will do amazing feats give the > proper chain/rode and placed at the proper scope. You can get the best > anchor money can buy, but without correct deployment it's worthless. Take > the time to go to the library and get a book or two. It's as important as > knowing how to sail the boat. > > For what it's worth I used the 4 lb. Bruce for a number of years with a > nice > length of chain and lots of scope. Used properly it's all the anchor you > will ever need. > An 11 lb. Bruce on such a small boat is way overkill. Take the difference > in > cost and invest in a good chain and rode. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
