Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 03-01-2021, 04:21 PM   #1
Guru
 
RonR's Avatar
 
City: Everett WA.
Vessel Name: Triton
Vessel Model: 48' Golden Egg Harbor
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 713
Aft Anchor type and size?

Currently we have a Bruce Claw on the bow of the 48' with 300' of chain. On our last boat (33') we had a nice Danforth 22lb? on the bow with 100' of chain and 200' or rode but we also used a 13bl Danforth with 15' of chain 100' of rode on the aft in a few spots to keep from spinning when it got crowded. It held for all but heavy winds if set correctly. My question is what size/ type would you use for an aft anchor on a 48'? And still be able to pull it up by hand if needed? Mostly PNW island hopping.
RonR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2021, 04:34 PM   #2
Guru
 
Nomad Willy's Avatar
 
City: Concrete Washington State
Vessel Name: Willy
Vessel Model: Willard Nomad 30'
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 18,738
Only one choice as you ask.
Fortress.
Tons of holding power and relatively feather weight.
__________________
Eric

North Western Washington State USA
Nomad Willy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2021, 04:34 PM   #3
Guru
 
City: Rochester, NY
Vessel Name: Hour Glass
Vessel Model: Chris Craft 381 Catalina
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 7,538
I'd probably use a decent size Fortress. Something like an FX-37 with a few feet (maybe 10 - 15) of 5/16" G43 chain and then rope after that. Still pretty light for hand hauling, but should be plenty for a stern anchor on that boat. Go up another size and it would be a backup in general.



I'd also assess the sizing of the Bruce and consider if it's adequate and whether you either want to go bigger or for a more modern design up forward.
rslifkin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2021, 05:16 PM   #4
Guru
 
RickyD's Avatar
 
City: Long Beach, CA
Vessel Name: Aquarius
Vessel Model: Californian 55 CPMY
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 719
I have a Fortress 37 for my stern hook on my 55. I have almost too much chain as its getting hard for me to handle so I avoid deploying it. I holds really well. Last deployment I was 90 degrees to a current that was ripping. I was rock solid. Pulling that sucker out of the sand after it was so deeply buried was no fun, but it finally came up. I really thought it was hung up on rocks at first. I'm glad I have a lot of rode to work with as I could let the big boat swing while I was retrieving and not lose control of the end.
__________________
Aquarius 1991 Californian 55 CPMY Long Beach CA
RickyD is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2021, 05:54 PM   #5
Guru
 
healhustler's Avatar
 
City: Longboat Key, FL
Vessel Name: Bucky
Vessel Model: Krogen Manatee 36 North Sea
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 5,196
Agree with Eric. I keep an FX-23 and FX-37 aboard and ready to heave for emergency or stern anchor situations. I once had a power failure while waiting for a drawbridge in a current pushing us toward the bridge. The FX was splashed with short scope and dug-in seconds from the shutdown. Saved us.
__________________
Larry

"When life gets hard, eat marshmallows”.
healhustler is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2021, 06:28 PM   #6
Guru
 
fgarriso's Avatar
 
City: .
Vessel Name: GOTCHA
Vessel Model: Hatteras 58 LRC
Join Date: Jun 2019
Posts: 1,100
Use what ever works for your size and weight of boat, considering conditions.

GOOD LUCK!
__________________
Captain F. Lee - R.P.E.
USCG 200 GT Master
fgarriso is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2021, 06:00 AM   #7
FF
Guru
 
FF's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 22,553
Remember the stern anchor might be use Bahama style and simply recovered over the stern with no winch.

It also needs to be handy enough to pass to a dink, or carry out to get unstuck.

20 H Danforth with 5 ft of coated chain works for many situations.
FF is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2021, 09:56 AM   #8
Guru
 
RonR's Avatar
 
City: Everett WA.
Vessel Name: Triton
Vessel Model: 48' Golden Egg Harbor
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 713
I think the Bruce is a 45lb unit, I think its rated to 50'. It does look a little small compared to others. I just looked up a Fortress, perfect idea, Thank you.
RonR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2021, 10:00 AM   #9
Guru
 
City: Rochester, NY
Vessel Name: Hour Glass
Vessel Model: Chris Craft 381 Catalina
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 7,538
Quote:
Originally Posted by RonR View Post
I think the Bruce is a 45lb unit, I think its rated to 50'. It does look a little small compared to others. I just looked up a Fortress, perfect idea, Thank you.

I'd definitely say a 45lb Bruce is way too small for that boat. I'd consider that too small for my boat at 10 feet shorter. A lot of older anchor designs (Bruce, Delta, etc.) have pretty optimistic size charts based on pretty good conditions / weather.
rslifkin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2021, 10:19 AM   #10
Guru
 
AlanT's Avatar
 
City: Gig Harbor, WA
Vessel Name: MoonShadow
Vessel Model: Wendon Skylounge 72'
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 718
+1 for Fortress.

I had an FX55 as my 3rd anchor and aft anchor on my last sailboat (Hylas 49'). I have the same size Fortress as 2nd anchor and aft anchor on my current 72' Motorboat.

~A.
AlanT is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2021, 10:32 AM   #11
Guru
 
RonR's Avatar
 
City: Everett WA.
Vessel Name: Triton
Vessel Model: 48' Golden Egg Harbor
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 713
Quote:
Originally Posted by rslifkin View Post
I'd definitely say a 45lb Bruce is way too small for that boat. I'd consider that too small for my boat at 10 feet shorter. A lot of older anchor designs (Bruce, Delta, etc.) have pretty optimistic size charts based on pretty good conditions / weather.
So what does everyone recommend for the PNW area then? I see a lot of Bruce/Claw and several hinged Plow style at the marina. We are planning on anchoring out a lot, for fishing and for overnight. It has a Lofrans Tigres 1200w 12v with 300' of 3/8 chain.

And if I was to upsize the bow, would the Bruce work for an aft with say 10' of chain?
RonR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2021, 10:36 AM   #12
Guru
 
City: Rochester, NY
Vessel Name: Hour Glass
Vessel Model: Chris Craft 381 Catalina
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 7,538
The Bruce / Claw types do seem to be better liked in the PNW than most other places. In general, what kind of bottoms do you typically encounter? Personally, I'm using a 73lb Rocna Vulcan, but that choice was driven as much by what would fit in a comfortably large size as it was by performance. But I'm not sure how different the bottoms in my typical anchorages are from yours.



The windlass and chain sound well sized, so it should just be a matter of sticking something bigger on the end.



If you haven't seen the SV Panope videos, it might be worth giving them a look, as they do a good job of showing some of the strong and weak points of various anchor designs.
rslifkin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2021, 10:58 AM   #13
Guru
 
RonR's Avatar
 
City: Everett WA.
Vessel Name: Triton
Vessel Model: 48' Golden Egg Harbor
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 713
PNW is Mud, Sand, Kelp, Rocks. In about that order. Most often we are in Mud in most bays, sand when fishing deep, and rocks when you don't want any.

I do see a lot of fancy plow's most are polished to perfection, so I don't think they are used much. Most that are scarred up are hinged plows or just a Bruce on larger boats.
RonR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2021, 11:00 AM   #14
Guru
 
City: Rochester, NY
Vessel Name: Hour Glass
Vessel Model: Chris Craft 381 Catalina
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 7,538
Quote:
Originally Posted by RonR View Post
PNW is Mud, Sand, Kelp, Rocks. In about that order. Most often we are in Mud in most bays, sand when fishing deep, and rocks when you don't want any.

Any of the newer generation stuff should cope well with that. Really soft mud is the only weak point, but that's pretty much a weak point for anything other than a Fortress / Danforth. And nothing does well in an overly rocky bottom, but some definitely do better than others.
rslifkin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2021, 11:10 AM   #15
Guru
 
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 565
I haven’t seen stern anchors used in the PNW for the purpose the OP describes (to keep the boat from spinning when it gets crowded). The problem with doing that in our relatively deep anchorages (relative to Florida etc) is that the other boats turn together in a wide circle. If your boat doesn’t swing similarly, there could be an unfortunate merger....

I think there’s a place for stern anchors in lieu of a stern tie, where boats are positioned against the shore and everyone is kept in the same attitude.
Spinner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2021, 11:43 AM   #16
Guru
 
Nomad Willy's Avatar
 
City: Concrete Washington State
Vessel Name: Willy
Vessel Model: Willard Nomad 30'
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 18,738
rslifkin wrote;
“The Bruce / Claw types do seem to be better liked in the PNW than most other places. In general, what kind of bottoms do you typically encounter?”

There must be two answers to this question.
1. A light anchor to be deployed and retrieved by hand.
2. A full anchoring system including a winch and chain locker.

And if your immediate response is a lightweight anchor hand deployed my first thread response covers it. Especially if you’ll be only using it in light winds.

But in view of the OP’s boat size (rather large) and if he expects for the stern anchor to perform is 35 knot+ winds w reversals I see a very different ground tackle system. Including an anchor that works well in almost any seafloor.
What kind of winch is the biggest question. And I have an unusual answer. A “reel” winch. Rollers could be arranged to pull well from both side directions. Short scopes and short rodes would probably be part of this system. My favorite anchor (bias possible) would be the well proven ARA SARCA. But it could be most any anchor that works on rocky bottoms, weedy bottoms, soft mud bottoms and anything else you may need to deal with. You will probably have trouble finding an anchor that excels on all three bottoms. But close to the shore the bottom will be the biggest challenge. No anchor will excel. All will be fair or better. But as you pass through average and approach better or excellent you’ll have very few choices. And re excellent you’ll have very few choices.
__________________
Eric

North Western Washington State USA
Nomad Willy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2021, 11:51 AM   #17
Guru
 
RonR's Avatar
 
City: Everett WA.
Vessel Name: Triton
Vessel Model: 48' Golden Egg Harbor
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 713
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spinner View Post
I haven’t seen stern anchors used in the PNW for the purpose the OP describes (to keep the boat from spinning when it gets crowded). The problem with doing that in our relatively deep anchorages (relative to Florida etc) is that the other boats turn together in a wide circle. If your boat doesn’t swing similarly, there could be an unfortunate merger....

I think there’s a place for stern anchors in lieu of a stern tie, where boats are positioned against the shore and everyone is kept in the same attitude.
Think back bay of Port Ludlow, Forward of the original dock at Roach, some tie to shore, we don't. And also when crabbing out of Everett we drop a stern anchor and just tie the pots off to the boat, kick back and enjoy the day without spinning around the pot lines. And it keeps people from poaching out pots. We pay attention, if others are not dropping a stern we don't.
RonR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2021, 12:14 PM   #18
Guru
 
City: Newport, R.I.
Vessel Name: Hippocampus
Vessel Model: Nordic Tug 42
Join Date: Jul 2020
Posts: 3,871
Always used a fortress for that application. Other question is strap or rode? Any chain? How attached? What to use for retrieval?
Nice to be set up for a stern tie to a tree or something else but also get a nice two point set in a river or other setting you don’t want to swing.
Hippocampus is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2021, 12:50 PM   #19
TF Site Team
 
FlyWright's Avatar
 
City: California Delta
Vessel Name: FlyWright
Vessel Model: 1977 Marshall Californian 34 LRC
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 13,728
I use a 17 Danforth as a stern hook on my 34 and also carry a FX-23 and a larger Danforth that formerly served as my bow anchor. (Main bow hook is a 33# Lewmar claw-imitation Bruce).
__________________
My boat is my ark. It's my mobile treehouse and my floating fishing cabin. It's my retreat and my respite. Everyday I thank God I have a boat! -Al FJB

@DeltaBridges - 25 Delta Bridges in 25 Days
FlyWright is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2021, 02:35 PM   #20
Guru
 
boomerang's Avatar
 
City: Kilmarnock VA
Vessel Name: Wandering Star
Vessel Model: PSN40
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 1,393
We have ,for a lunch hook, the same danforth 13S anchor with 6' of 1/4" chain that the OP had on his prior boat as a stern anchor. The darn thing holds wonderfully in most bottoms here on the east coast & honestly, anything larger would become a pain to haul in from and store underneath of the cockpit. I keep the chain & 50' of 1/2" rode in a 5 gallon bucket and the entire setup seems to be perfect for our boat & use.
__________________
-Shawn-
boomerang is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Trawler Port Captains
Port Captains are TF volunteers who can serve as local guides or assist with local arrangements and information. Search below to locate Port Captains near your destination. To learn more about this program read here: TF Port Captain Program





All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:56 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2006 - 2012