I like the tennis balls on the ends of the FX-7. On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 12:03 PM, Joe Murphy <seagray@embarqmail.com> wrote:
You can't beat Bill's comments for good advice. I have two anchors, a Manson Supreme and a Fortress FX-7. I keep the Manson under the V berth and all the rode in a WalMart hand-basket. It's easy to carry and it drains very well into a slightly larger square plastic bin that stays in the locker. I keep the FX-7 and rode in the port cockpit locker. It is light enough to wrestle in and out of the locker. I put a pair of tennis balls on each end of the anchor to keep it quiet and to prevent scrapes and scratches. All the rode is in a large net bag which in turn sits in a shallow plastic bin. This way the wet rode can sit below without getting water all over. It isn't the easiest thing to flake into the bag but it makes it very simple to deploy. I too drop anchor off the stern and cleat off on the stern cleat. Then I cinch up the throat of the bag a little and walk the bag forward keeping everthing outside of shrouds and rails. I cleat it off on the bow cleat and then walk the bag back the same way I came forward . When I get back to the cockpit I release the anchor line from the stern cleat and let the current/wind do the rest. I cleat off the line from the bag to the stern cleat. This serves as a safety backup and it makes it easy when I pull anchor. When it come time to pull anchor, I go forward and uncleat the line and go back to the cockpit where the bag is and pull everthing back in from the cockpit. Joe SeaFrog M17 PS to all my friends at Wal-Mart.....I promise to return the basket!! ----- Original Message ----- From: Bill Wickett To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Sent: Friday, September 14, 2012 8:16 AM Subject: Re: M_Boats: Anchoring tackle
Daniel,
The Small Craft Skills Academy sounds like it was well put together.
We anchor a lot. Nothing nicer than overnighting at anchor, the hull strakes chuckling at you. As you may know we just did a 2 week trip in August and anchored 13 of 14 nights. The one night at a slip was the last night before hauling out to head home.
Primary anchor is a 5kg (11lb) Simpson Lawrence claw on 10 feet of chain. 2nd is a Fortress FX7 with 10 feet of chain, 3rd is a small folding grapnel (mostly used for a shore line or rock hook). Rode is 100' of 1/2". Have both 3 strand and braid for this. All have an eye splice with a galvanized thimble shackled to the chain.
Chain length is compromise of useful length and size vs weight in the boat and where you are going to store it. Our chain could be longer in an ideal world, but I sleep well with it as is.
Chain works to keep the pull on the anchor horizontal, and in gusts or waves, acts as a schock absorber in the system, lifting slightly off the bottom. As also mentioned it saves some abrasion on the rope section. Rope will lie on the bottom however and eventually chafes a bit at a time.
We keep 100' of line, chain, and the SL Claw in a flexible laundry tote basket with handles. It goes down through the port cockpit hatch okay, and sits on interlocked rubber cockpit tiles that I have lining that locker. When cruising and using it daily, we don't stow it below, just at the forward end of the cockpit, and have put it on the cabin sole as well.
We anchor from the cockpit, port quarter. A couple of the cockpit tiles flapped over the coaming and toe rail allow me to place the anchor over the side and run the chain out through my hands, while protecting the gel coat and wood. Make sure the boat is moving, (aft is good) so the chain lays down in a line
Once the chain is down, one of us walks the rope road forward, paying it out from the basket and lays it in the bow chock we have installed. From there, we pay out whatever length is required and cleat it on the foredeck cleat. The bitter end of the rode has already been fastened to the stern cleat. I am going to remove the 1 center cleat on the foredeck and install 2 larger cleats, one on each side closer to the toe rail. The single cleat has got crowded some times.
Some stainless wire, or narrow zipties through the eye of the shackle pin and around one leg of the shackle secure the pin from backing out. Watch you don't catch your hands if wired.
I just switched the line on the claw. It has been in use for 7 years and I don't like the look of the thimble and the eye splice. Have cut off the first 20' where the braid has got a bit fuzzy and chafed from the bottom.
Oh yeah, think about how and where you will move, during the night, if you have too. Do you have things clear in the cockpit, a light handy if required?. Motor ready to start? Do you know where to move to? We did 2 times on our last trip. Once just across the bay to be in more of a lee, once around a point.
Bill Wickett Makin' Time M17 #622
On Thu, Sep 13, 2012 at 11:06 PM, Daniel Rich <danielgrich@gmail.com> wrote:
Montypals:
Just got back last week from the Small Craft Skills Academy in Port Townsend. Fantastic experience. Anyway, based on that I have a bunch of things to think about. One of them is how to handle my anchor tackle. Presently I have a small danforth with about 6 feet of chain, and then about 80 feet of rode. I have put marks on the rode now to measure out how much is being payed out as I anchor. I would like to stow the thing in the port lazarette which on my boat is wide open to the bilge. How are you guys doing this? Bag? Plastic container? I know that the line needs to be carefully flaked into the container so that it runs free when paying out the line. Thoughts here?
Daniel Rich M15 #208 "Kestrel" danielgrich@gmail.com