Sorry for the typo, I meant 5:1… Honestly.
I’d not read the information about Fortress recommending setting the anchor at 2.5:1. Next time I use mine I will try that. A fortress can be a bitch to set. I have also read comments about Fortress anchors “floating” along a soft bottom as a result of having too much chain, so the chains on the two I have aboard are relatively short. As a cruiser, I’m a great believer in big anchors and lots of chain. The two anchors on the bow are a 20kg Bruce and a 35 lb CQR, each with 65 ft of chain. Stored below as a backup is an FX37 with 30 ft of ¼”G4 chain, and an FX23 with 20 ft of ¼” G4 chain as a lunch hook. My chain is marked with a flag every 10 ft, and the nylon is marked as yours. In water up to 20 ft I will let the rode out to the point where the rope to chain splice is at the surface, and let the nylon up to the bow roller act as a snubber. That gets me between 3:1 and a bit over 5:1 depending on depth. In more than 20 ft, I let the appropriate rode marker touch the water as you do, using 4:1 as an initial scope, and increasing the scope up to about 7:1 in high winds and in deeper water where there is more nylon out.. I told my local PHRF handicapper about an article from Yacht Racing magazine (Nov, 1975) that talked about how a race winning C&C 38 had been set up for racing. Seems adding 100 pounds forward would change the trim enough to increase the IOR handicap. Then I asked him, in jest, for a PHRF rating adjustment for my anchors and chain. He actually thought I was serious about the request. Rick Brass From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Dennis C. Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 5:43 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Stus-List Thousand Islands - now anchor tips Rick, I used 5:1 in the example. That's the absolute MINIMUM I put out. I usually use 7:1 scope and increase it to 10:1 for any breeze over 15 knots. The Admiral and I actually use a simpler system than I described below. Touche's rode is marked every 30 feet with the pull through markers and between every 10 feet with permanent marker. If we anchor in 20 feet of water and want 5:1 scope, we let out the rode so the 100 foot marker is at the water, 7:1 would have 140 foot marker "on the water". That way, we don't have to add the extra height from the water to the bow into the calculation. As for chain length, look to the anchor manufacturer's recommendations. As a racer, I have a Fortress FX16. Fortress recommends 6 feet of chain for every 25 feet of water depth one plans to anchor in. I only have 10 feet of chain on my rode. Extra chain can be a detriment with a Fortress anchor. In soft mud the chain can drag the shank down resulting in the flukes pointing up. For that reason, Fortress recommends setting the anchor at 2.5:1 scope. This shortened scope will hold the chain and shank up so the flukes will point down and dig in. We call this "first hook". In the above example for 20 foot depth, we would attempt first hook with the 50 foot marker on the water. Once set, we would let out to the 7:1 or desired scope, allow the boat to settle downwind or downcurrent of the anchor them back down. The Fortress is a great anchor in sand and stiff mud. I find it a bit troublesome to set in heavy grass beds or shell beds. I've never been successful getting it to hold in soft mud, particularly since I never put on the mud palm attachments. If I was a cruiser, I would have an appropriately sized Rocna backed up by a Danforth Hi-Tensile lunch hook. Dennis C. Touche' 35-1 #83 Mandeville, LA _____ From: Rick Brass <rickbr...@earthlink.net> To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 4:15 PM Subject: Re: Stus-List Toronto to the Thousand Islands I was about to make the same point when I read Andy’s post. My practice is to drop the hook and let out rode to my target length as wind & current take the boat back. Then spend 5 or 10 minutes admiring the scenery and other boats while the wind and boat motion settle the anchor and chain into the bottom. I usually take bearings on a couple of prominent landmarks. Then I back down on the anchor, starting at about 1000 rpm to stretch out the rode (I have 65 feet of chain on each of my primary anchors, which takes some straightening out at times), then increase slowly to about 1600-2000 RPM to dug the anchor into the bottom. With this practice there have been very few times I’ve needed to haul and re-anchor, and those have been in really soupy mud for the most part. Dennis used 4:1 scope in his example of how much rode to let out. Most folks seem to use 3:1 to 5:1 if you have an all chain rode, and 7:1 to 10:1 if your rode is mostly rope. More is better in high winds and waves, but you need to be in the same ball park as the boats around you to avoid swinging into another boat if the wind changes. Rick Brass Washington, NC From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Andrew Burton Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 10:23 AM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List Toronto to the Thousand Islands The operative phrase being "after you've set the anchor." Don't back down hard until it's dug in a bit. I often see people drop their hook then rev the engine in reverse and back through the anchorage dragging the anchor along the bottom. Andy C&C 40 Peregrine On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 10:13 AM, Dennis C. <capt...@yahoo.com> wrote: Stevan, The most common mistake novice anchorers make is to not include the height of the bow in the calculation of scope. For instance if it is 3 feet from the water to your bow chock and you are anchoring in 20 feet of water, multiply your desired scope by 20 + 3. So if you want 5:1 scope, it would be 5 x 23 or 115 feet at the bow chock. Once you've set the hook, back down HARD and watch an object in the water to see if you are dragging. If your GPS has an anchor alarm (most do), set it and relax. Dennis C. Sent from my iPhone
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