Rich Hampel wrote:

Glen -

Describe a bit more in detail what exactly you mean by letting a Spade
'settle-in' beforfe pulling strain.

Does this mean that the tip takes time to bury, etc.?

Ive posted before that my 44# spade doesnt set well at all in glutenous
mud/muck. Am curious in your discovered setting techniques.


Rich,
Your expreience was one of my primary reasons for conducting the tests.
We couldn't find any really soft muck. Hurricane Hole was all muck
but it was fairly stiff. On all bottoms the 33# aluminum sat on its
side for a few seconds and then the tip slowly started sinking. As the
rode started to bring on a little load the anchor gradually righted
itself after about 2'. At 4' it was burried up to the front of the
shank. OTOH, when any load was applied as soon as it hit bottom it
skidded along on it's side just like you said.

Ultimate holding power in really churned up sand bottoms was not as good
as I had hoped. It ws only slightly better than the plow but under 5
minutes at 2200 RPM the plow and the CQR crept slowly (about 2' so I
can't call it dragging) while the Spade did not move. As far as
ultimate hold in really soft mud, I do not believe anything will beat a
Fortress/Danforth pattern with the flukesd set wide. In that situation
big flat flukes perpendicular to the load just works better. OTOH,
those patterns have problems with re-alignment and resetting.

If you get a chance, let it out to about 4:1 and try letting it sit
until the bow comes to wind. Then back down at about 1200 RPM for a few
seconds. If it still has not righted itself by then we may have a
different problem. Let me know and I will see what Spade wants to do
about it. Yours was one of the first that I sold and there could be one
or two things we need to check. A few of the first ones were under
weight. It should weigh between 41 and 44 lbs. Any less and I will
order a replacement it for you in the next shipment. The other
possibility (although I doubt it) is that you got one of the original
models. Newer Spades have a little tab on the back of each sholder to
hold the top of the fluke up while the tip rotated. If you are missing
those tabs it will sink on its side and be much harder to set. Again,
let me know and I will talk to Spade about a replacement.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com