"craigsmith" u22396@uwe wrote

Your comments about scope are just plain wrong. This is important. No
anchor
is designed to work with a particular scope; on the contrary, all anchors
work better the more scope you have. The ideal is horizontal, hence the
use
of chain or kellets to attain an angle lower than that of a straight line
between the anchor and the boat. We therefore use a horizontal angle in
any
testing to provide a level playing field; otherwise those boaters more
experienced would object to a particular scope being used, as it may favor
(or hurt) a particular anchor.

I stand by my statement about the rode. I spent 3 days doing in the water
tests in the BVI/USVI last year with several Bruce and plow patterns to see
how they stacked up with the Spade. Tests were conducted in the coral sand
bottom at Deadman's Bay, Peter Island, eel grass over sand at Setting Point,
Anegada, heavy marl in Coral Bay, St. John and soupy mud in Great Cruz Bay.
Rode was 3/8 HT. Using weighted pool noodles to mark the drop and set
points and steel tapes we recorded the setting distance among other things
at various scopes. As the scope was increased past about 4:1 the setting
distance increased significantly on almost every pattern. Most would not
begin to set until the shank was lifted off the bottom. On the other hand,
once set, holding power increased with increasing scope leveling out just
past 7:1 in all bottoms on most patterns with slightly more rode required in
the soupy mud.

I have plenty of stills of the results but no movies.

Going down again Wednesday with my camcorder but not hauling 3 anchors like
last time. We have 2 boats with 3 different patterns and I may try to bum a
couple more from the charter company.

--
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