On Thu, 20 May 2004 18:34:50 -0400, "Gene Kearns"
wrote:

I usually find that only an inch or two of the
flukes have penetrated into the clay when I
retrieve. Once another boat, that failed in
making a set, t-boned me (his side/my bow).
On that retrieve, nearly 6" had dug in.
Maybe not typical, but it's MY worst-case
anchoring problem.


A Danforth is absolutely the worst anchor you could be using if your
conditions are clay. Danforth's are beautiful in sand and soft mud,
but nearly useless in hard clay. I'd go for a lighter plow type
anchor like a S-L Delta set-fast. Less back breaking work and more
holding power.

My problem isn't holding power, it's making
the set at all. I could probably use a grappling
hook with a weight on the shank. I get plenty
of holding power from the ***2 or 3 square inches***
of the tips of the flukes that dig in. I'm talking
a glassy surface with slight undulations. I lower
the anchor to the bottom and let out 7 or 8 to one
scope with NO tension. Then I drag the anchor, holding
the rode in my fingertips, feeling for the first catch,
and then pull slightly harder, hoping that the tips
are caught on one of the ripples. As I ease the tips
into the clay I apply more tension until I think it
will hold. At that point I can reduce scope to
about 4 or 5 to 1. Then I cleat it off.

Once a much larger boat (35'?) missed his set and drifted
(at 4 kts) sideways down onto my bow. When he hit,
I thought he would break my set, since I knew that
only an inch or two of the tips were dug in. To
my surprise, it held. When I pulled the anchor (with
MUCH difficulty -- up and down, cleat it off, rock
the boat, power back and forth) there was clay on
only about 5 or 6 inches of the tips of the flukes.
The clay has to be chipped off with a screw driver.
It is much stiffer than cold plasticine (the green,
oily modeling clay). I suspect that if I set a
plow anchor there, I'd have to cut the line and
leave it at the end of the day.

This is at the north end of the channel that runs
behind Belle Isle in the Detroit River. It is the
location of the spectator fleet for the hydroplane
races. Watching people try to anchor there is
almost as much fun as a day at the public boat ramps.
Much cutting of rodes by people who miss their sets
and try to power out of a mess. And the usual gang
of first timers who try to anchor with a mushroom
and enough poly line to reach the 40' bottom. Every
year one of these guys prepares to drop his mushroom
about where someone else's anchor is dug in and has
to be shouted off by the other boats anchored in the
area.