Wayne ,, if I use oversize chain ,, to say the anchor size .. will this be
to my advantage. I have a plow and it sits up front in a roller which was
designed for it.. Maybe adding a heavy chaine would give me some advantage.

I don't have a windless. I am the windless.

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"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:26:47 GMT, "NE Sailboat"
wrote:

Just read a web story about a dragging anchor. So, I start to think???
How big.. that is how much bigger than the recommended anchor can a boat
use.

If you are doing serious cruising and plan to anchor out much of the
time, my advice is to carry the bigest anchor that you and/or your
windlass can handle, and the more chain the better. Anchor type
obviously depends on your local bottom conditions. We anchored
successfully in Maine for many years on a 20 pound Danforth anchor (34
ft, 10,000 lb sailboat), but a Danforth is nearly worthless on a rocky
or grassy bottom. They also have an unfortunate habit of sailing
through the water without finding bottom if you try to set one in an
emergency - all of those lessons learned the hard way of course.

Bruce anchors set quickly in many different bottom types but have a
reputation for creeping under load. I carry a 65 pounder as a primary
backup (60,000 lb flybridge trawler). I also carry a 45 lb spade and
30 lb Danforth as backups, along with extra chain and rode. We
recently used the Danforth (during the day) in the Florida Keys with
a sand bottom and 5/8ths nylon rode. It worked well on 7 to 1 scope
although I would not be comfortable sleeping that way. Winds were in
the 12 to 20 kt range.

We have tried several different types of plow anchors at different
times with different boats, but had several instances of dragging,
and/or failure to reset - all of that with adequately sized anchors
and plenty of scope. With our old boat (33 ft flybridge sportfish),
we eventually settled on a 44 lb spade with 5/16ths HT chain. That
was a very effective combination but requires a windlass of course.
It would be a good storm anchor on sailboats up to about 40 ft.

Our primary anchor now is a 120 lb Spade on 3/8ths HT chain. This is
the heaviest anchor our windlass can handle, and it has proven to be
very effective on almost all bottoms, typically on 5 to 1 scope unless
it is really blowing hard. If the Spade has a weakness anywhere it is
with very soft mud or shells over a hard bottom, but that is difficult
for any anchor. My typical solution is to let out more chain which
usually results in a firm set.