On Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:00:52 +0200, "Edgar"
wrote:


"Brian Whatcott" wrote in message
...
Edgar wrote:

The main anchor weighed 22 lb and had quite good area of flukes but I
immediately threw it out because the shank was cut from plate only 3/16"
thick.
This was supposed to be Ok for a 38' boat weighing 16000 lb!
. To make matters worse the shank was shaped like a very long triangle,
thinning down to only 1/2" wide at the point where you shackle on the
rode. By my calculation that 1/2" x 3/16" section has a breaking strain
of only just over 1 ton which is totally insufficient.

If the cross section of the anchor shank at the shackle hole
is 1.5 to 2X as big as the cross section of one rode chain link, it
probably won't break first. Bending is another matter.

Brian W

True enough. But this came to me shackled to a length of 3/8" chain!


3/8ths chain is overkill for a 16,000 lb boat and 22 lb anchor. They
were probably using it just for the extra weight or maybe happened to
have some laying around.

I've seen a few bent Danforth anchors but have never heard of one
breaking.