Upgrade Anchor

[jack_patricia]

Just a related observation: Our goal when picking an anchor is to get one that holds. And a given anchor fails to hold, in the really bad stuff, for one of two conditions: the wind-driven surge in an exposed anchorage that keeps picking up the bow like a rearing horse and blowing it back on its rode, and/or due to the sheering forces when wind pushes the boat first far to one side, followed by an abrupt shock on the rode as it turns and veers far over to the other side. It's all very dynamic, as many of you know. I mention this to the OP and others who are anchor shopping because the first line of defense in these conditions is the weight of the rode & its drag on the seabed, which in turn limits the loading seen by the anchor. That weight comes principally from chain. So select the anchor of your choice, but I suggest you then give a cold stare at how much chain you are attaching it to.

 

[jack_patricia]

After reading this thread I stumbled across a Youtube channel I was unaware of - Steve Goodwin's SV Panope channel. My reaction is that no anchor selection thread should be without a reference to that channel and I recommend it highly. Steve not only tests anchors in a mix of bottoms and in a standardized, thoughtful manner but he videos each test so you can observe the anchor's actual performance while the comparative data is being collected.

Because of Fluid Motion's singular choice of the Lewmar Claw for all its boats, I offer the link below which is Steve's testing of the 10 Kg Claw. It willl give you a good feel for how he intros, then tests, then summarizes an anchor's performance....altho' the Claw performed so miserably that every other test I've watched was far more informative. And for most of our boats, I also recommend watching Steve's test of the similarly sized Rochna Vulcan. The differences are sobering.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW2OFn-1uak