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PostPosted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:49 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
Posts: 3057
Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
My wife and I do alot of sailing and diving from our Tandem Island around Sarasota and Key West and have had problems on several occasions with anchors slipping on the sandy bottoms around florida (even with two anchors). The anchors I was using were the typical foldable claw anchors. After reading on the forum about someone who liked the Fortress Guardian G5 anchor, I went to West Marine and talked to them, they recommended I get Fortress FX 7 anchor (weighs 4 lbs). They also insisted that I get 10 or 12 ft of heavy chain to go with the anchor. I suspect they were confusing my 200 lb kayak with some crazy 3500 lb boat or something. I told them I think I will try without the chain first, and promised to come back for the chain if it didn't work.
It seems like without exception everyone mounts their anchors to the front of their boat ( I have no idea why), I have always had much better luck running the anchor off the back of the boat. With all my sails and rigging on the front of the boat it is pretty busy up there anyway, but another problem I have is to climb out there I have to step around the mast and make my way to the bow carefully (not fun). I can reach anything in the back of the boat with no issues.
I bought 150 ft of 3/8 nylon anchor line and discovered very quickly that is a very large pile of rope that gets tangled very easily.
The last thing I want to do is store the anchor in the front hatch, then when I arrive at my dive site, I would have to get it out and set it all up.
Below is the setup I came up with, the 36 inch long 3/4 sq aluminum piece swings up to hold the anchor up over the rudder when you are not using it (actually works very well). I had some extra space on my motor mount so I mounted a sleeve that I can wind the rope around to get it out of the way and keep it from becoming a tangled mess. To deploy the anchor you just untie it from the rear lifting handle, the anchor drops into the water, then let it unspool till you get to the right depth, then tie it off again to the rear lifting handle. I have tried it several times now at several beaches with surf and it holds the boat very well while we jump out and dive near the shore (or just hang out with friends). We have anchored in all types of bottoms (hard, rocky, and sandy) in depths 8 ft up to around 60 ft., in winds up to 15 mph and mild current, and also in the surf. As a diver thats the first thing I do is dive down and watch the anchor to make sure it's not slipping.
Here is my setup.
Image

Image


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PostPosted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 11:52 pm 
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Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2011 1:58 am
Posts: 2893
Location: Forster, NSW, Australia
I have tried a different approach (not original, but thanks to the person who posted this here).

I have 10 metres of (blue) line attached to the front crossbar, passing through a "D" shackle attached to the bow fitting, with a loop with ferrule ready to accept a shackle at the other end. There is then another (retrieve) line attached to a cleat under the crossbar. On the other end of this line is an "O" ring shackle which has the anchor line passing through it on the "outside" of the bow fitting. The lines are held on the deck under one of the front hatch bungees, able to be fed out without going forward. In the photo, I had the blue line attached to the cleat, but I now leave it over the forward hatch.

Therefore, if I want to deploy my Cooper Anchor (with 1 metre of heavy chain), I shackle it onto the ferrule at the end of the line (or daisy chain two more, a 15 metre and 50 metre line, giving me a total of 75 metres, which should be more than enough!). I simply feed the anchor over the front of the ama, knowing that once the anchor is on the bottom, the line will be held through the bow fitting, keeping everything nice and straight.

To retrieve the anchor, I pull on the retrieve line, which brings the anchor line back from the bow, so I can bring it all back into the cockpit without going forward.

Not easy to describe, maybe the photos might help.
Image
Image

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 6:48 am 
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Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2005 6:29 pm
Posts: 2763
Location: High Point, NC
If it works, it works, but I'd mention you can do the same thing just as effectively with less than 2 pounds, an eye bolt and a clamcleat. Weve been doing it that way for nearly 20 years now on all sorts of kayaks in all sorts of waters, current, wind, etc.


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