Hunter 33.5 Anchor Type

[Paul and Judy]

We have a Hunter 33.5 and sail the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding rivers. We have an 18 pound danforth anchor with 15' of chain and l120 feet of anchor line. No windless. We just completed a 9 day sail and wanted to spend most of the time on the hook. We drifted so many times that we had to take a number of slips in order to have a decent nights sleep.

Can those of you owners that sail the chesapeake let me know your boat length, anchor weight, anchor type, chain length and line length that lets you sleep well at night while on the hook. BTW we do know how to set an anchor.

Regards
s/v The Four C's

 

[Steve Dion]

I believe that the currrent consensus is the Manson or Rocna are current leaders in general holding.

My experience with Danforths has "generally" been good in mud/sand. They are terrible if you are trying to anchor in grass/weeds.

We currently have a Delta and it works quite well in most of our anchoring conditions.

Generally the more chain the better, but weight does become a factor if you do not have a windlass. Generally I think that 1-2 boat lengths of chain is good unless you want to go to all chain (but probably not without a windlass).

 

[Alan]

I carry a 22lb Bruce as my main anchor and a small aluminum Fortress as a backup (lunch hook). The Bruce has never failed me. In general you want to use a length of chain equal to your boats length and use a total scope of at least 5 times the water depth. If the winds are strong you can increase the scope to 7:1.

 

[Maine Sail]

We have a Hunter 33.5 and sail the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding rivers. We have an 18 pound danforth anchor with 15' of chain and l120 feet of anchor line. No windless. We just completed a 9 day sail and wanted to spend most of the time on the hook. We drifted so many times that we had to take a number of slips in order to have a decent nights sleep.

Can those of you owners that sail the chesapeake let me know your boat length, anchor weight, anchor type, chain length and line length that lets you sleep well at night while on the hook. BTW we do know how to set an anchor.

Regards
s/v The Four C's

Many sailors successfully use the Danforth or Fortress style anchors in the Chessy mud with decent success. With that many drags in such a short period of time I would ask you to describe how you anchor, in a step by step fashion, and perhaps we can help figure out what the issue is. It may be the anchor but it may be technique too.

How are you deploying it?
How are you determining scope?
How are you setting it?
What are the bottoms?
What scope are you using?
When it dragged did it drag in the same direction of pull as it was set?
Are you checking if it is set before bed and if so how?

 

[Shippy]

We have a 356 on the chessy with a windlass, I sleep real well with my manson and 50 ft of chain. On several occasions we have been the anchor boat with two other boats rafted up with us for the night and never budged. In fact, the second season of having the manson forced me to install a washdown pump because I would bring up half of the bay's mud each time.

 

[Schatzi]

We anchor out most weekends on the Chesapeake. Took off our plow and put on a Fortress, one size bigger than recommended on the Fortress site. Setting procedures are important with scope and backing down slowly to 2500 rpm. Have not used the mud setting yet. We have approx 30' of chain and 200' of line. We always use 7:1 ratio and more in a storm. FYI..Fortress does not recommend too much chain (check out their site). btw...use a line snubber because many of the anchorages are the same depth and you will get chaffe on your anchor line by setting it the same distance all the time. The anchor wash down is invaluable with some of the muddy bottoms and is easily installed.

 

[Dan Johnson]

Anchor type...

shouldn't matter too much on the Chesapeake (unless you're in weeds as pointed out). What's more important is the amount of anchor rode you let out. You didn't indicate what depth you were in or how much rode you had out when you found yourself dragging.

In ten feet of water you need to have at least 50, preferrably 70 feet out. With only 120 feet of line on your 15 feet of chain, I suspect that you were not letting out enough rode, causing you to drag.

With only an 18 pound Danforth I also suspect your anchor is too light for the size boat you have as well. Your size boat should have one in the 22-25 pound range. A Danforth should bite and hold in most Bay bottom conditons if the rode angle is kept flat. If it's too light for the loading it's smaller flukes may not dig in deep enough to hold.

I carry 20 feet of chain and 200 feet of line for an anchor rode on my 22 pound claw-type anchor and have no problem holding ground when anchored.

As for breaking it out without a windlass, I bring the rode back to a cockpit winch/cleat and take it in as I slowly motor up to the point where the rode is verticle and the plow breaks loose. I then raise it up to the water surface and drag it through the water a ways to wash the mud off, then ship it in the roller.