Where do you store your anchor while on your mooring?

[Maine Sail]

Hi All,

For years I have removed my anchor from my anchor roller while on my home mooring unless I know with 100% certainty that the conditions will be benign.

Why do I do this? I do this because I have witnessed too many boats wind up on the rocks because the mooring pendant was literally cut in half by the anchor. When your anchorage gets rough do you have a good fetch? Is this fetch enough to create two to four foot waves?

I see so many folks spend good money, and use chafe protection, and then leave a 'knife" or their anchor on the bow.

Is this something most boat owners never even considered and am I alone in noticing this? Perhaps because I live at the harbor, and I can see every boat that ever breaks free, and I have paid close attention to the what and why, is why I take this precaution.

Here are a few photos depicting why I don't store with my anchor on the roller. Picture these same boats with the bows yanking at the pendant while at the same time having the bow go up and down by as much a s four or five feet depending upon the "blow"..??

This is my boat shown for illustration purposes only:


Can you say Edward Scissor hands!

[sailortjk1]

I have seen plenty of examples of what you are talking about.
We sailed out of Monroe Harbor Chicago for over twentyfive years.
There are over 1200 Moorings in that harbor.
One of the biggest if not the biggest culprit was the anchor on a roller.
I always kept ours stored in the locker and when I return today it is stored in the locker.
Yes, I know exactly what you are talking about.

[soulesailor]

When a blow comes through South Portland I take my anchor off the roller just in case. But, in general, I don't experience the anchor (bruce) to be the culprit of my chafe. My pendant chafes on the edge of my bow outside of where it passes through the stemhead-fairlead piece. For some reason this stemhead-fairlead doesn't go all the way to the edge of my hull-deck corner and the sharp bend of the pendant going to the ball rubs on that edge.

It's a bummer, one that I haven't figured out how to solve yet. I put on extra chafing gear and have a second, longer pendant in place on the other side as a back-up, but still I would love to eliminate that hard spot. When my boat swings through the wind and the pendant hits my bruce the anchor rolls in place a little and puts almost no pressure on the pendant, but I run chafing gear that far down anyway.

[BarryL]

Hello,

Last year (my first with my new boat) I bought a claw anchor (the boat came with a Danforth). The Danforth fits in the anchor locker, so I put the claw on the roller. Then I saw that the mooring pendants could rub on the anchor.
My solution was to take the anchor off the roller and hand it on the bow pulpit, off to the side, so there is no way the pendants could contact the anchor. I tied a small line around it so it couldn't come off.

That worked well, but made deploying the anchor a little more difficult.

At the end of the season, I took the anchor off the bow and placed it in a rear lazarette so I could lock it up. I wonder if I should leave it there for next year. The rode is still in the anchor locker, plus I have the Danforth with it's own rode also in the locker. I don't anchor that often, maybe 2-4 times a month, and then usually just for lunch.

Comments?

Barry

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by soulesailor

But, in general, I don't experience the anchor (bruce) to be the culprit of my chafe.

It's a bummer, one that I haven't figured out how to solve yet. I put on extra chafing gear and have a second, longer pendant in place on the other side as a back-up, but still I would love to eliminate that hard spot. When my boat swings through the wind and the pendant hits my bruce the anchor rolls in place a little and puts almost no pressure on the pendant, but I run chafing gear that far down anyway.

98% of the time the anchor will not, and should not, come into contact with the pendant. The reason for removing it is so when the bow is pitching and yawing in those short steep bay waves it does not cut the line. Unfortunately, if you've been in Maine long enough you know that many times these storms come with short notice and the winds are many times more than were predicted.

Having owned a boat with the problem you described above is frustrating and I wound up re-locating my chocks to solve the issue. What a PITA. Sadly, many boats were designed with the ability to be tied to a dock in mind and mooring issues were not well thought out.

Again, anchors don't cause problems until it gets rough.

Close to 35% of the boats I've seen destroyed in Falmouth (1200+ boats in that anchorage with a few lost each year) have been because of anchor chafe, another 35% due to either a single pendant plus chafe, 15% due to double pendant chafe and about 10% due to mooring hardware failure including broken, undersized or aged chains, shackles (improper type or aged) or swivels (usually undersized).

There are many reasons a boat can wind up on shore and I try to avoid all of them if I can..

[Stillraining]

Thanks again Mainsail...

[Boasun]

1. Put chocks on deck for your anchor storage when on a moor.
2. Use chain pendants for chaffing gear in the now unused rolling chock, keeping the fiber line outboard the chock so that it does not chaff.
3. After the above, pop the top on a cool one and relax for a bit and watch on how your vessel rides at the mooring bouy.
4. If satisfied then run into town for any business that has to be done or just continue relaxing.
5. If dissatisfied then rerigged your moor until you are. Then go back to #4.

[lastconch]

A bow roller is not a great place to store an anchor at any time. A large mass so far forward just trying to shake itself lose can cause nothing but problems.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by lastconch

A bow roller is not a great place to store an anchor at any time. A large mass so far forward just trying to shake itself lose can cause nothing but problems.

But they look cool!!! Seriously though for calm bay sailing they are a fine place provided they are well secured. When we are out cruising and going outside the bays I stuff it in the anchor locker...

[JohnRPollard]

Originally Posted by lastconch

A bow roller is not a great place to store an anchor at any time. A large mass so far forward just trying to shake itself lose can cause nothing but problems.

This is true on many, maybe even most boats. But there are exceptions, examples that were designed specifically so this could be done without jeopardy or problems. Quite a few bluewater designs keep the anchors always at the ready, secured on sturdy rollers, and this weight as well as that of the chain rode is calculated into the design. A lot of sailors don't feel comfortable sailing without an anchor fully at the ready for deployment, in the roller rather than under a hatch.

Halekai,

Those are great photos. I see your point about the possibility of the anchor causing chafe on the mooring pennant. But I think it depends on the design of the anchor roller and the pennant system and attachment point.

We use a single pennant through the hawse hole to the mooring cleat. The hawse hole is 3-4 feet aft of the anchor rollers, and off-set from centerline almost 2 feet. The pennant never gets anywhere near the anchors. I'm glad for that, as it would be a royal nuisance to unmount/remount those anchors each time we go sailing. Life's too short and the wind's-a-waisting...

Of course another factor is how protected the mooring field is. Here on the Chesapeake, in our mooring field, we can weather full gales, even storms, without too much wave action. Not at all like most New England harbors...