[Minnesail]

My boat came with a bracket on the pulpit to hold a Danforth style anchor, like this:
Rail Mount Anchor Bracket

Well, it's *supposed* to hold the anchor… Sometime between last weekend and this weekend it fell off.

While I'm glad it didn't fall off while sailing, that would have been alarming, having it fall off at the mooring wasn't ideal either because it got caught up in mooring tackle and try as I might I could not get the stoopid thing up.

The anchor rode was wrapped about five times around the mooring pendant, so I know the boats were swinging around a lot last week. I have ten feet of chain before the nylon, and I can't even pull up enough to see the chain, so it must really be wrapped around there good.

It's the end of the season here so I had to pull my boat. I cut the anchor rode and tied it off to the buoy. I sent an email to the city apologizing for tangling an anchor in their mooring and also asking that if it happens to come up with the mooring tackle when they pull it in a few weeks, would they mind leaving it on shore so I could come and get it.

I suppose I could buy a mask and try to dive for it, but it's moderately deep and the visibility this time of year is almost nothing.

It's a small boat, and it was only a Danforth knockoff, so was probably only a $100 anchor. But still!

I had been planning on getting some proper ground tackle anyway, but I wanted to keep the Danforth as a secondary. Oh well. Live and learn.

And I guess the lesson to be learned is that I should have had the anchor chain pinned to a cleat so that if it did fall out of the bracket it wouldn't have gone all the way to the bottom, taking the chain and a lot of nylon with it.

 

[miatapaul]

Time for the "new generation" anchor I guess, let the debate begin!

 

[Rhapsody-NS27]

Bummer!

as miatapaul says, time for something new.

Could get a Mantus with their bracket.

 

[bblument]

My boat came with a bracket on the pulpit to hold a Danforth style anchor, like this:
Rail Mount Anchor Bracket

Well, it's *supposed* to hold the anchor… Sometime between last weekend and this weekend it fell off.
...

I'm glad you took the time to write this post, Minne.. and I'm sorry it happened to you. We have the same mount on our boat for our Danforth. We store the anchor below, but I brought it up and placed it in the mount last weekend as we planned to anchor out for lunch. Everything worked great...

BUT... after bringing the anchor back in, sailing back to our marina, and putting everything back in it's place sail-cover-wise, I went forward to remove the anchor and stow it. I BREATHED on it, and it fell off the mount. I did have the chain secured, but we narrowly avoided a nasty bruise to our boat as the anchor fell to the water. I resolved not to trust that mount in the future; now that I've read your post, I REALLY don't trust it.

Any opinions out there as to the best mount for smallish (26') boats? I've read negative things about rail mount hangers, too...

Schaefer Rail Mount Anchor Hanger

What do you folks recommend?

Thanks..

Barry

 

[Minnesail]

We store the anchor below, but I brought it up and placed it in the mount last weekend as we planned to anchor out for lunch.

That's how I had been using it most of the summer. I would put the anchor up in the mount while at the dock getting the sails ready, then put it back in a locker at the end of the day. This was the first time I left it in while away from the boat.

I BREATHED on it, and it fell off the mount.

So it's not just me then. I thought maybe it was an old or poorly fit mount, but if it happened to you too then maybe the whole design is flawed.

I did have the chain secured,

Oh, you think you're so smart! Just because you do things the right way and you still have your anchor, unlike some of us….

Any opinions out there as to the best mount for smallish (26') boats? I've read negative things about rail mount hangers, too...

How do people feel about rollers for small boats? Catalina Direct makes one for the 22 that looks pretty slick.
Custom C-22 Stainless Anchor Roller

 

[Faster]

Wondering why you didn't pay out all your rode and secure a good coil to the mooring for now.. on a calm day with a dinghy you might have recovered it all...

 

[MarkofSeaLife]

Boats!

Sorry it happened to you, but lucky that you are rid of it. I wouldnt use one as a kedge (even though I have a Brittany as a kedge!).

At least you have all winter to save for a new one

 

[Minnesail]

Wondering why you didn't pay out all your rode and secure a good coil to the mooring for now.. on a calm day with a dinghy you might have recovered it all...

I did tie it off to the buoy after I cut it. I don't know how much rode is down there before the chain starts (visibility is not much more than one foot right now) but I'm guessing I only cut off about ten feet of nylon.

The more I think about it, the more I think that maybe it's only the chain that's caught, not the anchor. It's probably twisted around the mooring chain several times from the boat swinging. If I can figure out which way it's twisted maybe I can untwist and pull it up.

I did get a nice email from the city first thing this morning saying they'd pass on the info the crew that pulls the moorings, but they didn't specifically say that they'd save the anchor for me...

 

[Bill-Rangatira]

i tie off my anchor and have a chain hook as well
but i have a cqr that lives on the roller

 

[krisscross]

I would not hang my shorts on a mount like that, let alone my good anchor. It sure sucks to loose an anchor, but we need to feel the pain in order to learn and do better next time.

 

[Capt Len]

On a similar note,,, 45' aluminium sailboat had a Danforth fall off its bow right off Clover Point in Victoria. Chain ran out about 50' before it snagged. Then the chain met the prop and the anchor met the hull (many times) The Coho sent a fast boat to pick up the 4 men hanging from a bit of the now vertical bow before it went down Still out there.

 

[cthoops]

Any opinions out there as to the best mount for smallish (26') boats? I've read negative things about rail mount hangers, too...

Schaefer Rail Mount Anchor Hanger

What do you folks recommend?

Thanks..

Barry

We have something that looks like this on our Bristol 24. The anchor hasn't fallen off yet (nor have we used it), but the PO had a bungee around it (presumably for added security) which we've kept on it.

 

[newhaul]

Here's the mount I use with my fortress anchor ( same as Danforth) Schaefer Rail Mount Anchor Hanger you have to want it out of the hanger for it to come out

 

[Minnesail]

On a similar note,,, 45' aluminium sailboat had a Danforth fall off its bow right off Clover Point in Victoria. Chain ran out about 50' before it snagged. Then the chain met the prop and the anchor met the hull (many times) The Coho sent a fast boat to pick up the 4 men hanging from a bit of the now vertical bow before it went down Still out there.

Lesson learned, the anchor is a weapon. Keep it secured!

(I add extra value to your posts, because my name is Len also )

 

[hopcar]

I use a hanger very similar to the Schaefer shown above. It was made by Davis and is more than twenty years old. It hasn't dropped the anchor yet. I don't think Davis makes it anymore so I would buy the Schaefer today.

 

[svHyLyte]

My boat came with a bracket on the pulpit to hold a Danforth style anchor, like this:
Rail Mount Anchor Bracket

Well, it's *supposed* to hold the anchor… Sometime between last weekend and this weekend it fell off.

While I'm glad it didn't fall off while sailing, that would have been alarming, having it fall off at the mooring wasn't ideal either because it got caught up in mooring tackle and try as I might I could not get the stoopid thing up.

The anchor rode was wrapped about five times around the mooring pendant, so I know the boats were swinging around a lot last week. I have ten feet of chain before the nylon, and I can't even pull up enough to see the chain, so it must really be wrapped around there good.

It's the end of the season here so I had to pull my boat. I cut the anchor rode and tied it off to the buoy. I sent an email to the city apologizing for tangling an anchor in their mooring and also asking that if it happens to come up with the mooring tackle when they pull it in a few weeks, would they mind leaving it on shore so I could come and get it.

I suppose I could buy a mask and try to dive for it, but it's moderately deep and the visibility this time of year is almost nothing.

It's a small boat, and it was only a Danforth knockoff, so was probably only a $100 anchor. But still!

I had been planning on getting some proper ground tackle anyway, but I wanted to keep the Danforth as a secondary. Oh well. Live and learn.

And I guess the lesson to be learned is that I should have had the anchor chain pinned to a cleat so that if it did fall out of the bracket it wouldn't have gone all the way to the bottom, taking the chain and a lot of nylon with it.

We used the same mount on our Cal 2-29 for 20+ years to mount a Fortress FX16 without difficulty. We originally used a length of Velcro to lock the Palm in the mount. Later, I drilled a 3/16" hole in the Palm that aligned with one of the lower slots in the mount. With this we used a "fast pin" (see below) secured to the pulpit rail with a short lanyard to lock the anchor in place. It worked for us...

 

[Minnesail]

We used the same mount on our Cal 2-29 for 20+ years to mount a Fortress FX16 without difficulty. We originally used a length of Velcro to lock the Palm in the mount. Later, I drilled a 3/16" hole in the Palm that aligned with one of the lower slots in the mount. With this we used a "fast pin" (see below) secured to the pulpit rail with a short lanyard to lock the anchor in place. It worked for us...

I think if I continue to use the bracket I'd do something like that. Pin the anchor to the bracket, and secure the rode to a deck cleat.

I kind of like the idea of a roller though. Any downside to using a bow roller on a small boat?

This was my first summer on my first boat, so I'm treating every stupid thing I do as a learning experience and I refuse to feel bad about any of it. I'm adding "losing the anchor" to the long and growing list.

 

[bblument]

..

This was my first summer on my first boat, so I'm treating every stupid thing I do as a learning experience and I refuse to feel bad about any of it. I'm adding "losing the anchor" to the long and growing list.

You and me both, Minne, although we did get out on the boat a few times last summer. This has been the first summer that's been more sailing than fixing, though. Bet my list is longer than yours! The only things I feel bad about are the two times my wife got REALLY scared (.. like, screaming and twitching scared... and she's pretty tough usually). When I suffer, I don't really care. I don't like to cause other people anguish... well, not unless they REALLY deserve it!

You sound like you're pretty far ahead of me on the learning curve, actually. Keep those posts comin'!

Barry

 

[Minnesail]

The only things I feel bad about are the two times my wife got REALLY scared (.. like, screaming and twitching scared... and she's pretty tough usually).

Yeah, my Independence Day debacle was quite the wife-scarer! I was trying to anchor under sail when I cut my head on a cleat on the boom. I was bleeding all over the boat while the anchor rode wrapped around the keel and the mainsheet caught on a spinnaker block so we were effectively sheeted in and still sailing…. Good times! But I finally got us anchored and we watched Captain Ron, grilled some hot dogs, and watched the fireworks. All's well that ends well.

I think one of my issues is that I'm too casual about my little boat and don't treat it with the respect I treat a big boat. I've taken the ASA classes and chartered 39' boats a couple times and have never had any mishaps.

Sailing on a warm city lake with a 2500-pound boat that's forty-years-old and kinda beat-up doesn't seem to generate the same level of respect/fear that frigid Lake Superior and a 20,000-pound boat that is nice and shiny and belongs to somebody else does.

I do intend to take my little boat to more challenging waters, so I really need to start sailing it with the same level of caution and seamanship that I learned on bigger boats. All part of the learning process.

 

[hellosailor]

Minne,
You never know. If you write to the company and tell them the bracket failed while you were moored, resulting in the loss of the anchor...they might turn that into a good pr opportunity. Heck, the postage on email is cheap enough, right?

A mask wouldn't matter much if you wanted to dive down and look for it. Eyes work perfectly well without one, and a new mask of questionable fit can be just a distraction while it leaks and squeezes in odd places. If the water is more than 10-12' deep, you'd probably have a harder time with just holding your breath, and trying to cut away the old line and attach a new one.

Still, it could be worth a shot, if you can follow the line down, you don't have to see far to reach the end of it. Then tie on a float line, so you've got a direct way to haul on it.