Which Chain?

A forum for discussing topics relating to MacGregor Powersailor Sailboats
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yukonbob
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Re: Which Chain?

Post by yukonbob »

Highlander wrote:
yukonbob wrote:How high are those Saskatchewan tides? :D
Actually Bob
the great lakes have controlled tides in a sort of way ! when the Ministries lower & raise lake levels for flood control & Great Lakes Shipping !
Not nothing like Ocean Tides ! tho :wink:

J 8)
Didn't know Saskatchewan had any Great Lakes :P
I kind of assumed and thought I'd seen Phil had made it to the coast this year. Just having s little fun :wink:
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Neo
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Re: Which Chain?

Post by Neo »

Great advice guys ....I'm trying to take everything into account and figure out what will work for me .... I like the look of this method for retrieval ...
https://goo.gl/8pONLs
Image
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yukonbob
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Re: Which Chain?

Post by yukonbob »

An anchor retrieval ring is another option. I've never used one but know others who have and it's all been positive.
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Phil M
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Re: Which Chain?

Post by Phil M »

yukonbob wrote:How high are those Saskatchewan tides? :D
No tide, no current, no problems. Sailing around where I live, the prrairie wind often does a 180-degree shift in the middle of the night. That's when things go bump in the night. :?

but when I do my annual trip to the West Coast... :x
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Highlander
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Re: Which Chain?

Post by Highlander »

yukonbob wrote:An anchor retrieval ring is another option. I've never used one but know others who have and it's all been positive.
Hi Bob
I knew u were just jiving Phil :P

I have the anchor retrieval system so doe,s Ray "Niceaft"
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/ironwood ... --14988489

never had to use it yet :) but that could change :o now I,m retired & hope to use the boat more :D

J 8)
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yukonbob
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Re: Which Chain?

Post by yukonbob »

If the rings do work, they'd be way less of a hassle than a trip line, unless you plan on catching a coral head or serious underwater debris but even then a trip line while better might not do the job.
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Sumner
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Re: Which Chain?

Post by Sumner »

I looked at the ring and float deal before and reviewed it again now. I see it being marketed as a way to bring an anchor to the surface vs. having to pull it to the surface. Not sure that it would help getting an anchor unstuck off of an obstacle as it is still lifting from the shank end. They also say to use a slow speed 5-10 mph. My S is not going to do much over the 5 mph :( . It looks like the market is for power boaters that put an anchor down in deeper water.

I try to never anchor in water deeper than 8 feet so at the most have to lift 8 feet of chain (1/4") and the 25 lb. Manson and whatever mud is also on it.

Image

I couldn't live without the anchor rollers. They just make it so much easier to deploy and retrieve an anchor. I've had the anchor stuck pretty good in mud and just get the boat right above it and work it out of the mud either by hand or cleat it off and leave it alone for a bit and let the boat's motion help.

Sooner or later I might loose an anchor but for me it just isn't worth the hassle of dealing with 2 lines and at this point I've put the anchor down and pulled it up a whole bunch. I carry an extra rode and a Fortress FX-11 broke down, just in case,

Sumner

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Highlander
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Re: Which Chain?

Post by Highlander »

Well I have also been pondering on buying one of these & just send her down to losen up the anchor I,m told they r pretty obedient ! :P
https://www.google.ca/search?q=mermaid+ ... ZRf5i_iBQM:
J 8)
PS might make a good Admiral ! :D :D :D only kiddin girls don,t get up-set :wink:
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Neo
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Re: Which Chain?

Post by Neo »

yukonbob wrote:An anchor retrieval ring is another option. I've never used one but know others who have and it's all been positive.
They rely on motoring around in a large arc to haul the anchor line upto the surface/float ... but with other vessels at anchor around you I can't see that working well :?
yukonbob wrote:No tide, no current, no problems. Sailing around where I live, the prrairie wind often does a 180-degree shift in the middle of the night. That's when things go bump in the night.
The Tide in Lake Mac is minimal but forecast for one of the nights shows upto 16Knt Easterly wind changing to Northerly. The other nights are low winds or upto 15knts from just one direction.

Will I live to tell the tales of the night :| :D
Sumner wrote:I try to never anchor in water deeper than 8 feet
Thanks for that tip....I'll try and do the same :)
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Sumner
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Re: Which Chain?

Post by Sumner »

Neo wrote:
Sumner wrote:I try to never anchor in water deeper than 8 feet
Thanks for that tip....I'll try and do the same :)
I've also only been in places where the tide is less than 4 feet so keep that in mind :wink:

Image

Image

I didn't figure the tide out right once in the Bahamas 8) ....

http://1fatgmc.com/boat/mac-1/2015%20Ba ... age-3.html

I was trying to lay in just behind a point for some wind protection and got into a little too shallow water and misjudged when low tide was. I was worried about ending up on a rocky shore, but ending up on the sand bottom stopped me short of the shore. While the tide was out I walked the anchors out about 75 feet further and pulled the boat out further when there was water under her again,

Sumner

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yukonbob
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Re: Which Chain?

Post by yukonbob »

Neo wrote:
yukonbob wrote:An anchor retrieval ring is another option. I've never used one but know others who have and it's all been positive.
They rely on motoring around in a large arc to haul the anchor line upto the surface/float ... but with other vessels at anchor around you I can't see that working well :?
yukonbob wrote:No tide, no current, no problems. Sailing around where I live, the prrairie wind often does a 180-degree shift in the middle of the night. That's when things go bump in the night.
The Tide in Lake Mac is minimal but forecast for one of the nights shows upto 16Knt Easterly wind changing to Northerly. The other nights are low winds or upto 15knts from just one direction.

Will I live to tell the tales of the night :| :D
Sumner wrote:I try to never anchor in water deeper than 8 feet
Thanks for that tip....I'll try and do the same :)
I think the idea of the ring also includes the float pulling straight up on the anchor as well not just getting it to the surface. And that's not me in the second quote about sailing Saskatchewan. If any of us PNW er's anchored in eight feet at mid or high tide we'd be well on the rocks. :D
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Neo
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Re: Which Chain?

Post by Neo »

Ok there's been a couple of mentions of throwing two anchors out. Under what conditions would you need to do that?....
# Two off the port/starboard bow's?
# One off the bow and one off the stern?

How would you set these up if the tide was 2ft .... or if the tide was 6ft?
K9Kampers
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Re: Which Chain?

Post by K9Kampers »

# Two off the port/starboard bow's?
Use two anchors off the bow for greater holding power in heavy weather.
# One off the bow and one off the stern?
Use anchor off each end of the boat to eliminate swing in a crowded anchorage.
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Sumner
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Re: Which Chain?

Post by Sumner »

Neo wrote:Ok there's been a couple of mentions of throwing two anchors out. Under what conditions would you need to do that?....
# Two off the port/starboard bow's?
# One off the bow and one off the stern?

How would you set these up if the tide was 2ft .... or if the tide was 6ft?
I'd never use a bow/stern setup if there are going to be heavy winds, especially if there will be a shift in wind direction. If you get the wind shift to where it is coming in off the beam then you can get tremendous loads on the rodes. I was tied up like that at Lake Powell to opposing rock shores when a front went through with 50+ mph winds and the winds shifted as the front passed and the stern line (a new rode) just exploded. Luckily I had two bow lines going to opposite rocks and the boat didn't swing into the shore as it would of if I would of just had one line.

I now take all lines to the bow. More than one line to the bow if the anchors are close to 180 degrees from each other will keep the boat in a very tight location. Good if you are near shore and expect a wind change or near other boats and want to decrease your swing but there you have to be careful as if they swing on a wind change and you don't then they might of expected that you would of and they might possibly swing into you. The negative about having the two down 180 apart in a big blow is that you can get the wind coming in at 90 degrees to the two anchors and now you have the load on the rodes pulling from a direction that is 90 degrees from how the anchors were set and not pulling so as to have the wind, the anchor, and the boat all in a straight line.

If I'm expecting winds over 25 I usually put down two bow anchors in a "V" shaped configuration. This is easy if there are two of you. Set one anchor and drift back and set it with the outboard. Have the person at the helm motor ahead in a direction that will put you off to the side of the first anchor. The person on the bow can bring in the first rode as you are doing this to make sure it doesn't end up in the prop. Drop the second anchor and drift back and set it with the outboard with slack in the first rode. Then adjust both rodes to the point you feel they are taking pretty equal loads. If one were to drag a little then the second would have more pull on it and the loads should equalize. I've sat out some big blows (over 40) and never drug with this configuration but also have about 30 feet of chain on each anchor and one is a 22 lb. bruce and the other a 25 lb. Manson Supreme.

On anchor weights, I don't think the difference in weight from say a 16 lb. bruce to a 22 lb. makes that much difference. What I feel does make a difference is how much surface area there is on the anchor that can dig into the bottom and hold the boat. The heavier anchor has more surface area and the new generations like the Manson have even more surface area for the same weight as older style anchors.

I'm a firm believer in more is better when it comes to ground tackle. If you never go out for more than 3-4 days you can be pretty certain of what the weather will be over that time period. More than that and you don't know what might happen. I don't want to be up all night worried about what could happen. I figure that if one anchors a few nights vs. going to a marina they could put that money to very good use in the way of anchors and rodes.

The only difference in anchoring with a 2 foot tide vs. a 6 foot one is that the boat can now be 4 feet higher than the anchor with the higher tide. If you use the 7:1 scope formula you would put out 28 more feet of rode. Figure your scope using the height from the deck to the water and the water depth where the anchor is at high tide. In Florida and the Bahamas where you don't get the tides of say the NE or NW I take the water depth at high tide and multiply that by 7 to 9 depending on what I think the weather is going to be and then let out my anchor not counting the 30 feet of chain but start counting my distance with the marks on the line. The 30 feet of chain takes care of the height from the water to the deck,

Sumner

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Trips to Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Canada, Florida

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NiceAft
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Re: Which Chain?

Post by NiceAft »

This is what I use for anchor retrieval.
Image

If it is not needed, then it's not needed. It does not interfere with getting the anchor back in the boat. There have been times though, where the anchor was quite stuck. In those instances, I was glad it was there.

The metal ring on mine is now elliptical. The lifting power is that strong so as to bend the ring.

Ray
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