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From: (no name) (no email)
Date: Wed Jun 27 2007 - 19:02:56 EDT
This posting is just coincidental with the current spate of hurricane mooring
comments, but I've finally achieved, what for me, is the perfect anchor rode.
My boat is usually kept at a mooring. But when bad storms are predicted we
anchor out at least 1/4 mile from other boats. Most of the storm damage to my
boat has been caused not by the wind or storm surge but by other boats breaking
free of their moorings and banging through the anchorage.
I carry three anchors aboard my Willard, a large Fortress, an ancient CQR and
a Danforth HT with sharpened flukes. Most of my current cruising is done in
the Hudson Valley, L.I. Sound, the Jersey shore and the Chesapeake. All have
mud or clay bottoms where a large fluke area provides the best holding. Hence
the easy lifting Fortress is the one that gets used most of the time. The 12 lb.
Danforth HT is used in grassy bottoms where the sharpened flukes cut
through matted grass and weeds. Most other anchors just skip over the bottom.
I am a firm believer in the elasticity of nylon loaded to a substantial
portion of its breaking strength. Stretch prevents the anchor from being jerked out
by transient wave action. On the other hand, a nylon rope tends to abraid
fairly easily and, if not kept wet, may actually melt its fibers under extreme
stress. Polyester line (dacron) is much more resistant to abrasion and strain,
but has little elasticity. In recent articles, the Dashews advocated a braided
dacron line as an anchor rode, apparently willing to sacrifice stretch for
abrasion resistance. For me, chain is out of the question because my boat is not
big enough to handle 200 lb. of extra weight in the bow.
A few years ago, MIT researchers advocated a composite rode with a dacron
pennant leading from the bow spliced to a nylon line. The splice, actually formed
of two interlocking eye splices, was underwater so that the junction would
always be kept wet. This composite splice melded the abrasion resistance of
dacron with the elasticity of nylon, offering the best of both worlds. Tests to
destruction showed that the rode never failed at the splice.
So my "ideal" rode consists of a 100 ft. length of 1/2" dacron 8 strand braid
(Brait) spliced to 120 feet of 1/2" nylon Brait which in turn is shackled to
20' of 3/8" chain attached to the Fortress anchor.
I have not tested this in extreme conditions but we did have a storm with 40
kt. winds last week and nothing dragged or broke when we were anchored in 20'
of water. I'll give a further report after hurricane season.
Larry Z
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