what's your favorite anchor?

[coolchange]

well after over 20 years of boating I had to cut loose my first anchor and chain....super bummed..it was a nice 10k bruce with 40' of chain. As far as the Bruce goes it was not perfect and often took a 2-3 tries to set over a rocky or hard bottom.but it sure held this time!

So, what is your recommendation...or warning? ( I anchor in pretty much everything but coral)

[WillieC]

Well first you have to tell us more! Stuck hard, eh? In rocks? On the Columbia? Anyway, sorry to hear about throwing gear away. Seems like I've read about people tying a fender on the rode and making attempts later.

There will be plenty of opinion on the "best" anchor.

[coolchange]

actually in the Willamette where there can be sand, mud, weeds, rocks, lava balls, logs,, etc....and if I were a scuba type or knew one (friend) I would offer a beer cruise to get it back but a pro diver would not pay

[Ben423]

I don't want to start another anchor war but I can say that after anchoring thousands of times in the last fifty years, IMHO, the new generation anchors, (think Manson/Rocna/Spade, etc.) are superior to older Danforth/CQR and other plow anchors. Over the last fifteen years we've used Manson and Rocna as our primary anchors while we cruised our sailboats (A Beneteau 36 and, later a Beneteau 423) from the US west coast to the Caribbean and back. Both were quick to set, reliable, and gave me peace of mind in all kinds of situations. In rocky areas, I always rigged a buoyed tripline so we have never lost an anchor. I wouldn't get too fired up over one brand or another, just make sure your anchor is a good quality unit with chain at least 2x the length of your boat. Today we use a Rocna 10 on our 28 TE.

[WillieC]

Of course, the Willamette. Back in the day, on a friend's boat, after too many refreshments we drifted aground twice on the same day in the Willamette. We had a lot of fun just poking around. He was in one of the forklift marinas on Hayden Island. He got real good at slipping that boat given the raging current in the Columbia slough, even after our after-work cool down cruises. RIP, Dave. Agent Orange got him some 20 years ago.

Threadwise, we could have avoided grounding just by throwing a lead ball overboard, like the driftboats do in the Deschutes.

[Panhdjoe]

The best anchor is more scope.

[RobS]

And chain

[jleonard]

Most of my boating has been in areas with a mud bottom.
For that the Danforth shines. I never dragged with a Danforth.
I have dragged with a "plow" style specifically a Delta.
However when I cruised in Canada I used the Delta because Danforths don't do well in weedy bottoms.
And always with either all chain or 20 plus feet of chain.

[Panhdjoe]

Along the lines of what Jleonard is saying, I believe there is no one best anchor. It really depends what sort of bottom your normal cruising grounds have. On our 36 I use a 45# CQR with 30ft. of 5/16 chain spliced to 200ft 5/8 rope. for our main anchor, and also carry a fully rigged Fortress F16 for certain Chesapeake mud bottoms. I have never used a Rocna but I do not buy into the thing that they are the greatest ever. For mud the fortress is excellent. BTW knock on wood I have never drug anchor. I always use a minimum of 4 to 1 scope and usually more and back down to set the anchor.

[Panhdjoe]

Forgive me for triple dipping, I just wanted to mention, I see lots of million dollar plus boats roll through our marina with a CQR hanging off the nose.

[coolchange]

so here is the rest of the story....would love to have one of the Mantus/Rocna/etc..high end new style anchors but $$ and I found a 33lb delta at the consignment shop (oversized but hey I have a winch)..so got that and 25' of chain $300 for all. Next I watched a few videos on getting the chain onto the 200' 5/8 3 strand and I am now an excellent splicer...3rd try is a charm.
What I found is a video that had me double the length of the splice and after doing 8 or so inches of full size weaving cutting out 1/2 of the strands in all 3 major strands and then continuing the weave another 8 inches or so....the idea is a tapered line that will not jam in the windlass...so far it actually works

[DesertAlbin736]

I have the same 10kg/22 lb Bruce type as you lost, + 26 ft of chain & 1/2 inch 3 strand totaling nearly 300 ft total length of rope + chain. Actual Belgian made Bruce brand, not a generic claw clone. Our backup anchor is 18 lb Danforth clone with 6 ft of chain & total of 125 ft of rode. If I lost our Bruce I'd be asking the same questions. On our local Lake Pleasant the water level was raised by 100 ft in 1996 with construction of a new dam which flooded previously raw desert & mesquite trees. They moved & transplanted all the impacted Saguaro cacti but left the trees in place, so they're still a snag hazard in the coves where we anchor in 25 to 30 ft of water. Many anchors have been lost to "Treezilla". What we do is anchor fore & aft to prevent swinging & having the chain wrap around a tree.