Anchoring Mooring

When it comes to deicers, proper installation is key. Here are some tips to ensure your setup will optimize ice removal.

In this report, we continue our investigation into shackles, re-testing one shackle that fell below the makers specifications, Canada Metal Pacifics black-pin Titan shackle, and testing for the first time a widely used shackle from West Marine. We also offer our initial findings on two stainless-steel shackles: the Tecni-lift 316 bow shackle and a no-name stainless-steel shackle marked Hong Kong, which is representative of the many generic stainless shackles youll find in hardware stores and some chandleries.

Weve long been interested in drogues, devices specifically designed to be towed behind a boat to reduce speed and to produce directional stability in heavy weather. Our last major drogue test was in 2009, when noted marine writers and circumnavigators Evans Starzinger and Beth Leonard shared their storm tactics (see Heavy Weather Sailing Tactics". Another relevant article, Sea Anchors and Drogues, compared a variety of drag devices. If you are interested in purchasing a drogue, we recommend reading the archive articles along with this report.

We did not test every drogue that appears in the accompanying table, PS Value Guide: Drogues. However, we collected a huge amount of test data and observations from model testing and from multiple sources, including Victor Shanes Drag Device Database (www.dragdevicedb.com), and incorporated these into our test findings.

When youve tested anchors as long as Practical Sailor has, you feel pressed to explore unconventional arrangements that others advocate-particularly if the advocates include experienced sailors and a major anchor manufacturer. Such is the case with the tandem anchor setup, in which two anchors are connected to a single rode leading to the boat. The anchoring system is widely discussed on online sites catering to cruisers and is endorsed by at least one manufacturer, Rocna, which has encouraged tandem anchoring with the placement of a special hole at the base of the Rocna shank for shackling on a second rode and anchor.

Recent tests on a miserable holding bottom in the Chesapeake Bay (see PS, February 2015 online) showed that conventionally sized anchors just don't hold in a soupy bottom. Those that can-pivoting fluke anchors-arent always the easiest to set, and security during wind shifts is much debated. Setting a second anchor is an option-one weve studied previously (see Tropical Storm Dos and Donts, PS November 2011 online)-but tandem rigs intrigued us. Could two anchors on a single rode provide more secure holding in tricky bottoms, and if so, what is the ideal arrangement? We were particularly interested in single-line tandem rigs (which Rocna designer Peter Smith referred to in his report) and V-tandem rigs (which several PS contributors have had success with).

The consensus among anchor makers (Fortress, Bruce, Manson, Mantus) is that holding power in soft bottoms increases in approximate proportion with anchor mass; exponents range from 0.92 to 1.0. While there are differences between models and manufacturers, a 35-pound Mantus should hold roughly 18 times more than a 2-pound Mantus, and a Fortress FX-16 should hold four times more than a Guardian G5.

This months report on tandem anchoring rigs was on my mind as the winds began gusting above 30 knots in the Dry Tortugas. Wed stopped there to wait out the passing of a late-season cold front during our recent voyage from Sarasota, Fla., to Havana, Cuba, aboard a friends 42-foot Endeavor, Lost Boys.

A well-secured boat in the best-designed marina can't be expected to survive a direct hit from a hurricane. Major boat-insurance companies recommend hauling out and tying down your boat, but that isn't always an option, nor is it any guarantee.

Practical Sailor has covered storm preparation on several occasions. The two most extensive articles appeared in July 2008 Gear for Battening Down Ahead of Storms, and Tropical Storms Dos and Donts, from November 2011. We also have an online article How to Help Your Boat Survive a Major Storm. What follows are just a few tips relevant to securing your boat in a marina when you have exhausted all other safer alternatives.