anchor rope

W

Werner

Active member
I want to buy anchor rope for my 15.5 foot merrymeeting bay gunning float. I went to west marine and bought 1/4 inch g4 galvanized anchor chain. I now need to buy anchor rope.

I have a 10 pound hooker mushroom anchor and a 4 pound danforth anchor.

I would like to buy white 3/8 th inch three strand nylon rope. I read on US Boats.com that I should have 150 feet of this rope for a 16 foot boat.

I would like to have two anchor lines to keep the boat from drifting when I decide to do lay-out hunting.

I cannot pull up into the marsh where I plan to do my hunting and I may have to tie up to a buoy -I have a floating blind license.

I am confused about whether I should buy good quality rope from New England Ropes on sale at 53 cents per foot or go with a no name brand rope where 200 feet of rope will cost me under 60 dollars.

Water depths where I plan to be will be no more than 10 feet deep but there are waters that can be as much as 30 feet deep.

Also, my wife now thinks my boat is scrawny and wants a bigger boat -which we can't buy now.

Does it make sense to invest in the good USA made rope or will that rope need replacing anyway and should I should go with the cheaper rope and spend the money saved on better shackles and other hardware?

Your experience is much appreciated and I am over-thinking this so I need your insight.

When I grow up I would like to fix up my boat so it looks as nice as some of the other boats shown on this forum :) So that is a consideration too.

Thanks,

Werner
 
This is what I use for my 16ft fishing boat. home depot 3/8 rope Cheap and works well. The ones I buy are 100 foot lengths. You should be able to purchase longer lengths. Another option would be to couple two lengths together for those times when more than 100 foot is needed to hold your boat at that time under the present conditions.


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Werner~

Good questions on an interesting - and important - topic. Please bear with my dyed-in-the-wool traditional fussbudget approach.

Rope has many uses on and around boats, but as my good friend (and now licensed Captain) used to say: "There are no ropes on a boat."

Instead, "rope" is the material used for the many different applications. (Just as "lumber" is the material used for joists, studs, rafters, clapboards, etc.)

In this case, the line used to secure a boat to an anchor is a "rode" - as in "anchor rode".

The length of a rode has no bearing to the length of the boat. (But size of anchor and strength of the rope do.) The typical recommended length needed to safely anchor a boat - the "scope" - is 7 times the depth of the water. So, if you plan to anchor in water 20 feet deep, your anchor rode should be 7 x 20 = 140 feet. The important idea here, though, is to recognize that the 7 x depth recommendation is intended to withstand storm conditions. In my opinion, this is not needed for gunning a layout rig.

Since layout gunning is typically done in lighter winds (below 15 or so knots), the anchors and rodes should be sized for the expected conditions. The rode for the bow anchor needs to be only long enough to prevent dragging anchor. In my experience, a scope of 1:3 is sufficient. Similarly with the stern anchor, a scope as little as 1:2 can suffice. (On the other hand, if you have strong tidal currents, you may need significantly more scope.)

IF you are alone with your MMBGF - and not accompanied by a larger "mother ship/tender" - I would certainly have an anchor rode sufficient to handle anything your waters could throw your way (at least 7x maximum expected water depth). However, I would keep this anchor neatly stowed and plan/hope to never use it. My "big anchor" in my Sneakbox is stowed on a chock and the rode is coiled and lashed with light lines (slipped square knots in tarred decoy line) so it is neat and ready-to-use if the conditions warrant. Occasionally, if I had any concerns about crossing some big water in a big blow, I would rig the rode - through the bow eye and to the cleat on the foredeck - so I could drop the anchor quickly if worse came to worst.

For gunning as a layout, I would have a separate set of anchors. My personal preference is a 10-pound Navy (stockless) for the bow and a 6 or 8 pound mushroom for the stern; neither has chain. This approach is the same as that of using a "picnic anchor" on large boats. A small anchor can suffice because the boat is never left untended and the larger anchor can be rigged quickly if needed.

BTW: Both gunning anchors are always cleated to the boat where I can get easy access from the cockpit BEFORE I drop either anchor.

Finally, if you are going to retrieve your own downed birds, it is useful to have the bow anchor on a float. Your bow painter can be snapped to a ring on the float. So, when you come back from retrieving a bird, you will know your are still laying in the same location.

Rope Quality: I am a fan of traditional 3-strand rope - mostly because I can splice it easily. Nylon is better for anchor rodes than Dacron (polyester) or polypropylene because it has more stretch. You can certainly use lesser stuff for your gunning anchors - but your "storm anchor" needs to be good and strong.

Hamilton Marine, for example, is a vendor I have used for a long time. Their price for a 600-ft reel is very reasonable: https://shop.hamiltonmarine.com/products/commercial-3-strand-nylon-rope--foot-or-reel--42842.html

Hope this helps,

SJS
 
Get the cheaper nylon, there's not much difference between brands, also as Steve says, 7 to 1 is for storm conditions, 100 ft of line should be more then enough, but you need to be comfortable with your decision. Yes on chain for a Danforth type anchor, probably 6' is enough, that size boat you can get bye with a 4# anchor, but get the 7 for your main anchor. Make sure you use a thimble on the anchor side of the line spliced in, this is your "loop" where you will shackle your chain, and you will shackle the other end to your anchor, probably 5/16 or 3/8 shackles, Galv. dip is fine, stay away from electro plated galv. anything.
Make sure your anchor cleat is backed with a plate of wood, aluminun, something under the deck. Bolt it through, no screws,you don't want the cleat to pull out/off.
Put an anchor chock on the bow, helps with the line staying put and for chaffing. Install your anchor cleat further back from the bow where you can readily reach it from your cockpit, this way you don;t need to go up to the bow to pull the anchor, If it's rough you'll understand why pretty quick.
Never anchor with your stern to the wind. Ever.
That's anchoring 101, there's still more to learn grasshopper. LOL
 
Werner, I agree with the above posts. I keep two small grapple anchors with 12' of line for the stern and 30' for the bow. Navy anchor and 200' stored away for emergencies.
I usually buy whole spools. Have 5/16 and 3/8 on hand. You will use it and is cheaper by the spool.
 
In sea ducking conditions with strong currents and such, my anchor rope(s) are all 5/8" three braid with 6-8' of chain attached to a Danforth. That is for a rocky bottom. If I have to hold in strong current on a sandy bottom then I attached a 10lb mushroom to the head of the chain. Probably overkill for your boat, but I rely on my ropes a lot, to keep me in the spread and out of danger. I also attach the a mooring ball if I need to leave to chase cripples, but I always have my spare anchor in storage. If it were me, I would spend the money on a good set up and it would be on the heavy side of what I thought I needed. Slope is important and I look for at least a 45 degree angle of slope in the rope when I anchor. Good luck.
 
Werner, I am of the go big or go home camp. I like my anchors to hold without a lot of fuss. If you ever intent to use as a layout with a tender. Your layout bow anchor should be set sufficient to hold both the layout and the tender and hold well during the transfer of your gunners. Nothing worse than having everything set up just so, and then dragging the layout down into the long lines when you try to move a gunner from the tender.
 
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