Tony-B...
Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 6:48pm
Post Subject:
Anchor
What do you mean by "best"? Any anchor is normally a compromise between weight, ease of stowing, ease of handling and effectiveness across a range of bottoms. Most narrowboats use pivoting fluke anchor of a type generically known as a Danforth anchor (Danforth is a trade name) because it can be stowed horizontally or vertically virtually flat. This type is said to be better at holding in sand and mud than in weed. Then you have the plough anchors like the CQR and later designs but they are far less easy to stow on a narrowboat. Traditional fisherman's anchors (the sort they put on broaches and in pictures) need assembling before deploying and have to be heavier than other types to get the same holding power. I could not recommend one of these. You can also get folding "grappling hook" type anchors with 4 prongs that unfold. I would never use one of these as a primary anchor. It is important that you have a fair length of chain between the anchor and rope (perhaps 4 or 5 metres) and a long enough rope that is SECURELY fixed to a strong-point on the hull. The chain ensures as near a horizontal pull on the anchor as possible. The length of rope depends upon the depth you are anchoring in. Seek local advice about the Trent but I have about 20 metres. You will find anchor weight recommendations based upon the weight of your boat but these often produce an anchor weight for a narrowboat that many people could not lift so make sure that you can lift the anchor plus the chain without help. I think my anchor and chain on a 54ft boat weighs about 25Kg and its a bit of a struggle to recover it around the cratch board. I hope this helps but the choice of anchor type is yours. Some of the newest designs of plough anchor are available in light allow and it is claimed they perform as well as much heavier danforth types. Tony Brooks
