Attaching an anchor to your anchor rope

[melony]

Hi Guys

I know this is a pretty stupid question but how do most people attach their anchor to their anchor rope, my first anchor was attached via a length of chain as supplyed by the boat shop, i simply tied this to a 30 meter lenght of marine grade rope, this lasted around 8 months, until last week it decided it was no longer my mate and let go while jigging for herring, off to the local fishing shop and bought another anchor only to loose this guy completely, no chain no nothing on the end of the rope this time.

so after 2 anchors in as just as many minutes i dont like this expensive sport of anchor tossing. so i have bought this

Convenient made up anchor rope. uv stabilized silver rope with stainless steel thimble spliced in one end, soft loop the other end.

i plan on attaching this to my new sand anchor via a lenght of chain and two of these baby's

Stainless 8mm D shackles

am i on the right track guys or do you have another idea

any info would and will be great

Thanks Melony

[wilcara]

Mate you are on the right track... however go get yourself a large stainless swivel too to help stop the rope twisting (the anchor spins on the way up) and when you do the d shackles, make sure you get ones with holes in the key, then you can put some cable tie or wire through it to stop them coming undone. Now I used to do mine up tight with pliers and still I have had two work loose, dunno how or why but it will happen without a tie. Cable ties are best because the wire can work loose and cut your hand. It can p!ss you off loosing anchors, especially if they are dear ones like sarcas.

[tenzing]

Probably better to use galvanized d shackles. Th stainless jobs are nice and smooth and have a habit of coming undone unless you use some wire as a safety, or even a strong cable tie. Otherwise you are on the right track
Brendan

[fez]

Yeah agree with Tenzing use gal D shackles the stainless ones do work loose over time. As stated before a zip ie through the hole in the pin this does help.

Cheers,
Fez

[wags on the water]

Agree with Wilcara. Do up shackles (stainless or gal - I've used both before) with the pliers then secure the pins with cable ties and never lost an anchor.

Cheers,
Wags

[twist]

Best I've found is to D-shackle the chain to the rope and then put a large carbine spring hook/snap hook on the other end. Then you just clip on which ever anchor you need at the time. All chandlery stoors have them they're great!

[melony]

Cool thanks guys for your input i just thought i may have had issues with my style of anchor attachment.

Wilcara where can i get hold of one of these swievel thing's

cheers
Melony

[BGG]

Melony
Did the first 2 you lost have spliced thimbles on the end?

[melony]

Hi BBG

no as the dodgey bastard of a boat dealer when we bought the boat gave me the anchor, chain and rope and had just tided it together with grannie knots as i would call it, the 2nd anchor i just did the same as i was only plannin on being out for an hour or two until i could redo the whole anchor rope etc.

this anchoring game is new to me as in the mighty murray u dont need an anchor it is full of awesome anchors right in prime fishing spots. hence why i had no idea if this is how the anchor should be attached or not.

now i have all the good info i should have no anchor issues

Melony

[Noelm]

OK, lets get the very basics right first off, you need to select an anchor to suit the bottom you are anchoring on, like a sand anchor will get snagged and lost on hard reef, a reef 'pick" will not hold in sand, there is a couple of "combination" types that are OK an a few types of bottom, but nothing is good for all, next up, how you attach the rope to the chain matters bugger all really, as long as it is a good knot or shackle, you need chain for the anchor to hold well, a general rule is about the boats length (roughly), you also need to allow enough rope for the anchor to work (scope) once again a general rule, about 3 times the water depth, so there you go, decide on anchor design, then add the required chain, attach rope via a shackle or good knot, let out plenty of rope and your done.

[wilcara]

Wilcara where can i get hold of one of these swievel thing's

Any of the boating stores or chandlers.... BCF and so on, just a very strong stainless swivel. Should be easy - if not, sing out and I'll find you one.

[wilcara]

In the Bias catalogue it is item 5334 and there is a smaller and a larger size. Get an oversize one for plenty of strength.