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Posted

I have a Danforth and a folding type as second anchor.

 

I've found the danforth sometimes slips while the folding anchor is good but inconvienence to use.

 

Should I get a plough or bruce? And what weigh should it be?

Posted

Opinion will be split over this I suspect as much depends on the type of ground you fish, however the most common type for us here on the south coast seems to be the Bruce.

 

The plough is very similar, but has a pivot at 2 points of the anchor - the bruce is fixed.

 

The Bruce holds very well in sand, mud, clay, shingle and reefy ground and may only struggle on very heavy rocky ground. It relies heavily on using a decent length of heavy chain to hold the shank parallel to the sea bed to maximise holding power.

 

On my recent Sea Check it was advised that my 5kg Bruce was too light - they reckon on 1lb per foot of boat, so my Bruce weighs about 13lb and boat is 16.5'......it works for me! I would think that a 7.5KG Bruce using the same chain as you have at present will be fine.

 

Adam

Posted

guide here http://www.jimmygreen.co.uk/chandlery/anchors.htm would tend to back 5 kg Bruce/Claw.

I would favour a 5kg with 10m / 8mm chain over a 7.5kg on 6mm chain, or shorter length, when using these anchors. As Adam says they are sensitive to the angle of pull on the stock which works for us if used properly! Basically you can get the damm thing out of even thick clay by shortening up on it and letting wave action work it out. 7.5kg with 10m /8mm chain will weigh in at a total of 22.5kg which is starting to get a little heavy for easy handling - but still managable.

Posted

Duncan

 

Nice site although they are a little expensive.

 

Kam

 

I use a 7.5 kilo Bruce with the appropriate chain and generally dont have a problem, if I do it is usually my fault ie: not enough warp let out. The bruce imo is a far better anchor than either the Danforh or the plough, I have used both and found them to be inferior to the Bruce

 

Martin

Posted

yep was jsut trying to find an independant view!

 

If you want the full specs then this page http://www.bruceanchor.co.uk/cast.htm gives you anything and everthing re Bruce/Claw (but I would take the differences between Bruce and any copy with a pinch of salt as some are excellent, North Anchors, and some poor). I am also loath to take manufactures minimums at face value too as they have a vested interest in the figures.

Cynic - moi? rolleyes.gif

 

Whatever - perfect system IMHO for Newboy would be 5kg Claw, 10m / 8mm chain and 200m 10mm anchorplait. Chain could be switched to 6mm (weight) and the rode to 3 strand (price)and /or 100m (I'm never going to fish deep water).

Posted

As adam said opinions will be split but

 

here is my take on it........

 

There are several reasons why one would need to anchor. We as fishermen need to hold a boat in one position whilst we fish.

The very nature of this means that we are awake, watchfull and ever vigilant of our position relative to the sea bed.

 

To anchor overnight whilst the crew sleeps and no one is on watch is different. We have to cope with fluctuating tide levels, varying wind and current directions and speed.

So our anchoring needs to be of a more permanant nature.

These two varying situations are not taken into account by RNLI or RYA safety officers. They quite rightly work on a worse case senario and opt for a heavy

anchor and 30ft or so of chain before the rope.

For fishing like as not we will anchor in several places in one session, so

recovery also becomes an issue. Hauling in 30ft of 5/16th or even 3/16th chain attached to a 25lb anchor is hard and could strain one by the end of the day.

So I hope you will agree that for fishing a slightly different set up is needed than for anchoring up for the night.

 

For fishing 1lb of anchor weight per foot of boat is MORE than adequate for most fishing dighies and small boats (and lets not kid ourselves that's what most of us have got). A 15lb Fishermans and 6ft of chain before the rope will do for 90% of our needs. A fishermans is probably the best ALL ROUND anchor there is. It can be bettered by other anchors in certain conditions but all round it's the best. BUT very difficult to store when rigged so most of us have opted for the Bruce' type anchor which is brilliant on everything but really bad rocky ground and even then it's pretty good.

 

So for ease and convenience of use, a 5kg or 7.5kg Bruce type, linked to 6 ft of chain before the rope is more than ok.

 

Also rope thickness is an area where folk often go over the top. A thick rope is only needed for comfort of hold not for breaking strain. The pull of a boat at anchor is not going to be measured in tons. So go for the thinest rope that is comfortable to hold (usualy about 8mm or 10mm) going over that only increases the total drag on the whole lot in the water.

 

Finaly if you know that on a particular trip you are going to anchor up in a very bad rock/wreck strewn area and are worried about loosingyour expensive anchor, use a grapnell made up out of building re-bar.

This sort of thing is what a lot of charter boats use. They are easy to make and cost peanuts so to loose one is no pain. But they are as ugly as sin and rusty as well.

 

If you ever want one I will knock one up for you for the cost of the re-bar. (like

Posted

I have just one thing to add...

 

Whatever weight of anchor or length of chain you decide to use - if you are going to use an Alderney Ring to lift it from the sea bed...

 

just make sure the chain is heavier than the anchor.

 

Also some form of split link is better, than a shackle, to attach the chain to the warp... it's amazing how easy the Alderney Ring snags on the shackle pin... and while you're hauling the warp, the bouy keeps coming towards you - but the anchor is on the way to bottom again!

 

We've all been there, I'm sure?

 

Cheers,

Alan

Posted

Mike

 

I would agree with all you say except for the length of chain. For several reasons: It has been stated earlier in this thread that the primary reason for having chain is to weight the nose of the anchor so enabling it to be pulled into the ground you are trying to hold in, another reason is the length of chain acts like a shock absorber with the rise and fall of the boat, and as Alan has pointed out you need to counter balance the weight of the anchor when retreiving with an Alderney ring

 

 

Martin

 

Posted

Martin - as I understand it the primary reason for the chain is to avoid chafe.

With a Bruce being so sensitive to the angle of pull you have 2 choices - 1. Always use a scope of 6:1 or 2. cheat a bit and use a slightly longer/heavier bit of chain!

As you say the equation works out well when considering an Alderney ring too.

Posted

and can I add - do not to forget to set up the anchor so that it will trip ( I was blissfully uinaware what this mean't until I lost my first one, which was a daneforth and useless for rocky ground).

 

ie. Attach the chain to the bottom of the anchor and use a tie wrap to attach to the top of the anchor, leaving sufficient loose chain in between such that a hard pull on a jammed anchor will break the tie wrap and pull the anchor out backwards. ( apologies if I am telling you how to suck eggs smile.gif )

 

 

Posted

I would agree that (using the Alderny method) having a bit more chain to balance the weight of the anchor may be needed but lengths like 30ft of chain are just over the top and totaly unnessesary. Also if one keeps motoring slowly forward in a circle with the bouy in the centre the drag is sufficient to hold the anchor up by the bouy. Trust me as an old twit with less strenght than I used to I need to know how to make things as easy as possible. tongue.gif

 

The grab angle of the Bruce type is not that critical at all, I don't know where that came from. It is better than the Danforth and CQR. and with a reasonable amount of chain a 3 to 1 ratio of depth to anchor line scope is fine for fishing.

 

Mad Mike

 

 

OR ............let the bloke with 30ft of chain anchor up and we'll all tie on in a long line astern and he can do for the lot of us.

laugh.giflaugh.gif

Posted

Paul correctly adds

 

 

ie. Attach the chain to the bottom of the anchor and use a tie wrap to attach to the top of the anchor, leaving sufficient loose chain in between such that a hard pull on a jammed anchor will break the tie wrap and pull the anchor out backwards. ( apologies if I am telling you how to suck eggs

 

Not at all Paul I shoulda said that myself. We all take a tripping anchor for granted it's easy to forget there might be folk who have not come accross it before.

 

Mad Mike

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