Boat Anchors 101: How to Choose [Capable Cruising]

Emily & Clark's Adventure

How do you choose the right anchor for your boat and sailing style? In this episode of the Capable Cruising Guide, Clark helps Day Sailors, Coastal Cruisers and Voyagers select the right anchoring gear. Covered in this video are: 1) Intro to the Capable Cruising Guides [00:15] a. Voyagers [00:22] b. Coastal Cruisers [00:35] c. Day Sailors [00:52] 2) What’s an anchor? [01:06] 3) Who needs an anchor? [01:33] 4) Anchor examples, variety and assembly [02:20] a. Northill [03:16] b. Fortress [03:22] 5) Terms and parts [3:42] a. Shank [3:48] b. Stock [3:54] c. Fluke [4:08] d. Point [04:22] e. Rode [04:52] - 3-strand nylon - braided nylon - polypropylene - high-test chain, BBB) f. Snubbers [09:06] g. Devil’s claw, chain hooks and roller hitch knots [09:57] 6) How to choose anchoring gear for your sailing style [10:57] a. Voyager [11:46] b. Coastal Cruiser [13:09] c. Day Sailor [14:16] d. REVIEW [14:53] 7) Anchor types and shapes [15:09] a. Traditional / Fisherman (e.g., Northill) [15:25] b. Flat / Danforth (e.g., Fortress) [15:52] c. Plows (e.g., CQR) [16:29] d. New Generation (e.g., Rocna, Mantus, Spade) [17:24] 8) Operations [17:50] 9) Maintenance [18:03] a. REVIEW [23:14] 10) Pros and cons, effectiveness, bottom types [23:31] a. Traditional / Fisherman [23:35] b. Flat / Danforth [26:02] c. Plow [28:17] 11) Cost and savings [29:12] 12) DIY options [32:15] 13) REVIEW [32:53] 14) Join the discussion [33:12] LINKS TO ITEMS MENTIONED / SHOWN IN THIS VIDEO: - Nylon rope: https://amzn.to/2rr0Biw - Good polypropylene line: https://amzn.to/2QgG9Q8 - "Devil's Claw" style anchor snubber: https://amzn.to/2Sw0tcY - Fortress FX 55 anchor: https://amzn.to/2EgeMzp - Danforth anchor: https://amzn.to/2L3iOve - The Rocna I intend to buy next: https://amzn.to/2PoKyLo - The Spade I like: https://amzn.to/2Qfoet3 - My Ultimate Hat™ has sadly been discontinued, but you can buy the next best thing here: https://amzn.to/2L1gTaJ Just a note: we have been learning a lot about sound equipment and editing, and are pretty happy with how the sound in this video turned out! But we will be focusing some more time and effort on color correction in the future to get a more consistent look across clips and cameras. Thanks for continuing to support our adventures as we improve production. --- PLEASE SUBSCRIBE! Follow Emily & Clark's Tiny Adventure blog: svtemptress.com Facebook and Instagram: @emilyandclark -- CONSIDER SUPPORTING OUR PROJECTS (FOR AS LITTLE AS $1) https://www.patreon.com/emilyandclark

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Reviews 6 years ago 6,753 views

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Most popular comments
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David Turner - 5 years ago

Thanks Clark. Great explanation of the various Anchor types. What would you recommend for a 31ft Sailing Yacht which I will live on full time on the Brisbane River in Queensland Australia. This is a Blue Water capable Yacht (Peterson). Would a new medium sized Rocna be the way to go?

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 5 years ago

All the new generation anchors are great. We just signed a deal with Mantus. Rocna also made us an endorsement offer but we liked the Mantus slightly better. I think the Mason is a fine choice as well.
These anchors work well in most bottoms I understand (I'll know more with first hand experience). But if you aren't traveling far a specialized anchor might be best. See what other sailors are using locally.

Kayak Amy - 5 years ago

Great video, Clark. The only boat I own is my sea kayak, but I find your informative videos really interesting. You have a great teaching style. Thanks! :)

Sasquatch Hadarock - 5 years ago

Bent anchors: they can't be bent back?

Sasquatch Hadarock - 5 years ago

Halfway through the video I'll say it again: Great video!

Sasquatch Hadarock - 5 years ago

Great video! I wish more sailors had videos like this.

Bob Fomenko - 5 years ago

Anchors are always a touchy subject in the sailing world! Nice job on covering it. I of course have my own ideas, some thru experience, some from reading. Have used cqr, bruce and danforth. Like them all, but my next boat would have a manson supreme or Rocna over sized as my primary anchor. Backup would be a cqr or bruce again over sized. Bruce is a great anchor, used successfully by many over the years.Steve Dashew swears by it. All his boats had one, a big one.But it wouldn't be my first choice. A fortress and a paul Luke for storm conditions in the bilge. The fortress on the stern. All chain rode, not HT, only bbb on the primary anchor. Chain should be heavy.Its the heavy chain and catenary that holds you. No snubber or swivel. Snubbers while good for moderate conditions, can cause your boat to move to much with eh elasticity. And this can cause most boats to head off and go beam to. That can cause your anchor to drag. Have enough rode so that you can cut your chain and anchor loose from the deck. Windless is very important as is a chain stopper. Don't forget a series drogue sea anchor!
Also, very important, you could have the best setup but the skill required is acquired over time. Proper scope is important. If possible dive the anchor to make SURE its good. AS you said, a good anchor system is piece of mind, better than insurance. Only a fool would make his own anchor imo. Great video.

Michael N - 5 years ago

Thank you... Great information and great delivery of it... Appreciate your efforts and a really nice video...Cheers

Hayden W - 5 years ago

Thanks Clarke for putting this in simple terms, I’ve been following this investment series and have been inspired to start a investment portfolio which I’m two months into and buying monthly. We in new Zealand have a company called Sharesies which lets you start investing with as little as 1$
I like your buy and hold philosophy and good to see those historical graphs to inspire confidence.
Cheers Hayden

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 5 years ago

I hope more New Zealanders find out about Sharesies. How about putting together a social media share with that information and my video playlists?

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 5 years ago

Thanks Hyden it always feels so good when I hear of someone that started taking charge of their lives based on my videos.

No worries about commenting on the wrong video. Shows me that you are watching the non financial ones. Thanks

Hayden W - 5 years ago

Whoops some how commented on wrong video!!!

STC Fabworx - 5 years ago

Very interesting and informative video! I have a design I am working on for an anchor it’s still in my cad and I’m constantly making adjustments. But there are a lot of similarities to your regular sailboat anchor. For small vessels first to see how hardy it is. Thank you for the video! Also I like the regular 3 braid line for splicing simplicity. I worked on tugs for 13 years and actually made fenders from our old 3 braid mooring lines. Those where fun times.

10. comment for Boat Anchors 101: How to Choose [Capable Cruising]

wayne mazan - 5 years ago

Very well done, thanks

Eric Garner - 5 years ago

Great information. Thank you!!!!!

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 5 years ago

You're welcome Eric. We have another anchoring video in the works.

Wildly Intrepid Sailing - 5 years ago

Best video we have seen on anchors. Very in depth. Thanks for the tools we needed to make a better decision on our anchor choice. Going to look into a devil's claw and a polypropylene line. Cheers

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 5 years ago

Thanks for watching.

zen.passion.adventure - 5 years ago

after watching MANY reviews, it seems that the MANTUS or ROCNA anchors are the best new design technology. have you used either of these??

also i heard from many people that a good rule of thumb for chain length is 1.5 times the length of your vessel.

i hope this helps and i will be buying BOTH a mantus/rocna anchor AND 50ft of chain for my 33ft sailboat this month. i absolutely want a ZERO QUESTION situation for myself.

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 5 years ago

I like both of those anchors and the spade as well.
It looks like Mantus may be giving us an anchor. It looks like a great choice, I'll be happy to use it of the offer comes through.

I think chain length is more a function of the deepth you anchor in and bottom type than your boat length. But for a mixed chain rope system 50 feet of chain seems like plenty.

Gavin Grantham - 5 years ago

Thank's Clark, your thoughts of advice have been inspirational as I have not thought about anchors in this way, I am currently still a couch sailor with the eye of turning my dreams into reality as I have not found my FIRE which I am still busy working toward. Fair winds and safe sailing.

zen.passion.adventure - 5 years ago

after sitting a night at anchor 2 nights ago in 25kts winds with my danforth stressing out because i was 3ft away from the rocky shoreline - i finally purchased a 35lb CQR plow anchor again for my 33ft ranger sailboat.

i cannot thank you enough for this video Clark as it was inspiring to me and i now have piece of mind leaving my boat to go onshore in any conditions in the bay pretty much. ...(for less than $300 investment too)

i also decided it was time for me to get enough chain for EACH anchor - which i learned a good rule of thumb is about 1.5 times the length of your vessel.

i believe i will still only primarily use the danforth with the 50ft of chain, but i know i always have that GREAT second option to throw that heavy CQR out in heavy weather just in case.

my boating experience just became about 1000 times more enjoyable and i will have them any where i choose to roam now. (dana point, long beach, + catalina/channel islands next!)

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 5 years ago

Thanks.
I remember sailing in that area on my way from Seattle to Panama. The channel island way out, the one with the stellar sea lions, was quite a challenge. Lots if wind and fog. If you head out there you will be glad you have good gear.

Thanks for watching. Please subscribe. We have more anchoring videos coming, on techniques.

Rhys Thomas - 5 years ago

This video is really good quality. All the little diagrams and charts combined with the clear lessons from someone who clearly knows what he is talking about with plenty of experience. 10/10. YouTube should be proud!

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 5 years ago

Thanks Rhys. Clark has the knowledge and Emily has the design/editing/presentation skills. We make a good team -E&C

CHRIS198490 - 5 years ago

where the video was shot this anchorage looks nice

bob frost - 5 years ago

Old Ivan ,a retired tugboat operator [Panama canal]that had lived on his sailboat most of his life told me that a sailboat needs a plow type anchor with lots of chain on account of its motion in a storm being different from other type boats.The same man used to tell me that the enemy of a sailboat was not the open sea in a storm but land.Great video !!!Thank you!!

Andrew H - 5 years ago

Great video!! I am a novice anchorer, so I am definitely naive, is there a need for a swivel in the rode/anchor system? As well, what other connecting tackle would you recommend between the rode and anchor? Thanks for the education.

20. comment for Boat Anchors 101: How to Choose [Capable Cruising]

Hugo Benitez - 5 years ago

You've quickly become one of my favorite channels. Thank you for the walk through on anchors !

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 5 years ago

You are very welcome, Hugo. Thanks for saying.

Emrah Göksoy - 5 years ago

Thanks for the info. I have learned much.

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 5 years ago

You are welcome. Thank you for visiting our channel.

Florest - 5 years ago

Freak yah thanks! Love the channel

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 5 years ago

Thanks Florest. Hope you subscribed.

Steve Angell - 5 years ago

Great episode. Thanks for sharing. My wife and I plan to set sail in a few years and we have slowly started our research. Our boat came with two anchors, but we have yet to anchor out and see how well they work. One is a CQR but not sure what it weighs. Always nice to hear what someone else is using who is out there sailing now. :)

wayne riley - 5 years ago

awesome!! I have been watching sailing videos for months in preparation for my own sailing voyage in a couple of years, and in the first 10 mins of this vid I've learned more than all the other vids and books put together - thank you so much. I'm now going to go back and start taking notes.

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 5 years ago

Thanks Kevin, I agree she has brought our game way up. We will be getting new cameras, faster computers and better sound equipment very soon. You wouldn't believe the crappy gear we use now. Life is about to get so much easier once we get back to the US where we can get these things delivered.
So much thanks to our patrons who are helping with those purchases.

Kevin Reems - 5 years ago

Seriously! Most of the other stuff on youtube is an excuse to get views and show off bikini chicks. You two have legit knowledge to go with the looks. Also kudos to Emily's editing. It has vastly improved since the beginning. I'm still working my way through all of your vids and will continue to follow you guys once caught up!

wayne riley - 5 years ago

@Emily & Clark's Adventure Perhaps you should consider putting all your knowledge in a book, to help fund your lifestyle. I'm not sure of the economics of that, ie time it takes vs return, but Sailing Britican do this so I suspect it's worthwhile.

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 5 years ago

Also, you might be interested to know we are planning at least two more anchoring videos. One on how to use the anchors to hold your boat safe and one on advanced anchoring techniques.

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 5 years ago

Wow, what a nice compliment! That is exactly why we started this series. This month, we are working on a video about dinghies. Hopefully that will be a good one for you, too. Please let us know if there are other topics that you think would make good "101" videos. Cheers -E&C

Thecrush145 - 6 years ago

No steel toe sandals? Safety man safety.. LOL

Craig Overend - 6 years ago

Lots of good info there Clarke. What make and how old was your friend's stainless anchor that failed?

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 6 years ago

I'm really not sure. I suspect it was not a product from a major anchor producing company. But it was long enough ago that I'm sure it wasn't a Chinese discount product. I do remember that it was cast.

MiQ Bohlin - 6 years ago

Great m8's! Looking forward to your anchoring technic episode. ⚓

Sailing High Seas - Boat Vlog - 6 years ago

Very informative.

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 6 years ago

Thank you. And Thanks for commenting to say so. We really appreciate the feedback.

John Lennie - 6 years ago

Thanks Clark, I had wished for some anchor knowledge when I started out. I actually had an anchor bend and I woke up a mile from where I anchored. I'm a coastal cruiser with an over sized Rocna, 100' of chain and 200' of nylon rode. I use a snubber for its stretching but also to reduce the scope required. Those of us who cruise a lot know that anchoring is THE MOST IMPORTANT SKILL. You want to have a good sleep and know you'll wake up in the same place you were when you went to bed. It's ironic that you used Lake Ontario as your fresh water, no tide example. That's where I took my lessons to learn how to sale. I've got my intermediate sailing certification and I didn't do one course on anchoring. Cheers and we'll see you soon in GT.

30. comment for Boat Anchors 101: How to Choose [Capable Cruising]

FukTheNewCommentSystem - 6 years ago

Great vid. The transitions are a bit jarring - consider doing a full color correction/leveling on the clips so the color, saturation, and brightness are the same. Keep up the great topics!

Edit: Holy Lord! The entire video topic is indexed with direct links to individual points in the video! AWESOME WORK!

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 5 years ago

Yep. Thanks Kevin.

That was one of our earlier videos. We have gotten a bit better I hope. What we really want now, and will get as soon as we sail back to the US is a gray card. That is going to make color correction much less subjective.

Kevin Reems - 5 years ago

@Emily & Clark's Adventure I use Sony Vegas but I'm sure Adobe is similar. What I do is put footage from each camera on it's own video channel on the time line. I would also do any audio/video syncing at this time. Then I do color correction on the entire channel for each camera (as opposed to color correcting each clip of video). Also apply some sharpening, levels etc. Then edit the footage. What's great is that if you need to change the color again later it's simple. You can also still do further corrections on a clip by clip basis. Hopefully that makes sense. But the main idea is to have separate video and audio channels for each recording device.

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 6 years ago

Just a follow-up to this, we've been looking into color correction. It seems like there are no magic fixes, but we are learning how to use Adobe. We are first going to aim for consistency across clips, then hone our skills in correcting to "true color." Feel free to let is know what you think on the next one! -Emily

FukTheNewCommentSystem - 6 years ago

@Emily & Clark's Adventure Sorry, nope, no dice on the Adobe video editing; I use Kdenlive (on Debian Linux). It's free, works well on lower-cost hardware.

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 6 years ago

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I realized after I was about halfway through editing that I should have done color correction on the raw videos first. Also, half was shot around noon with high sun, and the other half just an hour before sunset. And of course the boat rotates constantly with the wind, changing the angle of the sun! We are learning. Any videos or channels you recommend that can help me learn more about color adjustment in Adobe Premiere Pro? Thanks for encouraging us to up our game with production -Emily

SV Amandolin - 6 years ago

Great Vid. I just hauled 125ft of 3/8 chain to the scrap yard per many boater blog suggestions. A lot of work for $14.58! 200ft 3/8 bbb ordered for March. Odd Question, where did you get the hat? I need one of them.

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 6 years ago

That was so nice of you. We will always remember you as our first patron.

SV Amandolin - 6 years ago

@Emily & Clark's Adventure Maybe, I will be watching your vids. Just "Bought you a Beer" on Patreon Your first!! I try to support all this great content on Youtube. Fair Winds!

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 6 years ago

Georgetown area. Our exact bay we don't broadcast on YouTube. Don't want it filling up and it can be challenging to anchor in. But we aren't hiding, Emily is the local VHF net coordinator, everyone knows us down here.

I think we will be headed to Columbia/Panama next fall. So I guess we won't run into each other. Maybe down the road.

SV Amandolin - 6 years ago

@Emily & Clark's Adventure Thank you. it is an F&C 44 built in Argentina. German Frers design.
Your vids are top notch. I consume many sailing vids and you have sage advise and a nice way about you both. Heading to Bahamas next fall, currently getting new gelcoat on the entire cabin top. Where are you anchored in this vid if you can disclose??

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 6 years ago

PS. You have a very pretty boat. Love the old counter sterns.

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 6 years ago

It's an "ultimate hat". I've worn one since I went out cruising in 2000. They have been great and last a long time. I added three braided shoestrings.

Sadly we just did a search and found they are no longer made. We are playing with affiliate links. Emily just put a link in the description for a canvas Tilly. Basically the same as as what I wear. If you click the link we get some money if you buy something. I don't think it has to be the hat, basically anything you buy on Amazon after you follow our link helps us.

SV Amandolin - 6 years ago

I will buy before new season and definitely use your link. Great vid. Very informative.@LongDistanceSailor

Scott W - 6 years ago

Been looking forward to your next post. Strange coincidence is that I was just looking at a few anchor videos.

Regards,
Scott

LongDistanceSailor - 6 years ago

You are welcome. So nice of you to say.

Scott W - 6 years ago

@Emily & Clark's Adventure - To be honest, I did not do a search. I am a subscriber and got a notification. When I saw the title I thought, "Wow! this guy is reading my mind!"

Many thanks for the time and effort you put into this.

Kind regards,
Scott W.

Scott W - 6 years ago

@Emily & Clark's Adventure - actually, this was the best video I have ever seen on anchors. The chart at the end was very helpful - I took a screen shot and saved it to a file. I really liked your advice to buy a used "patent" anchor in good shape. The short answer to your question is "No. you were very thorough".

I do look forward to seeing the video on anchoring techniques.

Best regards,
Scott

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 6 years ago

Do you have any questions I can answer?

Emily & Clark's Adventure - 6 years ago

Glad to hear we can be found with a search. We only just put this video up. We are still editing the description. You found it fast.

We have several more anchoring videos in the works. All about "how to anchor". Basic to advanced tricks.