If you’re new to sailing or owning a boat, you may still have some basic questions, including some about the all-important task of anchoring your boat properly. Not every anchor works for every watercraft, and some will serve you better than others, so how do you know how to choose the right anchor for your boat? Here are some things you should consider when deciding on the anchor that fits your boat the best.
Factors To Consider
There are three primary factors you should consider when deciding on the right anchor for your boat: how heavy the anchor should be, how much holding power it needs to have, and the conditions of the bottom of the body of water you’ll sail in. Once you consider each of these components, you’ll have a much clearer idea of what kind of anchor will suit your boat. Here are some of the important things to consider for each.
Anchor Weight
In most cases, you’ll want to go for a “bigger is better” approach to your anchors. It’s much better to deal with an anchor that’s too heavy than one that isn’t heavy enough since the latter won’t be able to secure your boat correctly. Most anchor manufacturers will give you a range of boat sizes that they recommend for use with their specific anchors; however, you will be the one hauling it around. If you can’t even lift the anchor, and you don’t have a mechanism to do it for you, you’ll strand yourself. Make sure you can handle the anchor’s weight on your own.
Holding Power
You might think that the holding power of the anchor relates heavily to its size and weight. While they do play into the holding power, they don’t have as much effect as you might think. A relatively lightweight anchor actually has a lot more holding power because of both ground suction and the weight of the water on top of it. You always want to know the anchor’s holding power, even more so than its weight, and consider how factors such as wind speed play into the amount of holding power you need.
Bottom Condition
The floor of whatever lake, bay, ocean, etc., you’re moored in plays an important role in anchor viability. Hard, sandy bottoms are easy to penetrate for most anchors, but that might not be the kind of water you use your boat on. Muddy or grassy bottoms are often more difficult to grab hold of, so in that case, you’ll need to rely more on the overall weight, rode chain specifications, anchor line length and specific design of the anchor to punch through and hold in these more difficult materials.
It is also important to know, that aside from your primary anchor, it is always recommended to have a secondary or emergency anchor on board, which is typically stowed aboard and manually deployed in certain conditions. Innovative Marine Group offers you the AnchorSuit as a great option for stowing your Fluke style and Fortress anchors so that it doesn’t accidentally damage your boat while stowed