Had trouble anchor grabbing

B

Brettlosey25

New Member
Jun 2, 2021
18
Boat Info
1991 Sea Ray 310
Engines
454 Mercruoser w/Bravo III
I feel very ashamed with asking this, but we had trouble with our Sea Ray 310 anchor setting this past week. We were in about 10 feet of water and I let out about 40 feet of anchor chain and the anchor just kept dragging. I've never experienced anything like this before, but it was so unbelievably frustrating. The bottom was a sandy muck and the anchor type was a large fluke anchor that I've used many times before.
Any tips on ensuring an anchor grabs?
 
No big deal - seems you simply didn't let enough scope out - 70 to 80 feet would probably rectify.
Then gently back the boat away and let the boat drift to let the anchor start to grab then once it grabs drop in reverse for an instant to set.
 
pretty much the minimum scope for an anchor to set is 3:1, but 5:1 or more is preferred to set, you can pull some back in if you need less scope because of room, but 3:1 is about as short as I would go in any situation.

Scope is measured from the sea floor to where the anchor attaches to the boat. Guessing your bow is at least 3' from waters surface so your "about 10 feet" is actually 13' or maybe it was 15'. So with about 40' you were at absolute minimum to get a set.

Also people tend to back down pretty hard on power boats, its super easy to rip a not quite full set anchor out with a power boat in reverse.

You also mention you let out 40' of chain, was it all chain or chain and rope? If combo how much chain do you have? The general rule of thumb is at least as long as your boat is best. If you only had 10-15' of chain and had less than or right at 3:1 scope its easy to not get a good set. The more chain the less scope needed.
 
I agree with ttmott. I use a ratio of at least 6:1. It took me far to long to learn that.
 
Sometimes if the wind is moving you will be dragging it too fast to set. Sometimes you need to let out the chain and then slowly back away by letting the wind blow you back and using a bit of engine to slow it to a slow crawl until it sets. The initial set is a slow process so have to be moving very slowly to not just drag across the bottom.

Also recall that your pulpit is about 5 ft off the water so to get to 5:1 in 10 feet of water you need 55ft of rode out.
 
I always find the ratio interesting. If you go by the ideal 7:1 ratio, I would need to have 350' for 50' of water. I'm sure that's ideal for rope and chain, but even at a minimum ratio I should have 200'. Just this past weekend I was in 50' of water and I was able to anchor fine in a pretty good current with only a max of 142' of chain. That's anchor locker to the anchor and I hadn't let every last foot out.
 
The previous owner of my 98 290 DA had a Fluke and that dam thing sucked for the areas I wanted to anchor plus it didn't sit right in the windless. Once I found out the boat came with a Delta I purchased a new one and some nice tackle and it anchors like a dream now. I anchor in mostly mucky river bottoms.

I've also watched some very informative youtube videos on anchoring which goes into depth about how much rode and in what kind of conditions. Pull up a few with fluke anchors and see if there's a trick that would be beneficial.
 
We anchor in 50+ feet most of the time. We drop anchor to bottom then back up slowly letting out 4 times the depth and continue until the chain get taught. Some tomes it slips.
 
I switched to a Vulcan and never had a problem again. That being said see if one of your friends will let you try their plow anchor? I think one time will convince you to upgrade your anchor.
 
Brettlosey25 said:
I feel very ashamed with asking this, but we had trouble with our Sea Ray 310 anchor setting this past week. We were in about 10 feet of water and I let out about 40 feet of anchor chain and the anchor just kept dragging. I've never experienced anything like this before, but it was so unbelievably frustrating. The bottom was a sandy muck and the anchor type was a large fluke anchor that I've used many times before.
Any tips on ensuring an anchor grabs?
Click to expand...
As the thread is showing anchoring is a combination of anchor type, bottom features and operation. There is no one size fits all. Another case of boating is not simple.

Operation is about depth and scope, if your lifting the shank upward at all it is not going to set well. And it will break out easier as the boat swings with wind and tide. More scope is almost always better.

Bottom features; grass, loose mud/muck, hard mud, loose sand, hard packed sand, rocky.

A fluke anchor (Danforth type) is good on a loose sand or soft mud that it can bight into. Hard sands or really hard packed mud it will skip along the surface. Grassy tend not to dig into the roots and just tangle in the grass. More scope helps, a flatter pull. They tend to be light weight and easy to handle.

Deltas/plows tend to be heavier, which helps setting. They will bight into a wider range of bottom types.

I changed from a 20lb OEM Danforth (which for a 30' 11,000lb boat is not much more than a lunch hook) to 35lb Delta. The Delta is harder to handle but much more consistent holding.
Next adding a windlass and much more chain.
 
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