Main Anchor, chain and rode specifications

[Ozzie]

My Danforths seem to work Ok in Lake Mac, but sand is not the same everywhere I guess. The sand at One Mile near port Stephens is super fine but our local sand on Blacksmiths beach is much larger grains, May have some bearing on anchor stability. The mud/weed areas are also ok to anchor in. In fact I usually have reef hard to break the grip and then wash the pick thoroughly to get it clean enough to bring on board without spreading grunge all over the deck .My2c.

[no way]

Last Sunday I was able to conduct the ideal test of the 2 different anchors in extreme conditions.
We were at anchor in a small bay just inside the opening to Nerong Inlet on the Myall Lakes. The bay is about 200m across at the opening and tapers back about 300m, is open to the due north, has a silty bottom, is about 2m deep. The terrain around is flat and treed to about 12-15m high and when anchored in a northerly the port shore is due SW. We generally anchor more or less in the middle and use this spot regularly.
Around 3pm we were watching a bank of very dark clouds to the west. Weatherzone radar showed heavy rain in the cloud and heading for the coast. The cloud was high but a purplish rolling cloud formed below it.
Same place, same conditions about 5 years ago, and then came the roar of the wind and rain thru the trees to the SW.This time I was better prepared, although the boom awning was still up as was the pop-top cover.
In the lull before, the boat had drifted up on the anchor and was lying NW. When the "squall" hit it threw the bow of the boat sideways and the wind under the awning put us on our side until we came head to wind. All the same as previously, so I stated the motor and let it run in idle. I have read stories of how to sit out a cyclone and the wind force had me thinking that way pretty quickly although I hoped it wasn't going to last 9 hrs. This time tho' the CQR held and the boat just darted and rolled back and forth in the gusts. The trees on shore afforded us some lee but the bay shape made the wind oscillate. The open water behind us was flat and white with the rain horizontal.
The previous occasion had been with a Danforth anchor and as soon as the boat started slewing around it let go. I was running the engine at more than 1/2 throttle to hold station, and finally driving the boat head to wind dragging the anchor until we got to the head of the bay and shallow water by which time the squall had passed.
Recorded wind speed at Williamtown Air Base just to the south 76k/h although I believe with the oscillation we probably had more than that.
Friends who were rafted up at Stoney Pt on the eastern shore of The Broadwater suffered damage as the 4 boats (2 were houseboats) rolled together. The bottom is sand there and they had CQR's out which held on a lee shore.

[Peter T]

Hi all. I have seen mention of Ian's mod for a CQR to fit it into the anchor well but am unable to find the post which describes the mod. Can someone please point me to it. Thanks

[Ozzie]

Hi Peter, the mod Ian was referring to I think is this

viewtopic.php?p=481#p481

It’s a plough anchor which is not an actual cqr brand I believe, is that correct?

Anyway it involves a bit of grinding of the stop. Hope this helps.

[Peter T]

Thanks Ozzie, most helpful