Dropping vs Lowering Anchor

[Andiamo2018]

There are exceptions to everything, especially in boating. BUT, anchors should be lowered, not dropped. It is too easy for the chain to foul the anchor and have it not set correctly.

 

[Lepke]

I usually anchor in deep water, 30 fathoms or more. I drop anchor so I anchor when I planned, not where I drifted to while powering down the anchor.
Ships drop anchor. In my time on ships I never even heard of an anchor fouling in it's chain.

 

[Larry M]

We drop ours the same as Lepke and for the same reasons. We can power down but it’s too slow. We have a Lighthouse 1501 windlass that’s rated at 37 fpm for a continuous pull and is a little faster powering down but not by much. In a minute you can a long way from your target spot.

 

[rslifkin]

On the speed topic, my Maxwell HRC10-8 is rated to pull chain at 79 ft/min, rope at 66 ft/min. When dropping chain, I'd estimate it pays out at more like 90 - 100 ft/min (definitely a bit faster than retrieval). It drops rope pretty quickly as well, but not quite as fast as chain, probably more like 70 - 80 ft/min.

I've never had an issue with missing my spot due to too slow a drop, even in 50 feet of water. But I also tend to drop from the bow with the admiral at the helm, so I can signal her for boat movement as necessary to get/keep us in the right spot.

 

[Mengering]

We’ve found that lowering our 45” anchor by hand, as opposed to dropping it, does seem to allow it to set better. No drag at all when lowered by hand.

 

[menzies]

On the speed topic, my Maxwell HRC10-8 is rated to pull chain at 79 ft/min, rope at 66 ft/min. When dropping chain, I'd estimate it pays out at more like 90 - 100 ft/min (definitely a bit faster than retrieval). It drops rope pretty quickly as well, but not quite as fast as chain, probably more like 70 - 80 ft/min.

I've never had an issue with missing my spot due to too slow a drop, even in 50 feet of water. But I also tend to drop from the bow with the admiral at the helm, so I can signal her for boat movement as necessary to get/keep us in the right spot.

Do you have the spec sheet on that windlass I could see? Lifting 80 feet of chain a minute (1.33 feet a second) is damn well impressive!

 

[rslifkin]

I'm going by the specs listed on the Maxwell site. I can say it definitely lifts a little slower after breaking out the anchor when there's more weight, and I haven't actually timed the lifting speed, so I have no idea what amount of load they used to come up with that number. Motor on mine is 1000 watts, but they suggest the same 135A breaker as the sightly stronger 1200w version.

Some of the lower capacity Maxwell and Lewmar models are even faster, as they have the same size motor and faster gearing for more speed and less pulling power. The next step up from mine is the same speed with a bigger motor for more pull. Going bigger than that usually means slower due to different gearing.

 

[Art]

All my life, once I turned about 11 yrs old [1963]... i.e. old enough to become the family's "Anchor Man"... I've hand lowered and hand retrieved anchor and rode. Have a foot control drum style windless for assistance when needed. I keep 15 to 20 feet chain to anchor and the rest is good line. When lowering anchor I gently let it down off nose of boat while slowly backing away by another at the helm or if alone by current/breeze. I know when anchor reaches bottom. I then let out acceptable scope and fasten the line when appropriate. Then I gently back down on anchor to get a good set.

For anchor retrieval... I have a person slowly move toward anchor and feed the line into the locker [if alone I use windless-drum assist]. Once chain is reached my well formed strength pulls the rest up. If anchor does not want to let loose [due to a really deep setting] I fasten the line and the boat does the work of unsetting anchor. If debris or mud is on the anchor either repeated dunking or other means of cleaning is utilized.

Danforth design was always the anchor my dad used in the 1950's through 80's. Having had great success for decades... I've continued the family anchor choice. Currently on our 34' 21k loaded lbs. Tolly I carry a 35lb. and 60 lb. Danforth, a lightweight older Guardian, a Fortress FX 23 and a silly little "weed" anchor I use when tossing front anchor ashore to grab into the tangled "weeds/brush"; for when nosing really close into an island in SF Delta.

IMO - Continually successful anchoring is an art. Being an anchor "whisperer" I enjoy the art. If I had a bigger boat that required all chain and heavy anchor then I would have an automatic anchoring system set up With that said... I don't believe I would want to free-fall "drop" anchor. I believe in a controlled gentle manner of anchor deployment and retrieval.

 

[wpc691]

Galley Maid windlass, 55# Delta, 150’ 5/16 chain, 100’ 5/8 triple braid. We stop on our spot, the Admiral backs off the windlass nut and lets the anchor free fall - sometimes it needs a nudge with the wrench. We typically anchor in 5-12 ft of water, so it’s not much of an event, but she knows to stand back and never touch anything with her hands. I bump the gears back if needed to slowly pay out chain, and the Admiral tightens the nut when we reach the mark we want.

 

[psneeld]

Just because you let an anchor go by releasing friction on the gypsy, doesn't mean a no friction, out of control fall.

I have done it where the fall was slower than a power down but mostly much faster.

One time I had an emergency anchoring, the windlass was inop, I didn't have the release handle handy so I just lifted the chain off the gypsy....scary...hopefully will never do it again.

 

[offshoreskiff]

On our little boat (22lb bruce, 40' 3/4 chain then rhode) we just chuck it out as fast as it will go but you want to be moving a little so it lays out in order on the bottom. Many times we are in tight anchorages where you need to set quickly and not drift into others.

 

[Simi 60]

Any more than 30ft and we do controlled drop using clutch
Under 30ft and we power down

 

[psneeld]

Any more than 30ft and we do controlled drop using clutch
Under 30ft and we power down

You know thinking through an anchoring process and adapting to the situation is NOT permitted by TF anchoring thread members.....


oh yeah...just so you aren't accused of confusing newbies... better point out if you meant, 30 feet boat length, 30 LOA, or water depth......

 

[High Wire]

We always power down because free drop is a manual/release the clutch affair. Powering down is fast enough even dropping while backing. I can keep the chain somewhat slack easily.

Lewmar H2 with 5/16 chain and 20Kg Rocna Vulcan lowers about 1 foot/second.

 

[OldDan1943]

Depends on the windless. Some dont power down. If you free drop it, use the brake to control the drop.
If you just 'drop' the chain can jump cog wheel and then you have a run away anchor and chain..... could be dangerous.

https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/4io9qy/what_happens_when_a_runaway_anchor_on_a_navy_ship/

 

[rgano]

Using the big anchors on Naval vessels, we were advised that free dropping from the hawse in relatively deep water could see the anchor's crown shattered as it hit bottom with all the chain thundering down behind it. Not a likely scenario here, but of interest.

 

[jgwinks]

While there is certainly no guarantee, powering down at least shows you that the motor is working correctly at hat time and might just avoid launching your anchor with a dead windlass. It takes a lot of time and effort to retrieve 200ft of chain manually!!

Never though of that, good plan. My new-to-me trawler has a retrieve only windlass, rope drum only, no roller, doesn't feed the line into the locker, and a Danforth anchor. All of that's going away over the winter (it's Michigan, so we're done for the year.) Replacing with a power up/down windlass that does feed into the locker and probably a Rocna anchor. Haven't made final decisions yet. My sailboat has a Lewmar 900 power up/down and we always power down. You can free fall, but you have to use the wrench to unlock the clutch to do that. I assume that function is only so you can drop in an emergency with no power. In shopping for a new one I see some are free fall only, I've pretty much eliminated those. Along with being able to power down from the helm, a fast drop runs the risk of piling the rode on top of the anchor and fouling it. More risk if it's a Danforth type with the rods sticking out the sides. Power down pretty much ensures you will not still be over the anchor when the rode starts laying out on the bottom. Hard enough to hold a boat on station when you're trying to, not going to happen accidentally.