[quote=MN3]Thee say:
my original h16 came with a grapple style one - i was told to get rid of it as it would not hold in our sandy/mucky bottoms - but i have no first hand exp w it
I personally don't tie anything to a ds. they are not built to have anything but top-down pressure on them. and probably rare, but if a boat is tied off to it - and is being beat up with wind and wave - and somehow pulls from the middle or bottom of the ds - could bend things down there - and that could lead to ... bad things (i have personally completely taken my ds assembly apart, cut and hand bent a new ds bar to replace a cracked one - its a surprisingly delicate and critical system that handles 1000's of pounds of pressure (but only from one direction)
Also tying a bitter end to a single point of the boat (mast/ds/one hull) is not optimal and depending on your hull shape, and sail plan (furler vs none, etc) your boat may "walk" around Or Worse (swing around slightly wildly at times, until capsize. This can occasionally happen even w a bridal anchor line. if parked next to land (or boat) or in the lea of an island, and everything is perfectly wrong - your boat may dance and require attention) - so IMHO a bridal system is best
It's really not a big deal to handle the anchor even when tied at the bow tips. just takes getting used to. The hardest part is when your getting back on the boat, and in a breeze you have to wrap the line while using your body on the bridals to stop the boat from backing away from you...). Its also not hard to sit on a bow and manage your anchor line and stow it when you have the room to back up a few 100' without worry
I added articulating attachment points (really just a flat shackle) to my bow tang so i could attach an anchor bridal there without massive tugging on the bridals.
I don't really love the constant cycling of that area when on anchor in surf but i only a break on an island or in the gulf on the coast for a little while - and usually not in heavy surf (but occasionally in some pretty good rollers)
Speaking of chain - It's been a while since i inspected mine. was thinking about that on sunday ...on the beach, in my friends work truck as the storm was passing overhead. My boat on anchor about 50' in front of me. Boat got washed and a blow dry (prob lower 20's) - no drama but the wind shifted from a south westerly to an easterly ... and blew my boat off shore (still on anchor but now about 70' from me with the tide almost 1' above the predicted 3' level.
Anyway when i get out there and go to pull my anchor ... it comes up like it was never set (due to the boat shifting 180* and bouncing around a bit)... a little scary
then i looked at my chain - very scary
[img]https://www.thebeachcats.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=128177&g2_serialNumber=4[/img]<!-- editby --><em>Edited by MN3 on Jun 29, 2017 - 12:56 PM.</em><!-- end editby --> [/quote]
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