MOORING CATS ON MUSHROOM ANCHORS
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Posted: Jul 14, 2014 - 04:22 PM
WE HAVE BEEN EVICTED FROM ALL BEACHFRONT AREAS! HAVE PERMISSION TO MOOR OFFSHORE IN THE GREAT SOUTH BAY, approximately 30 yds from shore,in approx 3 and 1/2 ft of water, already have 5.7 nacra on bridal with 50lb mushroom plus heavy chain, about to moor dart 18 and nacra 570 the same way.{ my other dart 18 so far so good, since 2/14 on a fla lake}all suggestions and ideas welcome. bay is salt water over 30 miles long and up to 7 or more miles wide and gets quite turbulent, this past weekend winds over 30; less than 2 blocks from Atlantic Ocean 2 flying scotts nearby been there for years -
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Posted: Jul 14, 2014 - 08:21 PM
I have a H18 and camp on islands in the intercostal Clearwater area. Weather can change real nasty in a hurry. I use a bridal ste up off the bow tangs, light chain/line tackle attached to a Danforth type fluke anchor. The more the boat pulls this type of anchor digs in deeper. Bottom where we moore is grassy muck/sand. That being said, no single anchor is best for all bottom types but this set up seems to work for me and my other "cat" friends. Oh yea, we have awoken in the morning to find our boats drug their anchors from where they were set. Where are you sailing? What about mean high tide line? No beach is totally private property down to the waters edge. -
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Posted: Jul 17, 2014 - 08:59 AM
thanks for advice, but using the mushrooms, cat ok thus far, survived 2 days of thunderstorms and full moon high tides, cats being moored to avoid property issues, mostly sandy bottom, already used bridal set-up with chain and installing clips for bridal at end of bows this weekend. Am interested in what weight anchors for what model cats at your location. -
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Posted: Jul 17, 2014 - 09:54 AM
my cat and anchor were broke free when a front came through (while camping) and flipped a few boats. we were lucky to have a power pontoon boat with us that year... found the cat going south at sunrise, draggin the anchor
I use a size 7 (i think) alum fortress anchor with about 4' of chain attached. then i run about 25' of stretchy anchor line that is tied to each bridal/bow
I know some darts were made with all epoxy (like the dart21) but beachcats are not intended for long term storage on water and the beating they will take in storms must take a toll over time (this includes all anchor points)
sounds a bit sketchy to me... what happens in an extreme low tide when the wind blows out even more, and the boat is thrashing around in very little water?
BEST OF LUCK! please post some pics with whatever you do
thanks! -
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Posted: Jul 17, 2014 - 05:14 PM
Never anchored my Cats, but from years of powerboat anchoring on the 12,000sq mi of Great Slave Lake I learned a few things.
Know your bottom before you chose an anchor. A hard or rock bottom makes a Bruce/Force/Danforth etc useless.
If you have something to bite into, sand/mud/gravel you cannot beat the above, I personally prefer the Bruce,(especially for bigger lead sleds) but they don't stow as well as the folding Danforth.
Make sure the anchor is "set" before you walk away. Thick weeds greatly hinder a danforth from setting. You may have to wade out & physically set it, as you cannot use reverse to dig it in.
In a blow you want at least 8:1 scope, that means in 10' of water you need 80' of rode. With a good holding bottom, & a horizontal pull, no human is strong enough to pull out even a 4" Danforth.(We kept one in the inflatable Zodiac lifeboat) If the pull gets up to 45*, or even 30*, an 18' Cuddy will pull out a pretty big anchor in wave events.
The secret is having the anchor set properly, then keeping the pull horizontal.
If you are limited in rode, you can compensate somewhat by using a length of chain on the anchor, & attaching a weight to the end of the chain. 20lbs, or more at the end of 10' of chain will keep the pull horizontal during wave events, & is as good as 50' of rode.
I know it's a pain to carry on a Cat, but if you are putting out a semi permanent mooring point, I strongly suggest a good sized weight, at the end of a chain. It will take a hell of a blow to drag or pull free.
Don't forget, KNOW YOUR BOTTOM. With a good bottom the anchor will reset in a blow. Poor bottom will drag until you lose the boat.
Edited by Edchris177 on Jul 17, 2014 - 05:15 PM.
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Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
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Posted: Jul 17, 2014 - 06:16 PM
are you talking about the GSB in long island NY ? we sail there too with your catamarans
bernd -
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Posted: Jul 17, 2014 - 07:30 PM
we had a bone head on a house boat moored for a year or 2 off an island in our sound. big storm with a strong southerly blow and uber high tide beached his huge houseboat, 8 cyclinder car engine and 4' concrete ring (maybe 3') onto the island - grandted he had lots of windage, but still you need more than just something heavy -
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Posted: Jul 18, 2014 - 06:34 AM
OK, I see your point, & it is quite correct. I should have worded that sentence differently.
What I meant was a good sized weight, at the end of the chain, that is attached to the anchor,followed by the rode
The weight acts as a snubber, & keeps the chain on the bottom.
One other point to remember for newbie anchormen. It is all well & fine to have 100' of rode, but don't forget that means you need a 200' radius of clear area to account for wind reversals, much more if the anchor releases & has to reset.
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Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
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Posted: Jul 18, 2014 - 07:11 AM
*1
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Posted: Jul 18, 2014 - 09:13 PM
Chapmans' has a good chapter on anchoring. Don't forget to snub down your shrouds so waves and wakes don't roll your mast out.
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'82 Super Cat 15
Hull #315
Virginia
Previously owned: '70 H14, '79 H16, '68 Sailmaster 26, '85 H14T
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Posted: Jul 19, 2014 - 07:01 AM
what does that mean?
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Posted: Jul 19, 2014 - 01:02 PM
Just a thought,
Why not put a pontoon on a really oversized chain and a big industrial anchor
( barge, tugboat style ) ,
and keep the catamarans on there. They're stored out of the water, which is better
and it will make a nice swim-platform.
The heavy chain and oversized anchor wil only set better over time.
You can put artificial gras-carpet on it and rubber fender ring to it to
protect the cats.
Only concern is attaching the cats to the pontoon while away, but there must be
a solution for that.
André
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Tornado (80's Reg White)
Prindle 18-2 (sold)
Dart 16 (hired and hooked)
13 mtr steel cutter (sold)
Etap 22, unsinkable sailing pocket cruiser.
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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Posted: Jul 19, 2014 - 02:19 PM
Put up a picture of your bridal attachment method on the Dart. Every spring my family and I spend a week at my local beach. I have a Dart 20 and when I leave it on the beach overnight I get allot of grief. Next year to avoid the problems I am planning on mooring the boat for about a week. The beach is on the Tampa Bay side of a barrier island on the West coast of Florida.
Thanks,
Dan -
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Posted: Jul 19, 2014 - 09:13 PM
It means to take a line and tighten the shrouds down to the hulls so the mast doesn't flop around. A snub knot would be one way to do that. Jib sheets also work.
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'82 Super Cat 15
Hull #315
Virginia
Previously owned: '70 H14, '79 H16, '68 Sailmaster 26, '85 H14T
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Posted: Jul 22, 2014 - 06:08 PM
thanks for all the input and ideas. we r using 50lb mushroom anchors for dart 18, nacra 570, and nacra 5.7. we have attached bridal to the end of each hull where we affixed stainless clips and use a bungee to keep bridal out of the way when under sail,(winds over25mph sunday so we enjoyed ourselves-wind app on iphone a must), each anchor is attached to over17 feet of fairly heavy anchor chain(purchased at harbor freight), we used"monkees" and anchor chain rings to attach; each anchor chain is attached to mushroom & has several floats attached to indicate location. i wanted to drop a cinder block down each mushroom anchor pole & tie down, as i did in fla,(TO ADD MORE WEIGHT) but was voted down. the bottom is sandy , with some sea weed and was pristine when i was a kid, now filled with some pieces of broken glass from beer bottles and such and large rocks that broke away from a manmade barrier close by from hurricane sandy,so we all now wear boat shoes. the cats sit in 3 to 5 1/2 feet of water depending on the tides in the great south bay, approximately 50 yards from shore rudders up, which at our location separates the south shore of long island from fire island(a supposed national seashore),roughly directly across from Hechscher Park which use to host over a dozen cats every weekend and countless sailboards(where have all the sailors gone?) there r still 2 or 3 kite sailors over 4 small islands in the middle of the Bay. There r 10 cats at Fair Harbor only 1&1/2 miles west of us ,we NEVER see them out on the Bay. we r visited by Pete Poulis & Malcolm Stitt and their tornados, and a few Hechscher stalwarts in cats and a trimaran. 5.7 took on some water so repairs/glassing,silicon and marinetex before sailing friday. Best news is no need to hump the cats up the beach! My sailing buddy Joe is still a bull at 73! We hated the prospect of mooring the cats because of obvious excessive wear and tear, but our backs will benefit. We tightened the side stays and forestays and always use electric tape 2 to 4 winds around all shackles to make sure they never come loose. i also tie down the mast so it wont continuosely rotate side to side. Have installed rope loop ladder devise written about earlier this year in this column( THANK U FOR INSIGHT) , discovered it wasnt so easy for 71 year old to shimmy on board in 5&1/2 feet of water more than 4 times in 5 minutes. There were several thunderstorms passing through in past week or so and cats r doing well. I have a new pump and since darts dont have plugs i just open rear hatches to have a look see ,so far no leaks ,just like my florida experience(my dart 18 on Lake Emerald still moored floating no water since feb) We r installing hatches in nacra5.7 at rear friday so i can pump it out too. Joe wants them aft of crossbar so we can repair area near plugs if necessary, otherwise we would install them before rear crossbar where hull is deepest and where water collects on these skeg bottom cats. Joe and I r Attorneys(maybe thats why the sharks in the atlantic always gave us the right of way when we only sailed in the ocean for almostb40 years) and we are pondering some form of action, legal if necessary, to keep public beach areas on bay or ocean open for water sports;especially cats in the future. Too many locations seem to be closed off for no valid reason. cats dont polute-no gas fumes or noise. Have a good sail -
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Posted: Jul 22, 2014 - 07:51 PM
The best way I found to do this on my N5.7 was to install the rotaor arm,(faces forward on the boomless boats), then just cleat the lines when leaving it. looks like this;
Note, this photo shows poorly routed lines, they should dead end on the beam, then go through the rotator, then to cleat.
This will not work on the 5.7, or 5.0.
As you alluded, the rear is not the deepest part of the hull on these boats. You need to tip them nearly 45* to get the water to flow to the rear drain plugs. I attempted to install a line from the deepest part of the hull to a small port on the inside rear of each hull. I would then use a small hand pump, (normally used for pumping out the float compartments on seaplanes) to remove the water. It turned out I could not snake the line through the bulkhead below the main beam.
I think you will need to install the access a ways forward of the rear beam.
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Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
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Posted: Jul 23, 2014 - 03:08 PM
dear ed ,thanks for instantaneous reply, photo of rotator priceless, will immediately adopt your method friday, have read many of your observations over past 4 years and highly respect your sailing acumen, hope my pal joe agrees on hatch placement. -
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Posted: Aug 04, 2014 - 06:00 PM
latest on mooring if anyone interested-- 570 mast base failure when cruising along , had to tow cat 570 in behind my dart 18, prior to that 2 bridal failures on 5.7 nacra, so demasted twice while moored! have to replace base/ bottom fittings to both masts and rudder "arm" for 5.7. I am convinced mooring cats is divestating and wear and tear will age boats dramatically. mushroom anchors with chains etc worked out great(have cats-anchors in 5 or more feet of water thinking of moving to 3to4 ft afraid of storm high tides and not being able to retrieve boats and beach in emergency situations) but some low life absconded with one and another time some guy hooked up to my anchor line and disconnected my dart that quickly floated out into the channel and we had to rig fast to recover it with a mermaid who swam out to rescue it. ordered new bridals and guy on phone Randy Smyth world champion cat sailor touting michigan regatta last weekend, also purchased 75 feet of Amsteel 1/8 rope at west marine ,only 59 cents a foot with hot colors, to carry on board in case of wire failure on advice of malcolm stitt tornado sailor who pointed out that Americas Cup contenders use this strong as steel but u can cut with a scissors rope instead of steel cables/wires! Only good thing bout mooring no humping cats up and down beach -
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Posted: Aug 05, 2014 - 06:37 AM
agreed
knowing you are devisting your cats on anchor --- why would you continue to do this?
if you inspect and change your standing rigging every few years (and not leave your rig up year round), failure is not really an issue.
you better have VERY VERY good/sharp scissors or a brand new razor blade -
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Posted: Aug 15, 2017 - 03:15 PM
This was the closest I could find to an existing thread with 'anchor' in the title... and there's a lot of practical anchoring information in the thread.
I'm looking for a short-term anchor for holding the boat at launching/retrieval when I single-hand.
I just saw this, which looks pretty slick, as it is lightweight and can be disassembled and stowed.
https://www.wholesalemari…FUgN8EAQYASABEgLNx_D_BwE
I sail mostly on rocky-bottomed reservoirs with some light muck.
I've seen various forms of fortress, mushroom, and grapples... is there consensus on which works best for which situation? I can't see carrying multiple anchors on a weight-sensitive beach cat.
Randii
