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Anchor vs Mudweight


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Hi

At the moment I have neither mudweight or anchor. I got the impression from somewhere that anchors were not allowed on the broads but there seems to be plenty of discussion on the forums about them so I guess they are???

I have an electric windlass and all the deck gear - lucky me - so I can fit an anchor or simply use a weight. My boat is 26 ft long and is quite easily wind affected.

Can someone offer some advice please:

regards

Wayne

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When my boat came from the Thames to the Broads, it had (and still has) two anchors.

However, after listening to the advice from several experienced Broads boaters on the forum, I have now added an 18kg mudweight to the 'mooring kit'.

As I understand it, the mudweight will only be of any use on a Broad, as opposed to the rivers.

Dave

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Hi Wayne, truth is the correct weight and shape of anchor properly deployed will hold you anywhere including penetrating broads silt but a mudweight is much simpler to use on a broad. A mudweight will not serve as an emergency handbrake on the lower stretches of the system or Breydon should an emergency arise. Solution: get both.

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  • 2 weeks later...

There are now a few third generation anchors about with some very strange looking profiles, so maybe these will throw up some good results.

The main issue with using Anchors on the broads and rivers is tree roots. make sure you have a trip rope rigged so that you can unhook it if it does get snagged or you will be spending a lot on anchors.

Ian

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Hi

Trip rope? - Afraid I am in the land of silly questions again, but I guess thats a rope attached to the little hole near the end spade end to pull in the "wrong" direction. And is that attached to a buoy or the boat?

Wayne

Spot on M8

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Can be attached to either but if attached to the boat it must obviously be longer than the anchor rode in order that it does not trip when the boat rises and falls, there is also the possibility of it getting tangled in the main anchor so best by buoy. again enough rope that the tide doesn't trip it by rising and lifting the marker.

Ian

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Course Mark, if an anchor flukes are caught to such an extreme that a direct pull from above or driving over it on a shortened scope will not move it then a trip can be useful. It can be achieved one of two ways, either fix the main chain to the burying end of the anchor and run the chain along it and fix it to the stock with a rotten bottom, this will hold when the pull is along the shank but can be broken by a pull from above so the anchor is extracted from the snag by pulling it from the wrong end. The same can be done by attaching a separate rope to the burying end and either running it alongside the chain or to a buoy.

Both methods are illustrated below. The buoy one is more of a marker that a reteval system but it shows the idea, just needs stronger string. Picture 1 is certainly my preference when done right.

post-74-136713607667_thumb.jpg

post-74-136713607677_thumb.jpg

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If you don't intend to be sea based a mudweight is what you need rather than an anchor in my view.

Keep the anchor for if you go to sea, have a look at David's explanation above for how this would be used.

Put a few meters of chain between the mudweight and your Anchor Warp (assuming you current rode is not chain) which will assist better holding. Going to the trouble of a trip line does seem a clat on the Broads better to use the 'traditional' product.

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David, have always thought that relying on a week link to keep the boat anchored was a bit risky, is this one you use? or given that you are generally anchoring at sea do you not use a trip at all?

Ian

Some of the places I used to anchor make the bed of a broad look like a billiard table Ian. :naughty::lol:

We used to seek out the roughest most metal strewn perimiters of a wreck for netting or rod angling and I always used the trip method and it always held and did indeed trip when needed. I dont use one now when anchored on clean ground as it would be a bit pointless but if I rig one for rough ground again I will just leave it that way even for clean ground. We even used a grapnel made from concrete reinforcing bars to hold on a wreck, when you pulled really hard (with a hydraulic pot hauler) it would straighten the thing out and get you clear then you just bent it back with a bit of scaffold pole when you got back to shore. To be honest there's not that much of an issue in a broad except around the edges, I've looked around a number with a very sophisticated fishfinder and seen little evidence of any snaggy stuff except, as I said, around the edges.

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BTW, I'm not really suggesting, as I already said in earlier posts that you use an anchor on a broad, a mudweight is much easier for that job, but only that job. I do however believe that one should carry and anchor and and chain/rode if you venture to the lower reaches and on Breydon. Whilst it is unlikely that you would anchor intentionaly a "handbrake" is a comfort in an emergency or breakdown, a mudweight would be as much use as an ashtray on a motorcycle in those circumstances, in fact it would probably just knock a few fish on the head as you drifted along if the length of the rode on most mudweights (including my own) I've seen is anything to go by. :lol:

Strange how anchors and their use elicits so much interest, it’s one of the subjects on PBO and MBM forums that’s guaranteed to get folks posting and viewing too, that and the dreaded COLREGS :o

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