Anchor Catting Methods

[Bruce Brown]

I'm going to use a Luke Fisherman's anchor as my primary on my Friendship sloop and, given that it has a bowsprit, I want to cat it against the side of the bow. What methods have people seen or used to hold it there?

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

The method used in these parts (the Thames estuary between Ramsgate and Harwich) is very simple and is called “catting the anchor Brightlingsea (pronounced “Brittlesea”) fashion”.

Get the anchor to the stemhead, get a line round the crown, haul one fluke to the rail and belay it tight so it can’t move.

Pioneer, CK18, the only surviving Brightlingsea first class smack, totally rebuilt from a wreck far worse than the Tally Ho! a few years ago, modelling a Brightlingsea catted anchor here:

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

I think you can see how it’s done.

Needless to say, you stow the jib and trice up the bobstay before letting go the anchor! You can see the bobstay tricing line.

This saves the need for catheads and cat and fish tackles, which would be needed if the bobstay could not be got out of the way.

[Peerie Maa]

You must trice up the bobstay however the anchor is stowed, or the anchor rode and bobstay will chafe as she rides at anchor.
You can save the hassle of lassoing the anchor by fitting a permanent cat line. Tie it off to the crown with a fishermens bend around the two arms, then run a couple or three fathoms of line back along the rode and secure it with a rolling hitch. Cast off the rolling hitch as the cable comes inboard, and Bob is the relative of your choice.
You could stow the anchor with its stock flat along the rail, and the crown in chocks on deck.

[johngsandusky]

Wandering Star has a simple arrangement. There is a flat steel bar across the bowsprit wit eye-bolts in it. The anchor lies over it with one fluke up, the stock crossing the sprit. It lashes down through the bolts.

[wizbang 13]

I carried a 30 pound fisherman on my smaller boats,fluke under the bobstay.20 and 26 ' boat.


This is not safe for a bigger (faster) boat with bigger hook.Thus, when I carried a 60 pounder later, I went similar as John says above, laid flat in the deck cat, one fluke pointing skyward.

Using big boat techniques shown in #2 may not be practical for a small boat.
That said, I do not like an anchor catted to a bowsprit, no matter what size boat or hook.

[coelcanth]

here's an example of a nice boat with two fisherman and bronze hooks near the stemhead for storage:


https://towndock.net/shippingnews/mimi-rose

[Hwyl]

I used an anchor buoy tied to the crown, when the chain was up and down. I'd grab the buoy with the boathook, bring the rest of the chain in, lift the fluke over the bulwarks with the buoy line and lash it to the cathead.

[schlaboatnic]

You must trice up the bobstay however the anchor is stowed, or the anchor rode and bobstay will chafe as she rides at anchor.
You can save the hassle of lassoing the anchor by fitting a permanent cat line. Tie it off to the crown with a fishermens bend around the two arms, then run a couple or three fathoms of line back along the rode and secure it with a rolling hitch. Cast off the rolling hitch as the cable comes inboard, and Bob is the relative of your choice.
You could stow the anchor with its stock flat along the rail, and the crown in chocks on deck.

Easy for you to say!!

[Woxbox]

I don't have any advice, but this discussion does bring something related to mind.

When I was a kid we would often camp on Cape Cod up near Provincetown. We'd sometimes drive into town on Shank Painter Road. This curious name puzzled me for about 40 years. Then I volunteered on the crew of the Kalmar Nyckel, a real ship, and got my hands on an actual shank painter.

In any event, if I had a big anchor on board, I'd want to secure it with a shank painter just so that I could baffle guests by ordering: "Cast of the shank painter." And then maybe toss out something about a belly lashing.

[stromborg]

I don't have any advice either. But I am surprised/curious that so many folks are still using fisherman-style anchors. My anchoring experience is very limited and the little Rocna I use seems to work just fine (so far) when I do, is the fisherman not as outdated as I thought?

[Ian McColgin]

I use CQRs but Meg has no bowsprit and the stem is too perfectly formed to clutter a platform. So I need some easy way to bring them aboard without hurting my back.

I may make some sort of davit system to get the anchors onto their proper place on the forehatch but first iteration, for daily anchoring will likely be a hinged cathead to suck the crown in place leaving the hook secure but ready to drop without scaring the bow.

[J.Madison]

The pioneer method above sure looks salty, but there must be chafe protection on the bulwark and deck edge or the anchor will grind down to bare wood in one afternoon romp. I hate the thought of my 70 lb Luke riding against my varnished caprail all the time. So it lives below and a rocna lives on the roller.

[Boatsbgood]

To Stromburg's question, above regarding the relevance of fisherman (fishperson?) anchors: yes, a good one, (there lots of bad ones) is a lifesaver in some conditions. I carry one on my cruising sailboat, and kept a bigger one aboard the coastal research boat that I ran for 30 years...in, for example, soft mud that gets harder with depth (which we have in s number of spots here, the fisherman will punch down to the hard clay, solid hookup no worries. Bit of a bumble to recover without a dedicated davit or such, but if needed it was always worth the trouble. My smaller is a Luke40lb , the bigger is an ancient tidy Wilcox/Crittendon 60 lb that someone did some careful filing on the cutting edges of the fluke palms. Both great setters,hard breaking out.

[Mark0]

Good timing on this thread for me. We are going to need to figure this out next spring !

Cheers,
Mark

anchorkit6.jpg

[wizbang 13]

Fisherman is the fastest setting and the fastest breaking anchor, so it is usefull for a boat getting underway undersail that needs to get off on the correct tack.
It goes THROUGH kelp(to the bottom) better than many hooks, ESPECIALLY a rocna, or any hook with the half circle rod /roll bar. These tend to get jammed with kelp, not to mention give the illusion of holding.Holding in kelp can end badly in a squal.
this one is fast to launch, slow to get back aboard

[johngsandusky]

Fisherman is a good anchor. I don't use it for it's salty looks. I've used mine up and down the coast in a wide variety of bottom types. It dragged only once, in Mile Hammock Bay. A squall line came through right after we anchored. The other boats with modern anchors dragged too.

[Bruce Brown]

Thanks everyone. These ideas came to me as I read all your responses. I think I'll start by retrieving the anchor to the shackle and use a tricing line to get the flukes parallel to the side. but held away from the planking by blocking to prevent chafe. The tricing line will be passed through an inverted fairlead let into the rail, and hauled tight by a handy billy with a becket. Then I'll transfer the bitter end of the tricing line to a holdfast on the side of the bowsprit or bottom of the king posts. After all that, we'll see if Uncle Bob is still speaking to me. (see #4 above)

Bruce

[wizbang 13]

how big /heavy is your fisherman Bruce?
bruce

[Bruce Brown]

65#

[stromborg]

I picked this 25# Wilcox/Crittenden anchor on a bit of a whim a few years ago and been waffling about trying it out on my Eun Mara.

Craigslist ad, nice lady getting rid of things her ex-husband left behind. Yes, I got a few funny looks on the ferry with that strapped to the back of my motorcycle.

[Bruce Brown]

wrong color scheme for a BMW!

[stromborg]

When I was shopping for the GSPD I probably would have settled for Marlboro Red but I rather like the black and teal. Suits the PNW better.

[Bruce Brown]

I was referring to the color scheme of the anchor, not the bike which looks hot to me, even in the PNW

[stromborg]

If you have access to Off Center Harbor's videos, take a look at Harry Bryan's "Katie". Among other clever bits he has a sweet arrangement for catting his fisherman anchor off the bowsprit.

[Mark0]

Hi ,
So we anchored for the first time with our fisherman anchor.... the ground tackle handling was anything but graceful. Luckily there was nobody around to witness our foolery. I've googled around for a video of ground tackle handling with a cat head, but nothing representative of our displacement size. If anyone know of one it would be great if you could post a link.

It was good to read through this thread again, I think we will try Nick's trick with the line next time out.

Cheers,
Mark