....or anchor sentinels as I guess they're sometimes referred to. What's been the experience out there with these devices and what brand or home-made device do you know about? There's an interesting design out of NZ called the "Anchor Buddy"....a bit pricey seems to me. There's also a thing put out by ABI called the "Rode Rider"...essentially a clamshell device that captures your rode and allows for attatching a weight below it and a retrieval line to the aft end of it - it just "rides" down the line as far as you want it to. Anything else out there that works?
What's been your experience and when would you use one?
Pat
patrick.t@attbi.com
Anchor Kellets...
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Larry DeMers
Re: Anchor Kellets...
We made a home made one last summer, and use it often. Usually it is used when the winds pipe up at anchorage, and you want to limit surging back on the rode, which tends to dislodge the anchor. The Kellet or rode rider simply increases the amount of wind needed before the rode lifts off the bottom, which then tries to lift the anchor up and off the seabed. It holds the catenary angle that you setup when anchoring, and seems to calm the boats movements down. In lighter winds, it gives you a very small "sailing at anchor" radius around the anchor, so that tighter anchoring is possible..not desireable.
The way we made it is to go out and get a 18-20 lb. rubber covered fishermans mushroom anchor..usually around $20. Then I attached 2 locking caribeeners to the anchor. one is for the riding anchors retrieval rode, and the other is what you attach the Rode Rider
to the main anchors rode with. It simply clips onto the main anchors rode, and is let down the rode after the main anchor is down and set.
We put it down the main rode around 50ft. or so. Seems to work well.
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
demers@sgi.com
The way we made it is to go out and get a 18-20 lb. rubber covered fishermans mushroom anchor..usually around $20. Then I attached 2 locking caribeeners to the anchor. one is for the riding anchors retrieval rode, and the other is what you attach the Rode Rider
to the main anchors rode with. It simply clips onto the main anchors rode, and is let down the rode after the main anchor is down and set.
We put it down the main rode around 50ft. or so. Seems to work well.
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
Patrick Turner wrote: ....or anchor sentinels as I guess they're sometimes referred to. What's been the experience out there with these devices and what brand or home-made device do you know about? There's an interesting design out of NZ called the "Anchor Buddy"....a bit pricey seems to me. There's also a thing put out by ABI called the "Rode Rider"...essentially a clamshell device that captures your rode and allows for attatching a weight below it and a retrieval line to the aft end of it - it just "rides" down the line as far as you want it to. Anything else out there that works?
What's been your experience and when would you use one?
Pat
demers@sgi.com
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Richard Feffer
Re: Anchor Kellets...
Larry,
Will this work on a chain rode or will the caribiner hang up on the links of the chain when lowering or raising the "kellet"?
RichFef@Prodigy.net
Will this work on a chain rode or will the caribiner hang up on the links of the chain when lowering or raising the "kellet"?
RichFef@Prodigy.net
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Larry DeMers
Re: Anchor Kellets...
Nope, I suspect it will hang up as you suspected. You have all chain rode? Jeesh..that's it's own distributed kellet! heh..
I bet that you could hank on a small turning block at a certain point in the chain, and then run the kellet's rode thru it to the bow platform.
This would be a mess to launch and retrieve though. I would use a combo, with a good three strand, and maybe 50 ft. of chain (I use 35 now, and see no reason for more as I currently sail). Then you could just run the darn thing down the rode when the winds or currents are acting up.
Cheers,
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
CD30
demers@sgi.com
I bet that you could hank on a small turning block at a certain point in the chain, and then run the kellet's rode thru it to the bow platform.
This would be a mess to launch and retrieve though. I would use a combo, with a good three strand, and maybe 50 ft. of chain (I use 35 now, and see no reason for more as I currently sail). Then you could just run the darn thing down the rode when the winds or currents are acting up.
Cheers,
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
CD30
Richard Feffer wrote: Larry,
Will this work on a chain rode or will the caribiner hang up on the links of the chain when lowering or raising the "kellet"?
demers@sgi.com
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Bill
Re: Anchor Kellets...
Good Morning Dick
How are ya? You MIGHT TRY a parabiner (Pear shaped {is that how you spell pear}] and somehow sieze the smaller end to you Kellet. I would think the bell end of the biner would slide down the chain, but then again I have never tried it. hope all is well.
Fair Winds
Bill
Captain Commanding
S/V Rhapsody (the Original)
CD25D #148
Oklahoma Contigent of the NE Fleet
Galley Wench S/Vs Heather Ann - Evening Light
cd25d@rhapsodysails.com
How are ya? You MIGHT TRY a parabiner (Pear shaped {is that how you spell pear}] and somehow sieze the smaller end to you Kellet. I would think the bell end of the biner would slide down the chain, but then again I have never tried it. hope all is well.
Fair Winds
Bill
Captain Commanding
S/V Rhapsody (the Original)
CD25D #148
Oklahoma Contigent of the NE Fleet
Galley Wench S/Vs Heather Ann - Evening Light
Richard Feffer wrote: Larry,
Will this work on a chain rode or will the caribiner hang up on the links of the chain when lowering or raising the "kellet"?
cd25d@rhapsodysails.com
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Kevin LeMans
Re: Anchor Kellets...
So, Larry, you don't tell us how much rode you've got out, or the depth your anchoring in....... How far down the rode is 50 ft..?Larry DeMers wrote: We put it down the main rode around 50ft. or so. Seems to work well.
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
Kevin LeMans
CD30 Raconteur
lemans@gte.net
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Larry DeMers
Re: Anchor Kellets...
120 ft. rode including 35 ft. of chain.
Larry
demers@sgi.com
Larry
Kevin LeMans wrote:So, Larry, you don't tell us how much rode you've got out, or the depth your anchoring in....... How far down the rode is 50 ft..?Larry DeMers wrote: We put it down the main rode around 50ft. or so. Seems to work well.
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
Kevin LeMans
CD30 Raconteur
demers@sgi.com
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matt cawthorne
Re: Anchor Kellets...
Pat,
As part of my masters degree I spent many hours behind computer screens developing analysis tools to study the static and dynamic behavior of a boat at anchor. The kellet will do two things for you. Firstly, in a static sense the previous comment is correct, that it helps keep the anchor from being pulled up and out of the mud. Up to a point, the closer the kellet is to the anchor the greater the pull on the rode before there is a vertical component to the pull. When you get too close, however, the kellet can actually hold the rode off of the bottm. In a dynamic situation, the raising of the kellet off of the bottom absorbs energy, so having it farther from the anchor provides some bennefit there. Much has to do with the steady load prior to imposing a dynamic loading. If you already have chain, you are getting the bennefits of the weight without adding the complexity of launching the kellet. You could get the same bennefit by using a heavier chain.
I like the idea of using a mushroom anchor for a kellet. In a dynamic situation (like when a squall line comes through) dragging the extra area around through the water will provide some damping which consumes energy that might otherwise go to pulling the anchor out. Perhaps a kellet that was in the form of a big disk would be better, but it would get more difficult to store, launch and retrieve.
Another feature which is quite important for decreasing the dynamic loading on the anchor is flexibility. Chain is good up to a point due to its weight, but as the chain begins to straighten out it gets very stiff. Adding some 3-strand rope helps in this reguard. Some boaters that have all chain rodes use a chain hook and some small diameter rope to work as a spring. I use a long piece of chain connected to 3-strand. The downside of this technique is that a piece of chain which is a significant portion of the rode in deep water ends up being an all chain rode in shallow water.
Matt
mcawthor@bellatlantic.net
As part of my masters degree I spent many hours behind computer screens developing analysis tools to study the static and dynamic behavior of a boat at anchor. The kellet will do two things for you. Firstly, in a static sense the previous comment is correct, that it helps keep the anchor from being pulled up and out of the mud. Up to a point, the closer the kellet is to the anchor the greater the pull on the rode before there is a vertical component to the pull. When you get too close, however, the kellet can actually hold the rode off of the bottm. In a dynamic situation, the raising of the kellet off of the bottom absorbs energy, so having it farther from the anchor provides some bennefit there. Much has to do with the steady load prior to imposing a dynamic loading. If you already have chain, you are getting the bennefits of the weight without adding the complexity of launching the kellet. You could get the same bennefit by using a heavier chain.
I like the idea of using a mushroom anchor for a kellet. In a dynamic situation (like when a squall line comes through) dragging the extra area around through the water will provide some damping which consumes energy that might otherwise go to pulling the anchor out. Perhaps a kellet that was in the form of a big disk would be better, but it would get more difficult to store, launch and retrieve.
Another feature which is quite important for decreasing the dynamic loading on the anchor is flexibility. Chain is good up to a point due to its weight, but as the chain begins to straighten out it gets very stiff. Adding some 3-strand rope helps in this reguard. Some boaters that have all chain rodes use a chain hook and some small diameter rope to work as a spring. I use a long piece of chain connected to 3-strand. The downside of this technique is that a piece of chain which is a significant portion of the rode in deep water ends up being an all chain rode in shallow water.
Matt
mcawthor@bellatlantic.net