Re: How to Protect Gunnel When Deploying Anchor
..... and anchor chain. After reading about 50 posts on this issue, it appears I'll be "wrong" with about half of the posters no matter what I do. Looks like there are benefits (chafing protection, etc.) that go beyond making the anchor dig in. I'll go with 2-3 ft. of chain.
I don't think you are wrong buddy, I would say that you are very prepared, you know for something like Hurricane Katrina LOL, the tried and true way to set up an anchor is to have the right sized anchor for your boat with the right amount of chain, now you may need a larger anchor and more chain due to the conditions you boat in and the results you are looking for.
So lets say you like to fish in the mighty Mississippi, you have a boat like mine 25' bowrider that is 5000 Lb's with a lot of freeboard on a windy day, we know that the Miss is a pretty muddy bottomed river that has a good rate of flow and I do not want my boat to pull the anchor.
In this situation I need a setup like yours which ironically I have, it will hold my boat in those conditions, no kidding. But we are talking about your boat which is much smaller with much less weight and freeboard so just by those factors alone we know you are way over sized, now if you are concerned about banging your boat the simple answer is to downsize your anchor setup since you can! If you feel you need to keep your existing setup that's fine get another, much smaller anchor and less chain and save your backside and damage your boat less.
I can tell you the way I set my anchor but Its not going to help you much since you have a different boat but what I do is I hold my anchor in one hand and I loop the chain and hold it in the hand closest to the bow, I then twist my body and throw the anchor as far as I can and release the chain clear of my boat. Retrieval is pretty simple but much tougher if I pull up a bunch of mud which is pretty common where I boat, I have an anchor locker and I use my throwable life preserver to protect the gelcoat from chain damage, my anchor gets cleaned of any mud prior to going into the locker which also helps with ANS inspections when leaving the lake.
I love my boat so its just the best practice to take your time and don't hurt yourself! Don't take anything as doing it wrong though, we all have our different ways of doing things!
As I indicated, my anchor expertise about covers a cinder block tied to an old piece of cloths line. Which one is the Danforth?
