Re: anchor set-up
Lonewolf<br />Your setup would be good in a storm up to 10 foot deep. Also ok for normal weather to about 29 feet. With your boat I think under normal conditions (not Storm load) you would be ok with 3/16 proof coil chain and 5/16 nylon line but you need a lot more line. Normal line scope is 7 to one for anchor line. The distance from where you tie on your anchor to bottom times 7. This is about 10 feet of water plus the 4 feet up to where you tie your line times 7 or 98 feet of line to anchor in 10 feet of water.<br /><br />Most of the time, under light wind loads and slow current can get by with a SHORT scope or 3 times the depth plus distance above the water where you tie your anchor. So still with 100 foot line you could anchor in water about 29 feet deep. 29 feet plus 4 feet above water to where you tie anchor times 3. 33 times 3 equals 99 feet. Useing short scope 3 to 1 if the wind or current picks up anchor will brake loose and you will drift. Reason for this is as boat pulls on the anchor with the short scope the angle of roap to the anchor will pull the anchor shank up off the bottom and it will actually point to the boat. When the shank comes up the flutes also rotate and instead of pointing down into the mud they are at pointing up out of the mud and anchore slips. In light wind loads and slow current chain will hold down the shank but at loads pick up the chain will also come off the bottom. Only cure is more line so angle of line to anchor shank low enough that when shank pull up the flutes do not rotate so much that they point up.<br /><br />So if you want to anchore in water over 29 feet deep you need more line. I see this all the time where I fish in water 40 feet or over. About 1/4 of the people will be drifting by as soon as the current picks up. Some of them you can see have more line but they go back up and put out anchor again in same spot with same amount of line and then they drift by again.<br /><br />I have a 21 foot Aluminum Runabout. I carry two anchors one has 4 feet of 3/16 inch chain and 250 feet of 5/16 nylon line on a 4Lb aluminum Frotress anchor. The other has 300 feet of 3/8 nylon line 5 feet of 1/4 inch chain an a 8 pound steel anchore. We only use the light anchor the other is just in case. On light current times or day we anchore in 80 feet of water for Shark and have never had anchore break loose. On high current day or times even with 2 1/2lb of weight fishing 80 feet deep can not reach bottom.
