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Spent 3 days down in Carrabelle last week......thur/fri/sat.......learned several very good lessons...#1 is that I either have the wrong type of anchor or one that is WAY to small !!!!!....not a single time did we get our anchor to hold....granted that some of the waves were solid 3's with a 4 throwed in every now and again, and the wind blew like nobody's business.....I have a standard galvinized "fluke" type of anchor, I think its 10 or 12 pounds(it's the anchor that the marina installed in the boat when i took ownership, he said it was the "recommended" type and size for my boat, I have it rigged with the chain laid along the shaft and tied with tie-wraps, I believe its set up in what would be called a "break-away" fashion...I have just over 6' of chain connected to the anchor, and then almost 300' of anchor rope.....at one time we had about 250' of rope out just hoping to catch anything that would slow us down.....NADA!!!

any ideas on what would be the best set up for an anchor on a 22' bay boat???? heavier anchor??? more chain??? more rope???? different type of anchor???

at one time, the anchor did slow us down long enuff tp snatch several red snapper off of a reef......then we would have to move back up and reset the anchor and try again.....heck, we were more tired from messing with the stupid anchor than we were from the beating that we took from the wind and waves...


any suggestions would be appreciated

I've got the same boat and same style anchor. It holds as long as I have proper scope on the rode. I don't remember what it is supposed to be but I believe about 1:7, maybe less. I have never tried to anchor offshore in deep water, I think I would have to actually get hung on the reef for it to hold. I think I have 8 ft of chain. Maybe try more chain to get it to lay flat? I'd like to hear also from others how much chain they have on their rode.

LEWMAR galvanized claw anchors are at West Marine and we use the 2.2 LB for up to 18 ft. I would recommend a 16.5 for your boat and a 11 pound would work. There is a selction guide at this link



Use with about two to three feet of 1/4 inch chain to make it lay down in the sand, and lock it on the heel (There is a hole at the heel where it turns down to the claw) and tie wrap the chain to the neck so you can break it away if need be.

How much rode do you use in about 60 ft of water with the Lewmar anchor?

You should have at least twice that much chain. I would go with 12 to 15 feet of chain and a fortress anchor.

Tom Keels wrote:You should have at least twice that much chain. I would go with 12 to 15 feet of chain and a fortress anchor.

I agree.

The heaviest guage and as much proof coil chain as you can handle. You can't have too much chain.

EDIT: I would have as a min. at least as much weight in the chain as in the anchor. You could have 12' of 1/4" chain and it would weight as much as 6' of 3/8"

First, let me start by saying I agree with everyone so far. Your current setup probably works fine out to around 20 something feet. In order for your current anchor to work in 60 feet, you'd need a MINIMUM of 300 feet of rope and more chain. Most fluke style anchors are designed to lay close to horizontal, which is hard to do in deep water.

I've been on boats that use both the LEWMAR and the Fortress anchors, both work great. I prefer the fortress because it lays flat and takes up less storage. It may even look similar to the anchor you have, but trust me, it's not.

I have 30' of BBB chain on the Tide-Dancer (24'). Also Scope is your friend in heavy winds.

In my experience, a Land Rover or Jaguar make a good anchor. They are certainly better at that than transportation.
FF