Anchoring Gear Upgrades That Let You Sleep at Night

A liveaboard spends a lot more nights on the hook than in a marina, and every one of those nights depends on a lump of steel buried in the mud. A good anchoring setup is the difference between sleeping through a 30-knot squall and spending the night in the cockpit in your underwear, watching the boat behind you get closer.

This is the raccoon and possum crew’s guide to anchoring gear upgrades, in the order we’d make them. Your boat, your cruising ground and your windlass will change the details. Always size gear to your boat’s displacement and windage, not just its length. When in doubt, go up a size. Nobody has ever dragged because their anchor was too big.

1. Upgrade to a modern anchor

If your boat still has the anchor it came with, there’s a good chance it’s an older design like a CQR, a Danforth-style fluke, or a Bruce or Bruce copy. Those designs have held boats for decades, and fluke anchors are still great as a kedge or for sand and mud. But a lot of cruisers have found that the modern “new-generation” designs set faster and hold more reliably across mixed bottoms. These include the Rocna, Mantus, Spade, Ultra, Vulcan and similar. Many have a roll bar or a weighted tip that helps them land the right way up and dig in.

Check that your new anchor fits your bow roller and self-launches. Roll bars in particular can clash with a pulpit or furler, so measure first. Most makers publish sizing tables by boat length and displacement; use the heavier end if you live aboard.

Shop: Rocna anchors, Mantus anchors, Spade anchors

2. Get the chain right (and matched to your gypsy)

Most bluewater cruisers run all-chain rode for its abrasion resistance around coral and rock, and because its weight helps the anchor pull more horizontally. When you replace chain, the part that matters most is that the chain must match your windlass gypsy (also called a wildcat). Chain is sold in different standards like ISO, DIN, G4 and BBB, and they aren’t interchangeable even at the same nominal size. The wrong chain will jump the gypsy, which is dangerous. Check the gypsy’s markings or manual and buy to match.

Hot-dipped galvanized chain is the norm. Rinse it with fresh water when you can and flip it end-for-end every few years to even out the wear. When the galvanizing is gone and it starts rusting badly, plan to re-galvanize or replace it.

Shop: galvanized anchor chain

3. Mark your chain

You can’t set the right scope if you don’t know how much chain is out. Marking it every 5 meters (or 25 feet) with colored inserts, cable ties or paint takes an afternoon and pays off forever. Snap-in rubber chain markers sized to your chain stay put and run over the gypsy cleanly. Paint wears faster, but it’s easy to see at night. Many crews use both.

As a rule of thumb, cruisers often use around 5:1 scope on all-chain in settled conditions and 7:1 or more when it’s blowing or on a mostly rope rode. Scope is measured from the bow roller to the seabed. Don’t forget to account for the height of the bow and for the tide.

Shop: anchor chain markers

4. Use a snubber or a bridle

All-chain has one big flaw: it has no stretch. When the chain comes taut in a gust or a swell, the shock goes straight to the windlass, the bow roller and the anchor. A snubber fixes that. It’s a length of stretchy nylon line attached to the chain with a chain hook or a soft shackle, then led to a bow cleat. Let out more chain until the nylon takes the load and the chain hangs in a loose loop below it. The windlass should never be holding the boat at anchor.

On a catamaran, use a bridle with a leg to each hull. It does the same job and keeps the boat from sailing around on its anchor.

Use three-strand or double-braid nylon (not polyester, which doesn’t stretch much). Use chafe guards where it runs through a fairlead.

Shop: anchor snubbers with chain hooks and catamaran bridles

5. Install a reliable anchor alarm

GPS anchor alarms have improved a lot. Most chartplotters have one, and phone apps let you set the alarm radius from where the anchor actually is (not where the boat is), with alerts on your phone. Some apps can even watch from shore while you’re at the beach bar. Still, don’t trust a phone with low battery or poor signal; set your alarm radius sensibly, and keep a backup.

Pair the alarm with old-school seamanship. Take bearings on fixed marks after you set, and actually back down on the anchor with the engine to make sure it’s holding.

6. Wash-down pump

A deck wash-down pump that pumps salt water to a hose on the foredeck lets you blast mud off the chain as it comes up. That keeps the chain locker (and the boat) from smelling like a swamp. It’s one of the best quality-of-life upgrades for anchoring in muddy places.

Shop: 12V marine wash-down pumps

7. Windlass remote and hand signals

If your windlass only works from a foot switch on the foredeck, a wireless remote can let the person at the helm work it. Even with a remote, agree on clear hand signals between the bow and the helm. Shouting into the wind doesn’t work, and the anchoring argument is a cruising cliché for a reason.

Shop: windlass wireless remotes

8. A second anchor

A properly sized second anchor and rode lets you set a Bahamian moor or a tandem anchor in a tight spot, kedge yourself off after a grounding, or recover if the first anchor fouls on something you can’t free. Lightweight aluminum fluke anchors are a popular choice as a second anchor because they stow flat and hold well in sand and mud.

Shop: aluminum fluke anchors

Upgrades that don’t cost anything

• Practise. Anchor in different bottoms. Learn how your boat sails around at anchor and how long it takes your anchor to set.
• Look before you drop. Read the chart, the bottom type, the swing room and the forecast. Check the depth at low tide.
• Snorkel the anchor when the water’s clear enough. Nothing teaches you more about anchoring.
• Give your neighbors room. Boats on all-chain, rope and moorings swing differently.

From the crew

Our raccoon handles the foredeck and our possum handles the anchor watch. That means he lies very still and occasionally opens one eye. If you’ve ever done a 3am drag check in a squall, you’ve earned a Bin Bandits tee. Playing Dead Until Friday is basically anchor watch in shirt form. Got small crew aboard? Our Find the Sneaky Crab coloring book is a nice way to fill those long days waiting out weather.

The bottom line

If you can only afford one upgrade, make it the anchor. If you already have a good anchor, make it a proper snubber and marked chain. After that, every anchoring gear upgrade on this list adds up to the same thing: more nights of real sleep, and fewer of them standing in the cockpit wondering whether you’re still where you think you are.