Singlehanded anchoring

The idea is that you glue the transducer to the inside of the hull. It sends out its little chirps thru the hull and listens for the echo's. As long as there is no air bubbles in the silicon then it should work just fine. I use blutack 1stly to see if the spot I chose would work well or not. It does work so I have just left it in place.

Something like this,

Great advice. I think I'll work on pulling it up manually and feeding it into the locker later. I have an electric winch on the bow but the feed into the locker is not a good setup and the chain doesn't run into the locker freely, so its a matter of one foot on the winch switch, other hand feeding chain into locker and keep stopping the winch as the chain wraps back around and gets stuck.. making it a slow process, but I feel better now about finishing the anchor lifting while driting a little.


Best to check your stripper, and if thats ok check that the gypsy has the same pitch as the chain - either or both could be worn and making the chain stick. Rescued a guy once who was helping his chain into the locker. he lost 75% fingers from both hands. And it's not a good idea to pile chain on the deck unless you are tied up to the dock, theres always a chance of getting a loop around your ankle unless you are really carefull.

Strange that nobody has mentioned the obvious - make sure you have an anchor that works. Rocna, Vulcan, Manson Supreme will grab instantly in almost anything and stay grabbed. They are light years ahead of the CQR and copies and the Sarca.

I suggest keeping the the stripper in the cockpit and get the gypsy to set your anchor, problem solved!! Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Hi Mac.
I had one of those cheapy sounders on my last boat and it worked fine for what it was, showed what the bottom make-up was.
What about putting in a larger inspection hatch into your chain locker so that you can keep an eye on your chain and spread it around easily.
Keep it up you're doing a great job.
Cheers John

Recovering the anchor with the Alderney ring is how I used to recover the anchor on my fishing vessel. 18 ton vessel and we used to anchor mostly in 70 metres of water but some days in 120 metres of water. It is particularly easy, even in strong winds and current. You do need some sea room straight up current but we managed to do this daily amongst other anchored vessels. Once the vessel was passed the buoy and pointing up current I would put the throttle up full and engage the auto pilot.

It's easy to do by yourself if you drift down on the anchor rope after the anchor is buoyed by the buoy. I tended to drive down the rope and have the deckhands pull in the rope and stop alongside the anchor and chain for that to be lifted aboard.