Anchor/Chain/Rode setup for Great Lakes

stg099

Active Member
Jun 30, 2013
466
Chicago
Boat Info
2013 370 Sundancer
Engines
8.2L V-Drives
Hello all, looking to get some opinions and a flavor for the anchor packages that others are using in the great lakes. It's my first full season on our new to us 280 Sundancer in Chicago on Lake Michigan. While most of the time we anchor in a muddy, weedy bottom and have had decent luck setting anchor (10-20 ft depth), we have broken loose before when the wind shifted, which is never fun. I installed anchor rode flags in my line last night to get a better sense of my scope, with flags at 30, 60, 90.

Current setup is a 22-25lb galvanized plow anchor (assuming it's the factory kodiak) with approx 10 feet of 1/4 chain and 100 feet of 3 strand rode. I'm considering going with 100' of 1/4 G4 chain (spliced into existing rode) as I'd like to add weight to the bow anyway, but am looking for opinions and thoughts on a more ideal setup. Would that be overkill on a freshwater 280?
 
In my opinion you can never go overkill when anchoring. There's nothing worse than waking up to your boat drifting and dragging it's anchor.

I'd add that 100' of chain as you suggested and see if that helps. The plow anchor should work in a muddy environment, however a Danforth fluke style might be better. It all depends on what type anchor your current setup will accept. Switching to Danforth might require a roller modification on the bow.
 
I find the danforth to not work well in thick weed bottoms. Plows seem to work better. I replaced my OEM danforth with a stainless 35lb Bruce/claw. It’s decent in weed, great in mud or sand. I think a plow or delta style might be better though in weed.

Oh, I also put in 150 ft of chain. That helps with planing attitude and helps hold with less scope.
 
I'm with Creekwood. I had a large Danforth on my boat but could not get it to set in grassy or weedy bottoms. I switched to a Delta Fastset anchor and that eliminated the problem.

stg, I know you guys on Lake Michigan never get any wind to deal with (just kidding) so here's something to think about. With the extra 100' of chain that will act like a shock absorber and reduce the jerking of the boat when the wind is tossing you around.

When the boat is blown back against the anchor it must lift that chain off the bottom (it's called Catenary Effect) before all of the slack is taken out. The weight of the chain is a lot harder for the boat to life off the bottom than just a rope rode. With the extra chain you'll soften the ride when hanging on the hook on a windy day.
 
My 270 is similar in size to your 280 and I have been very pleased with 50 feet of chain and 200 feet of line. 100 feet of chain would be awesome and reduce line wear. Glad we have the sand on our side of the lake.

MM
 
We boat on Lake Michigan. Ground tackle consists of a Delta anchor, 25 feet of chain and 250 of triple strand rope. The anchor always sets on the first drop including in Oyster Bay in Lake Charlevoix which is muddy, the harbor at Mackinac Island which has clay and weeds, and the sandy bottom of Lake Michigan any where we have overnighted. Our anchor does not drag and we have endured several hours of heavy thunderstorms more than once with zero issues. Our boat is a little heavier than the OP boat. We weight about 19,000 pounds, so our set up should be more than up to the task for his Sundancer.
 
We boat on Lake Michigan. Ground tackle consists of a Delta anchor, 25 feet of chain and 250 of triple strand rope. The anchor always sets on the first drop including in Oyster Bay in Lake Charlevoix which is muddy, the harbor at Mackinac Island which has clay and weeds, and the sandy bottom of Lake Michigan any where we have overnighted. Our anchor does not drag and we have endured several hours of heavy thunderstorms more than once with zero issues. Our boat is a little heavier than the OP boat. We weight about 19,000 pounds, so our set up should be more than up to the task for his Sundancer.

What weight anchor? My new to me boat weighs a little over that?

MM
 
I'm with Creekwood. I had a large Danforth on my boat but could not get it to set in grassy or weedy bottoms. I switched to a Delta Fastset anchor and that eliminated the problem.

stg, I know you guys on Lake Michigan never get any wind to deal with (just kidding) so here's something to think about. With the extra 100' of chain that will act like a shock absorber and reduce the jerking of the boat when the wind is tossing you around.

When the boat is blown back against the anchor it must lift that chain off the bottom (it's called Catenary Effect) before all of the slack is taken out. The weight of the chain is a lot harder for the boat to life off the bottom than just a rope rode. With the extra chain you'll soften the ride when hanging on the hook on a windy day.

I'd add that a snubber is needed for all chain especially in high waves and windy days. A devils claw attached to a nylon rode then cleated to the bow does the trick.

Also with lots of chain and a muddy or clay bottom I'd invest in a 'wash down pump/hose' at the bow. You'll be amazed how much gunk you bring up in those links.
 
What weight anchor? My new to me boat weighs a little over that?

MM
I knew someone would ask that. I don't know, but will google delta anchors and find out what is recommended. It is original equipment supplied by Tiara.
 
I'd add that a snubber is needed for all chain especially in high waves and windy days. A devils claw attached to a nylon rode then cleated to the bow does the trick.

Also with lots of chain and a muddy or clay bottom I'd invest in a 'wash down pump/hose' at the bow. You'll be amazed how much gunk you bring up in those links.

Good points. The washdown pump would be really nice. Bucket on a rope is my routine but does not get all the mud off.

Where we usually overnight we generally tie the stern to shore with the bow anchored out the required distance. They are sheltered bays though. Once the bow anchor is set, I tighten the stern line to shore which pulls the chain up a bit. I only tie a snubber to the bow cleats if we are expecting high winds.
 
We're up in the north suburbs. I think all of the comments above are good, but there are a couple things that haven't been mentioned that I will add:

One critical thing is to make sure you anchor with enough scope for the water and wind conditions and the bottom conditions. You may already know this, but I see so many people ignore this that I want to mention it. The chain will help, but not if you are only at a 2 to 1 scope. I see so many people anchoring in our area and the anchor rode almost goes straight down, it's as if they think the weight of the anchor will hold them in place.

If you are anchoring off of the area around North Avenue or Diversey, (say for the Air and Water Show), the bottom is hard clay. It's really hard to get a hold unless you have a lot of scope out, chain on the bottom, and a sharp point on the anchor. On our smaller boat (24') we have a Danfoth and 50' of chain then three strand line, and it can take a couple tries to get a good hold. We probably end up with 150' of rode total, but once we get into that clay bottom we never move. This will be our first summer with our larger boat (40') and a plow anchor, so we'll see how that goes. We'll find out on Saturday.

Most of the rest of our anchoring near us up the north shore is easy sand, so we hold without a problem.

I think you are on the right track with the 100' of chain, and the good news is it won't be wasted money.
 
I’ve got an original Kodiak plow anchor and all chain on this boat. Only problem I have is the muck in the chain from the bottom where we anchor.
A lot of the chain sits in the muck on the bottom and it’s a huge PIA to clean.
I mark mine every 30 feet too, but do it with 3 different colors of rustoleum spray paint.
Other than that, I love the chain. Mostly because of the no slipping in the windlass and the added weight in the bow.
My old boat had a fluke style anchor (Danforth High Tensile), can’t remember the weight (22 lbs rings a bell), but it had 15’ of chain and three strand rope. That thing stuck like glue too.
If you’re using the proper anchor for bottom conditions in your area it is more about the length of your scope than anything else.
 
The chain will help, but not if you are only at a 2 to 1 scope. I see so many people anchoring in our area and the anchor rode almost goes straight down, it's as if they think the weight of the anchor will hold them in place.
yobub, you may be a bit off on your assessment. When we're anchored (250' all chain rode) the chain always goes straight down from the pulpit, even in a strong current. It's the weight of the chain that makes it do that. It looks like we're doing what you mentioned even though we might have a couple hundred feet of chain out.
 
Hello all, looking to get some opinions and a flavor for the anchor packages that others are using in the great lakes. It's my first full season on our new to us 280 Sundancer in Chicago on Lake Michigan. While most of the time we anchor in a muddy, weedy bottom and have had decent luck setting anchor (10-20 ft depth), we have broken loose before when the wind shifted, which is never fun. I installed anchor rode flags in my line last night to get a better sense of my scope, with flags at 30, 60, 90.

Current setup is a 22-25lb galvanized plow anchor (assuming it's the factory kodiak) with approx 10 feet of 1/4 chain and 100 feet of 3 strand rode. I'm considering going with 100' of 1/4 G4 chain (spliced into existing rode) as I'd like to add weight to the bow anyway, but am looking for opinions and thoughts on a more ideal setup. Would that be overkill on a freshwater 280?
With your current rode length you're only getting a bit over 4:1 scope if all deployed in 20' deep water. If it were me I'd change the 100' section of line to 250' and forget more chain. There's enough cleaning to do on a boat without hauling in more mud and the 'to do' list is already too long.

As far as additional weight on the bow, if you remove what you have(I think it's 20' instead of 10') and add a new 100' length you'll only by netting about 200#...how about giving it a touch of tabs/drive trim instead.

Some here have recommended a snubber or bridal, great recommendation. I'll add this...rig your bridle so you have an off center hook also. Having the option to hook up off of center will reduce the swinging that has potential to loosen an anchors set or bend up an anchor shank.
 
I went all chain this year and couldn't be happier. Not only does the windlass now run flawlessly, I think we end up with less muck buildup in the anchor locker because the chain seems to be somewhat self cleaning as it raises as opposed to the rode which absorbed gunk from the water and bottom and turned coffee colored over time. I never see the chain come up dirty even when the anchor itself does a little. Dunking the anchor again about 5-10 feet and raising it gets nearly all the mud off the anchor.

I hit my chain at 10' intervals with self-etching primer and then a coating of fluorescent green paint to keep track of length.

I cut a length of dock line and added a snubber to it to use as a bridle between chain and anchor cleat and keep the load off the windlass. A full-on Y-bridle to both front cleats sounds better, but the admiral is occasionally challenged with a simple bridle and our anchoring conditions are quite good. If I was in the ocean, a bigger boat, worse conditions or overnight I'd probably go down that route.
 
yobub, you may be a bit off on your assessment. When we're anchored (250' all chain rode) the chain always goes straight down from the pulpit, even in a strong current. It's the weight of the chain that makes it do that. It looks like we're doing what you mentioned even though we might have a couple hundred feet of chain out.


If you have 250 feet of chain out you arent the person I'm talking about. ;) The people I'm referring to are dragging their anchor across mine as the wind blows their boat through the water. I'll be at the Air Show this weekend and I'll try to shoot some video to share with the group. It happens every year, and always causes a commotion.

Usually it's the guy who shows up late, tries to squeeze into an opening up front, then doesnt want to let his rode out because it will put him on top of another boat, so he drops it down until it hits and thinks he's set. He then proceeds to tell everyone that his boat isn't moving, followed by pulling his anchor off the bottom but not out of the water while he looks for another spot.

Why the detailed description? I've seen it every year for 30 years.
 
Last edited:
[QUOTE="yobub, post: 1008383, member: 4228.".................Usually it's the guy who shows up late, tries to squeeze into an opening up front, then doesnt want to let his rode out because it will put him on top of another boat, so he drops it down until it hits and thinks he's set. He then proceeds to tell everyone that his boat isn't moving, followed by pulling his anchor off the bottom but not out of the water while he looks for another spot.

Why the detailed description? I've seen it every year for 30 years.[/QUOTE]

I believe you would enjoy our fireworks display during Coast Guard Fesrival in Grand Haven. The same guy attends that event as well and you could get to know him.
 
He must really get around because he shows up out here for the fireworks and for the unlimited hydroplane races.

A well traveled but less well heeled boater.
 

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