Upgrading the Bow Anchor

A while back, the various types of anchors carried on Wisdom was discussed here. In that article, we talked about our primary bow anchor being the Bruce anchor. The bow anchor is a very special anchor because it is the go to anchor. This anchor is the first to go down and needs to work perfectly in the typical conditions where you will be anchoring. 

The Primary Bow Anchor lives in the bow roller and is always connected to the all chain rode. Accessory anchors are attached to supplemental anchor rodes, typically being made of all rope or chain and rope combinations. For years, the Bruce was the primary bow anchor on Wisdom as it has always held us well in the Chesapeake Bay. This anchor has held without fault during gales in unprotected anchorages and let us sleep peacefully night after night. 

You might be wondering why I would swap out a perfectly good anchor for a different anchor that needs to be purchased? The answer lies in the rode. I always let out an excessive amount of chain when we anchor.  The typical night time hook will be 7:1, and a storm anchoring will be 10:1 or greater! We were once in a gale with 290 feet of chain in 10 feet of water. 

Yes, the Bruce held fine, but it was more likely that the chain held fine and the Bruce was an ornament at the end of the line. Since we carry 300 feet of chain, anchoring with lots of chain is possible for us, we simply let it run out when we arrive in the anchorage for longer. The problem comes in the morning.

We have a manual windlass which means that I need to crank all that chain up every morning. If we let out 200 feet of chain, I now need to crank in 200 feet of chain! While morning exercise is always good, Maddie is usually sleeping right under the windlass and the 200 feet of chain being cranked in is anything but peaceful. 

We were talking with a friend who has a modern anchor and usually anchors with 3:1 scope for a night time hook. If we were in 18 feet of water, 10:1 is 180 feet of chain, 3:1 is only 54 feet. The thought of cranking in an extra 130 feet of chain made Maddie and I consider modern anchors and so began the search for an upgraded anchor.

I came across the YouTube channel SV Panope which brilliantly demonstrates how different anchors perform. The creator attached a GoPro to the anchor and then did various tests to see how the anchors behaved. Instead of testing the anchors in an appropriate method, the creator tested the anchors in the most abusive way possible (on purpose).

He would set the anchor with a very short scope and then pull hard on them with the engine. Then he would move directly over the anchor with considerable speed and see if he could get the anchor to reset or drag. He also did an interesting test called "Reducing Scope" where he would anchor, test, shorten the scope, re-test, shorten the scope, re-test, etc., until the anchor fails to reset. 

This sort of abusive test will reveal any short comings in the anchor and make the true champions shine! The old style anchors performed well, but failed under the torture tests; the modern anchors, on the other hand, managed to work in these harsh testing conditions. 

Finally, my favorite part of the anchor tests is he is not sponsored by any anchor company. This helps reduce bias on his part and ensure a more even testing of the anchors. The anchor tests performed by the companies are horrible tests engineered to showcase their product. Rocna tests always show Rocna as the best, Mantus tests always show Mantus as the best, Manson tests always show Manson as the best, etc. SV Panope tests are unbiased and truly showcase the abilities of the different anchors.

In the videos, it appeared that Manson had some trouble resetting, while Rocna and Mantus performed rather well in the reducing scope and reset tests. Both Rocna and Mantus anchors have the undesirable ability to bend their shank. This occurs because the anchor sets so deeply that the fluke will not rotate on a tide reversal. The fluke remains steady while the boat swings by and the shank bends from the force. This is more common in aluminum anchors, such as Fortress brand anchors, but it can still happen to galvanized steel anchors. Rocna anchors are welded together where Mantus are bolted together.

The difference comes down to service-ability. Should the shank bend while cruising, welded anchors can not be repaired, they must be replaced. If we chose a Rocna and the shank bent, we would need to purchase a new anchor. If the shank on a Mantus were to bend, all we would need to do is contact the manufacturer and have a new shank sent to us! The ability to repair the anchor while cruising is a very appealing feature that the Mantus anchor affords us.  

Looking at the two anchors, you can see the sharp demarcation in size between the two. The Mantus offers significantly more surface area in the fluke to hold the bottom when compared to the Bruce. The tip of the Mantus is also weighted to help drive it deep under the seabed. 

The Bruce tends to lay on its side, so only half of the flukes are under the seabed, while the Mantus is designed to bury the entire fluke and hold with all its might. 

This comparison is not completely fair though. The Bruce is 20kg, and the Mantus is 30kg. Naturally, the Mantus is going to be larger as it has 33% more mass. When we chose to upgrade the primary bow anchor, we also chose to upgrade the weight of the anchor at the same time. The mantra: "No one ever slept poorly because their anchor was too heavy" kept our minds determined to purchase a heavier anchor, as well as a modern design.

Note how much more expensive the Stainless Steel anchor is compared to the same size Galvanized anchor.

Larger anchors come at a price, they are bigger! The chain chock is located on the bow at the length of the old 20kg Bruce's shank. This means that the 30kg Mantus's shank is too long. Our options were simple, relocate the chain chock or tie the shank to the toe rail.

Being how the chain chock is a block of teak through bolted to the deck and does not leak, we opted to tie the shank to the toe rail and keep it running along side the chain chock. When we go to anchor, the Mantus is simply slid out on the roller and released when the time is right. Until then, it remains tied to the bow awaiting deployment.

It's a bit of a tight squeeze, but we managed to get the 30kg Mantus to fit on the bow roller without much movement. Retrieval will be a bit more complicated as we need to tie the lashing and pull the anchor into position each time it is raised, but this is only to bring the anchor further into the bow. It can just as well hang out further on the roller awaiting its next deployment.

You might be wondering what will become of the old Bruce? It will live out the rest of its life as our secondary anchor. Should the Mantus shank bend, we will switch to the Bruce as we await the delivery of the new shank. In the meantime, the Bruce will continued to be cared for as a supplemental anchor aboard Wisdom.

Final Trim Boards

The 5 inch trim boards need to be of a cosmetic quality. They need to fit flush and well because they will be the final cosmetic result. 

The 5 inch trim boards overlay the 3 inch trim boards and overlap onto the tiny house siding. These boards cover any discrepancies in the fit of the siding and hide any irregularities or imperfections. 

Before the 5 inch boards are installed, it is imperative that you caulk the seams to avoid intrusion of water between the siding and the trim. The caulk should be applied right before the 5 inch trim board is installed so that it adheres to the trim board as well. 

On the windward side, it is very important to fully caulk the edge between the trim board and siding. If gaps are present, high winds can get under the boards and cause wind damage to the tiny house. By filling everything with caulk, the wind is shunted away and the structural integrity is maintained. 

It is also important to order the trim boards properly. The front board needs to overlap the side board so that the leading edge of the side board is hidden in the wind shadow of the front board. When installing the trim board, have an offcut to gauge the placement of the trim boards. This will prevent any mistakes that could be made while you are attaching the boards. 

With your depth set, screw the trim boards in and counter sink the screws so that they can be covered with putty at a later point.  

With the front board attached, caulk can be applied to the side and the side trim board can be attached behind the front trim board. The 5 inch trim boards cover over the edges of the lap siding and make everything look uniform and complete. 

Fastening the Transom

With the transom dry fitted and a proper fit verified, the time to permanently attach the transom board to the sternpost had come. The sternpost is 2.5 inches wide, offering plenty of space to hold the bronze wood screws that would be driven in. 

If the screw holes were all set down the center of the transom, the combined force of the screws would cause the sternpost to split! To avoid this, the screws were staggered across a one inch span, alternating their position. To do this, I marked the centerline of the transom board and then marked one half inch to either side of the center. Using a straight edge, I then traced a straight line that runs down the off center lines. These lines will serve as the guide for the pilot holes. The pilot holes were drilled along this line, spacing them out evenly along the transom board, producing a regular and pleasing to look at pattern down the middle of the transom.

The holes were then countersunk by running a power drill in reverse at high speed. The drill will not dig in as the drill bit is spinning in the wrong direction, instead the heat will slowly cause the the drill to burn into the holes while the soot is whisked away by the passing drill bit. The procedure only takes a few seconds and will produce an even counter sunk hole with no tearing or damage to the surface of the wood you are working on. 

With plenty of bedding compound on the screw holes, stern post, and keel rabbet, the transom was screwed into place with bronze fasteners. Excess bedding compound that spilled out of the screw holes was attempted to be cleaned off with acetone but it ended up just spreading it everywhere. Once it cures fully, it will be sanded off and removed before the transom is varnished.

Jump, Steps, or Gangplank

The biggest difference between living in a house and living on a boat is the walk to your car. The inside of a boat can be exactly what you want it to be since can pick and choose what kind of boat you want to live in. Regardless of what kind of boat you have, the walk will always be the same. Getting off the boat can be accomplished by either jumping the gap to the pier, walking down a series of steps, or walking down a gangplank.

From here, you will walk down a pier where birds and fish will be a frequent sight. There will be wind in your face and sun on your skin as you make the trip.

I used to jump the gap between the boat and pier for a few years, but I don't recommend it. If you miss your step, you can fall into the water and get completely soaked right when you were ready to leave. This can easily make your day turn for the worst.

Steps are the other alternative for getting on and off your boat. Steps do make it easier and reduce the risk of falling in, but they can be hard to navigate when you are carrying a large load. Imagine your hands are filled with laundry and you can't see your feet. Now walk up a small set of stairs and get into a boat without seeing any visual ques as to where your feet should go. Yeah, not so easy.

The next option is to use a gangplank. A gangplank is a much simpler device as it is just a ramp that runs up to the boat. There are no steps to trip on, just a ramp that takes you from the pier to the boat. The best part about a gangplank is the ability to get large items into the boat. If you are pulling a cart up to the boat, you can now easily bring the cart up onto the deck.  If you had steps, you would have to leave the cart on the dock and carry your items into the boat.

Trimming the Roof

The rafters of the roof were installed full length with no regards for the size of the roof. This resulted in very long overhangs which have served to bump my head repeatedly over the course of the construction process. Today is the day these pesky overhanging 2x4s get cut to size! 

The overhang needs to be within the legal limits of width for the trailer, which is 8.5 feet. As long as I stay within the width of the fenders, I know I'm legal! 

The roof with the loft was easy to trim, I added a thin strip of plywood to the rafters to give the roof an eve. This section was easy to cut as the roof line was marked by the end of the plywood strip. All I needed to do was cut the rafters with a handsaw.  

The next section to cut is the roof over the great room, which has a much steeper pitch and plywood extending a long ways beyond the edge of the roof. I marked where I want the roof to be cut with a marker and then strung a rope across the roof to generate a straight line. I traced the rope with a sharpie and then used this line as my guide for the circular saw. 

Cutting the plywood was rather straight forward, all I had to do was hold the saw firmly and cut straight along the line. The pitch of the roof was transferred to the skillsaw, allowing the blade to cut along the angle with a vertical end to the roof. The saw was also set to only cut through the plywood, not the rafters as well.

The rafters now have a slight notching in them indicating to me where to cut with the handsaw.

After cutting all the rafters, my arms were tired and I needed a rest. At least the tiny house is looking more like a house and less like a jumble of wood.