www.iFourWinns.com

The more chain the better!! Its not really the size of the anchor, it helps don't get me wrong. You have to remember what that chain does. It keep the rode more even to the bottom and acts as a shook absorber. Both stop it from pulling out.

On a 26' boat, I have 30' of chain. I posted about 3 months ago about a storm we had up here. Wind hit about 60+mph. With 150' of rode, we dragged about 100' in a 20min period. We saw 3 boats, 2 ran a ground and the other had to put it in gear to take the load off.

There are a variety of options, but most include 2 anchors. You could try Bahamian anchoring - 2 bow anchors set at approx 180 degrees.
Here's a link that Paul I. posted a while back in a different thread.
http://www.fortressanchors.com/2nd_anchor.html

I always recomemnd Chapman's Piloting and Seamanship for anyone who wants to learn more about boating. I've had mine for the last 15 years or so.....
http://www.amazon.com/Chapman-Piloting-Seamanship-Edition-Handling/dp/1588167445/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348594414&sr=8-1&keywords=chapman%27s

And I agree with Paul - more chain! On my FS214, I have about 25' of chain and 200' of line. When I dive in the ocean, I want to make damn-sure that my boat is there when I come back up....

Erik

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2002 Funship 214
VP 5.7 GX Si
2003 Tahoe

I haven't seen scope mentioned here - much like the additional chain (I've been told a good rule of thumb is the chain should be at least your LOA, so I have 40'), scope helps to maintain proper angle to the bottom. I'm sure many know, but your scope (rise over run) should be at least 5:1 and ideally 7:1. That means you want to let out 7 times the distance from the attachment point to bottom, in anchor rode. For instance, if I'm in 10' of water and my anchor rollers are 4' from the surface of the water, I need to let out 98' of anchor rode (14' x 7). You can mark your rode with permanent marker every 25' to help you know how much you've let out, or there are commercial options for marking the rope.

Steve.

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1969 Chris Craft Commander 47
1999 Four Winns 328 Vista - SOLD

I used these and they worked great. Used yellow for 25' markings and red for 10' markings. The oil based paint seems to really hold up so far and they're only a couple bucks a piece at office supply stores.

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Our Boating Blog: http://ben-dana.blogspot.com/

2005 268 Vista "Sea Pickle II"
1979 AMF Alcort Puffer
Previous:
2003 FW190 Horizon
1973 Startcraft 18ft "Sea Pickle"

Very good book!

Scope, goes with out saying. Someone posted having 6' of chain and I ran with that. Here's another anchoring situation I was in. Depth 43', seas 2 to 3 feet, winds about 20mph. I let out about 200ft of rode, just over 4:1. We held in place for better than an hour. I feel it was more due to the chain!

Weather: If I had your size boat, 50' of chain, but. I boat in New England, were you are may be claimer.

I used: http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?pat ... &id=838131

Heat shrink tubing. This is the heavy duty stuff with glue on the inside ot it.

I have 250 feet of 3/4 line with green markers at 30, 60 ,90 and then it is red at 120, 150, 180, 210 and each has the number on it. That helps a lot so that I know what I want for a minimum out. I also have 15 feet of heavy chain with double swivals at the anchor. To me its over kill but it works.

for my stern line I use 100 feet of 1/2 inch nylon line with a knot at 80 feet so that when we are sleeping overnight I will tie off at that knot so that while sleeping and the tide goes out we never hit bottem. with the "t" in the dirt at just about the high tide line we sit in 5 feet of water when at low tide.
A few boaters asked me about my "system" and now use a similar setup

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"Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes "

1996 238 Vista dlx "Casper's Toy Too"
2006 5.0GXI w/closed cooling, DP-sm 1.95 drive
Previous boat:
1998 Sundowner 205