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Originally Posted by Dave R
"...Never tried a mushroom and I have never seen anyone use one in anything bigger than a 14 foot boat. I think it could work if you could bury it, but I don't picture it burying itself like a Bruce, plow or Danforth.
The Bruce style anchor I have described is pretty cheap to buy at <$20. I would not spend more than 20 minutes trying to free it, were it to foul. It has provisions for a trip line too so if you attached the rode to the trip line point, and tie wrapped it to the anchor shank, you could quite likely free it without much effort just by tugging hard enough to break the tie wraps and reverse the pull. Does this make sense?
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My experience with a mushroom anchor is that it works
best in mud, and is resistant to tangling the anchor line when thrown. Another problem with the mushroom is that you can't throw it very far (even a 5-pounder) and still expect to get enough scope. Anchors—especially Danforths—shouldn't be thrown anyway, or
adventures result.
The tie wraps on the Bruce anchor make sense and a really good idea for a stern-anchored boat. When the weather changes (and it
will change), you won't get 20 minutes to free it. Boat wakes have swamped stern-anchored boats.
That said, I'd select the appropriate anchor based on the bottom, set the stern anchor first, pay out the line, then go forward and set the bow anchor and adjust each anchor/line for scope. (A variation of Aquadesiac's technique).
On a side note, I've read that rafted boats should exercise the etiquette of having only one boat anchored. There's also a big
chance of tanglements in bad weather.