Thread: Land Anchors

Originally Posted by 4bee

http://www.boatersland.com/lewcqr.html

Whatever happened to the CQR plough type as a ground anchor?

I understood these were very successful & different to the fold out shovel type.

CQR anchors have long been known as the most effective anchors for their weight in boats and the same probably applies for use as land anchors, although my experience is entirely with boats. BUT - they are a real pig to stow! This probably explains why they are rarely seen on land - on a boat you can just hang them over the bow.
An alternative type, slightly less reliable but very effective in sand in particular, is the Danforth type, which does stow flat, but is quite large to be useful in this application.

Originally Posted by Reads90

here are the plate and pins style ground anchors.

This type would be more effective if the holes are at a small angle to the axis if the pipe so the load pulls it down onto the ground. But this would mean it was only useful pulled in one direction.

another option used in the uk is three spike in the ground joined by rope
david bowyer in the uk sells these but i reckon with some
decent metal spikes you could make you own.
i like the idea as it should save weight and space when stored but i have no idea how it would perform
on sand.
http://www.dborc.co.uk/goodwinch/header.htm

Originally Posted by JDNSW

This type would be more effective if the holes are at a small angle to the axis if the pipe so the load pulls it down onto the ground. But this would mean it was only useful pulled in one direction.

I agree.

I find the attachments at both ends interesting.

They would allow more than 1 to be used in series.

But I am curious about the option to attach a bridle to both ends and planting the anchor sideways. Notice in one of the pics that Ali Read posted that the anchor fails when the pins at the far end pull out, when they are planted inline. So would it be better or worse if planted sideways?

Thinking it out a little more. The height of the rope pull creates a moment on the anchor, which lifts the far end. So inline and as long as practical would minimise the uplift.

So it would be best to angle the closest pins forward and the rear pins away (to better resist the uplift).

In sand it would be best to bury them, and add a removable plate with a slotted hole that slips over the front loop similar to a bib. The bib could be angles to dig in. A further refinement would be a fin on either side at the rear end to resist uplift.

With the bib and fins, you would not need as many pins, so these could be stored inside the body of the anchor.

75 x 25 rhs would make a good body, that has a good shape for this type of anchor and reasonably easy to stow.

Now on my list to make-up.

One of my rellies made up a similar item for use on one of the mail runs to the south and west of Winton. He claimed it worked well in wet & dry soil and in sand drifts on river crossings. He got eight x two foot lengths of star picket and linked them with chain & shackles so they could be driven into the ground in arrowhead formation with the slack taken out of the chains and the point of the arrow towards the vehicle. They were driven in with the tops leaning away from the vehicle. the pull was taken from the point of the arrow. He said it never failed him and was not cumbersome to store and carry.