There's a good thread on the topic at:

http://www.clcboats.com/forum/clcforum/thread/29926.html.

If anyone can tell me what to read to learn how to post links and images on this forum, I'd appreciate it.

Cheers!

Your probably going to get a lot of opinions on the choice of anchor but I can tell you from experience that your choice of the Fortress Danforth is fine for the sandy bottoms off of Venice Beach and in Santa Monica Bay. The length of chain should be fine also. What will determine how it holds is he length of rode you will have out to the depth of water you will me in. I would recommend a minimum of 7:1 for normal conditions and 10:1 in heavier conditions or swells. For that be sure you have enough rode for the depths of water you will be in off the beach or on the bay.

JP

Dickdowdell, 

You can post photos to Photobucket or Flickr and post the link here. I'm not really up to speed on them but I opened Flickr, figured out how to post there from my photos and emailed the photo to myself and here is the link I received in the email. http://flic.kr/p/rEEN3Xf

Hope it works so I don't come across as dumb as I look. 

Should have left off the last letter I think.  

http://flic.kr/p/rEEN3X

Thanks to all for your advice! I finally found the forum where this had been discussed earlier so thanks also to those "oldetimers" for their wisdom. I can only hope that 150' of rode will be sufficient and will try to find some charts of Santa Monica Bay to get a better idea if this is true. The Danforth I am choosing, although only 6 lbs, is rated for approximately twice the length of the Skerry and with a weight of less than 300 lbs loaded (me included) I am hoping I have enough "overkill" to ride out whatever the Pacific throws at me so as not to suffer the indignation of hearing the "Surf Nazis" snickering as they pluck my olde butt out of the drink! I can tell you that when you're tired and your only hope of staying off the rocks is rowing or a great anchor that doesn't slide....well, this olde Norwegian Minnesotan will choose the anchor! Maybe I should just move back to Fish Lake, MN....like I've never had to pray when it blows up out there and the old Evinrude gets swamped by 10' following waves! Aaaah, to be young again and able to row in a squall!!!

Doc,

In the older thread, John Harris was very correct about the inefectiveness of very small anchors on light boats.  The size charts break down with low-mass anchors for small light boats.  Unless you have some very compelling reasons to go with a 6-pounder, I would recommend that you try at least a 9-pound anchor.  That's only a 3-pound difference, but a 50% increase in mass.  The rest of your rode selection is right on the mark.

Cheers,

Dick

Wing15601,

Thank you very much for your help.

Regards,

Dick

   Doc, I've been using Fortress/Guardian anchors since they were first made, on boats from a 13 foot Boston Whaler to a 38 foot trawler and a bunch in between, from the bay's and ocean in New Jersey down to The Gulf of Mexico to Pickwick Lake at the top of the Tenn-Tom Waterway and points between. The Fortress anchor has never, ever failed to set and hold because I always used chain between the rhode and the anchor.  At least half the boat length in chain. I've never used a Bruce anchor but based on John's reccomendation I'm going to give it a shot. I'm also looking at some vinyl covered chain I think I saw at West Marine in an attempt to save my top sides. 

   The problem with the aluminum Fortress is their light weight relative to their fluke size.  They are great in soft bottoms when you have the time to lower them to the bottom and set them properly.  However, if you are in current or moving, the anchor may hydroplane and not go to the bottom when you want.  This was a problem on my keelboat.  When I first got it, the fortress was the primary.  Easy to handle, and holds a ton once set.  But one time, I was coming out of a small river w/ a cross wind when my motor quit.  The wind starting setting me sideways...fast.  I got the anchor overboard, but it just "sailed" in the water until I fetched up on the shoal.  I eventually got off, but it was a job.  Obviously, with a Skerry there aren't those kinds of issues of grounding a 5 ton boat, but if you have a long way to the bottom and there's current, it could be tricky getting it down where you want it.  

I'm building a skerry and I think I'll just use my old knockoff steel Danforth...it's 2x bigger than it needs to be, but it'll damn well go to the bottom. Here on the Chesapeake, it's the "go to" pattern.  If I were up north in Maine where there's weed and rock, I'd think about a small yachtsman's style anchor (Herreshoff pattern).  Very trad, a little hard to pack, but they are made to fold up for stowage. Reineck & Sons makes absolutely gorgeous bronze Herreshoff pattern anchors down to small craft sizes, but are incredibly pricey.  Maybe snoop around Ebay or if you have a marine consignment shop you might get lucky.

A danforth anchor will plane if there is water flow and  tension on the rhode during descent. Let the line run free till the unit is on the bottom and the problem goes away.