3:1 scope in 18 ft of water with 2 ft of tide
| Rode length | 94ft |
|---|---|
| Total rise18 depth + 2 tide + 6 bow — measured from the bow roller, not the waterline | 26ft |
| Swing radiusthe circle you need clear of other boats and shoal | 90ft |
| Swing diameterif the wind boxes the compass | 180ft |
| Nominal scope | 3:1 |
| Effective scoperope floats and pulls up on the anchor — needs more | 3.6:1 |
| Rode type | all rope |
| At the 7:1 overnight standardmore than you are paying out now | 219ft |
- Charted depth
- 18 ft
- Tidal range
- 2 ft
- Bow height
- 6 ft
- Scope
- 3
- Rode
- all rope
Measure the rise, not the depth
Scope is rode length divided by the rise — and the rise is not the charted depth. It is depth plus tide plus the height of your bow roller above the water:
18 ft + 2 ft + 6 ft = 26 ft
At 3:1 with all rope, that is 94 ft of rode.
The bow height is the part people leave out. The anchor holds because of the angle the rode makes at the seabed, and that angle starts where the rode leaves the boat, not where it enters the water.
Tide, before you set
A tidal range of 2 ft means scope calculated at low water shrinks as the tide floods. Anchors drag on a rising tide, in the dark, when the boat you carefully anchored clear of is suddenly much closer than it was.
The number nobody calculates: swing radius
90 ft. That is the circle you need clear of other boats, moorings and shoal water — 180 ft across if the wind boxes the compass overnight.
More scope holds better and swings wider. In a crowded anchorage that trade-off, not holding power, is usually what limits you.
Set it, then check it
Back down at low revs until the boat stops moving with the rode taut. Take a transit on shore and watch it for a few minutes. An anchor that has not been set is a heavy object lying on the bottom, and it will tell you so at three in the morning.
Notes
- Measure the rise from the bow roller, not the waterline. The anchor is held by the ANGLE of the rode at the seabed, and that angle starts where the rode leaves the boat. On a boat with 6 ft of bow height in 18 ft of water, leaving it out overstates your scope by 23%.
- Add the tide before you set, not after. 2 ft of range means a 3:1 scope at low water becomes 3.6:1 at high — anchors drag on the flood, in the dark, when the boat you anchored clear of is suddenly close.
- 3:1 is a fair-weather, someone-on-watch scope. Overnight practice is 7:1, which here would be 219 ft of rode. Short scope is the most common reason anchors drag.
- Rope pulls upward on the anchor shank as it tensions, which is why it needs more scope than chain. A chain leader of at least a boat length keeps the pull at the anchor horizontal and takes the chafe on the bottom.
- Set it properly once it is down. Back down at low revs until the boat stops moving with the rode taut, then take a transit on shore and watch it for a few minutes. An anchor that has not been set is just a heavy object lying on the bottom.
Nearby sizes
- 3:1 scope in 15 ft of water with 2 ft of tide
- 3:1 scope in 20 ft of water with 2 ft of tide
- 3:1 scope in 12 ft of water with 2 ft of tide
- 3:1 scope in 25 ft of water with 2 ft of tide
- 3:1 scope in 18 ft of water with 0 ft of tide
- 3:1 scope in 18 ft of water with 4 ft of tide
- 3:1 scope in 18 ft of water with 6 ft of tide
- 3:1 scope in 18 ft of water with 2 ft of tide
- 3:1 scope in 18 ft of water with 2 ft of tide
- 5:1 scope in 18 ft of water with 2 ft of tide
- 7:1 scope in 18 ft of water with 2 ft of tide
- 3:1 scope in 18 ft of water with 2 ft of tide
- 3:1 scope in 18 ft of water with 2 ft of tide
Read more
- "Anchor Weight per Foot: The Rule of Thumb, and Where It Breaks"A pound per foot is a rule that works in the middle of its range and fails at both ends, for two different reasons.
- Fluke Anchors: Where They Excel, and the Two Bottoms That Defeat ThemThe fluke anchor has the best holding-to-weight ratio in common use and two well-known failure modes. Both are about the bottom, not the size.
- Reading a Modern Scoop Anchor Chart, and What Its Small Print AssumesModern anchor charts look interchangeable and are not. The difference between them is usually one line of small print about assumed wind speed.
- Anchoring a 24-Foot Boat: The Questions the Chart Cannot SeeTwo 24-foot boats can need different anchors. Length is the index every chart uses and the one variable that tells you least about the load.