Soil Types

I'm often told the Cheaspeake mud is like clay, but it's not clay. Mostly, it's fine sand and silt, with 10-25% organic content. The samples I have examined have relatively few particles small enough to be considered "clay," the shapes are wrong, and the mud lacks plasticity (you can't form it, for example, roll a snake between your hands). Mostly, it is a high-organic sandy loam. The high organic load makes it sticky when wet.

The beach areas are in the fine to medium sand range, with low silt and organic levels, but considerably higher than ocean beaches. The sand particles are intermediate in angularity and sphericity, with typically better holding than mid-Atlantic ocean sand, and better holding than coral sand. The only bite is that the sand can be thin, over impenetrable mudstone (set your anchor HARD to find out).

 Locations vary, of course. 

 

 

Mud Buckets

 

The Excel always came up clean, and the Hybrid MKI  did better than the scoops most of the time ...

  

 

... But not always (The Mantus was cleaned off--they were about the same). The crown is lower than the Excel (120 degrees vs. 90 degrees), which may increase fouling. The edge flange is wider, which improves setting and penetration of layered soils, but increases fouling. I'm thinking the next trial may be closer to the Excel crown angle (maybe 100 degrees) and an intermediate flange width. Both have a similar toe downturn. 

 

 

 

 The Knox set and held well, but it always came up clogged. The wings are as bad as a roll bar, and it seems that the high shank merely creates more space for mud and trash to accumulate. The split toe certainly does not improve release.

 

 

Anchor Testing

rev. 3-17-2026

 But different this time.

 Since I have become a competent welder, I've decided to break anchor performance down, one component at a time. Yes, they are interrelated, but it's where you start. The idea was spawned by having a number of Mantus M1 Dinghy anchors left over from testing. They are modular, coming apart quickly for storage under the seat of your jet ski. But even larger anchors, of many brands, have transitioned to bolt-together constructions to reduce shipping costs.  

I've started testing:

• Multiple sizes, from 4" to 9" fluke length.
• High, medium, and low shanks (Delta vs. Bugel vs. Oden).
• Multiple roll bar and wing options. 
• Multiple fluke shapes, including curves side-to-side and front-to-back. 
• Multiple fluke angles.
• Multiple crown (the joint between the shank and fluke) positions. 
• Shaping (streamlining) of edges on flukes and shanks.
• Fluke point angles. Down-turned toes.
• Split toe flukes (like Fortress and Knox).
• Sand and typical Chesapeake layered mud.

 

A whole fleet, with more than 100 possible combinations. 3-17-2026

 

What have I learned so far? A few things. 

• The most important variable, by far, is the fluke angle. A few degrees steeper, and it doesn't set at all in firm bottoms. A few degrees less, and it sets easily but doesn't hold as much.  The usable range is probably as narrow as 24-32 degrees.
• Shank shape and height, attachment method, crown position, and fluke shape, within a surprisingly wide range, make very little difference, as long as the fluke angle is correct. Some room for optimization. Balance can matter with a roll bar, and is vital without.
•  Chesapeake mud is more complicated than I thought. In open areas, exposed to tides, the loose stuff is washed away, and the bottom is more uniform (unless it is slate washed free of all sediment). However, in the creeks, leaves and detritus from run-off lay down a compost layer every fall, resulting in a mushy even semi-liquid layer that is too light to consolidate. Then comes the underlying clay, which is covered with oyster shells from centuries ago back when the Chesapeake was perhaps the most productive oyster grounds in the world. The challenge is super soft mud, which won't hold beans, over a layer that can be hard to penetrate without the right anchor and technique. Traditional answers have been either a really, really big anchor, or to let the anchor "soak" for 20 minutes,  sinking down through the soft stuff, followed by careful setting into the underlayer, which may or may not work, depending on the anchor type and setting method details (it's not just drop and back down).

Time to make some more models!