Scup

ChuckA's method will work fine as well. I do not care for nylon tie wraps since I had some very bad experiences with them. I use to test hydrophones for the navy up at Lake Seneca. We used nylon tie wraps all the time to keep our over-the-side cabling neat. These cable ties were probably made in China (lowest bidder) as one would never know what their strength was. One cold morning, I was popping 50 pound ties with less than a five pound pull. Other times, the locking mechanism would just fail prematurely. It is hard to beat 30 pound test nylon line as you then know what you have. I oftentimes wonder about police using them for handcuffs. Given a very cold day, the bad guy could suddenly find his hands free. The sliding ring anchor is still sold by West Marine. It is one of their cheapest anchor lines and comes in several sizes. Probably made in China as well, but I use them for my small ride without a problem. I would never use a fortress anchor for togs. There is no question that with their strong cast aluminum alloy construction, and adjustable holding angle, not to mention that they can be broken down easily enough for storage, they are really a great anchor. However, anytime you drop a hook in a rock pile, there is a chance that you may never see it again. Fortress is just too expensive for my blood to gamble it on a rock pile when a cheap China made anchor will work fine. I noted that all of you younger, so called experienced boaters, missed another neat anchoring trick.
When you have an anchor of the type ChuckA has think of the following:
how many times were you at the controls when a guest, whose is an oaf, picked up your anchor and allowed that nasty steel leveling anchor rod to smash into the side of your bow with a resounding thud. The next thing you have to do is make a trip to West Marine for a gel coat repair kit. Do yourself a favor, slip a short piece of tight fitting hose, any kind, over the two leveling anchor rods. The hose need only extend by 1/4 inch or so beyond the steel rods to give you a cushion to protect your gel coat from idiots. Do not mention I told you about this trick to my West Marine boss, as gel coat repair kits are a popular seller.

AlloyToy

Scup, learned that lesson 20 years ago with a Proline I owned, and followed up with exactly as you described.....a couple pcs. of hose

Great idea....especially in glass boats

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"First The Bite Then The Fight"

ChuckA

Thanks for the hose job Scup My brother seems to do it everytime He hauls the anchor. I own a 1978 boat which gets painted so no trips to West Marine. A quart of paint goes a long way for chips .I have one of those slide ring anchors I'll have to try it this season. I did'nt know the slide was for reverse pulling the anchor. That'll work with the retrieval ball. This was the best price I found .

Anchor Ring anchor retrieval system kit with buoy, anchor puller, anchor retreiver

Bryan A.

Stuck fortress is no match for twin 6-71ti's.
Parts are replaceable fo' free.

You're right though, I won't be using a fortress on the small boat.
I just posted to say they are a very good anchor and worth it if you are staying overnight on the hook.

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2003 Parker 2530 "El Mar".......click the pic
1973 Seacraft 20SF

AlloyToy

If using the wire tie trick as ChuckA has presented does anyone know if the anchor ball will snap the wire ties at the time of pulling or do you need to break them free by hand first then toss the ball out?

Lots of good ideas here

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"First The Bite Then The Fight"

Scup

I would not fool around with wire ties, too unpredictable in their strength. One batch from USA might break at 35 pounds while an identical wire tie from China could pop in your hands while putting it on. Get yourself some nylon mason line of a known strength (25 to 35 pound test) and then you will know what you have. Cut yourself a bunch of nylon line ties about a foot long and tie them to your anchor as spares. This is not rocket science, just common sense. All you would have to do to free a fouled anchor is to be able to get right over it, and be strong enough to break the 25 to 35 pound test nylon line. Once you pop the nylon tie, do not allow you anchor to drag on the bottom since if it snags in the tripped position (very unlikely but possible to get it stuck between two rocks), only divers will be able get it back for you.

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"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go" by William Feather

AlloyToy

Scup, would the anchor ball pop the nylon line you are talking about?

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Scup

Alloy, now you are getting way too complicated. Never ask an engineer a complicated question else it might set him off. The reason why the tie (plastic or nylon line) breaks is because when you get right on top of a fouled anchor you are pulling directly on the tie. Anyone can break the tie under these circumstances. The one exception might be if you snag a cable. Then even if you get right on top of it, the anchor, while still fouled, will simply rotate about the cable thus never giving you a direct pull on the tie. Remember, when you are in the normal anchoring position, the tension on the rode could be 100 pounds while the forces on the tie would only be a few pounds, at most, so it would not break. Now what would happen if you used an anchor ball? It was only last year that this form convinced me that by not using a ball and riding back over ones anchor to plane it up to the surface is not a smart thing to do. I started to think about what would happen in your query but it gets way to complicated to figure it out. Suppose you head toward and pass your ball (riding over the anchor) in the normal fashion to retrieve your anchor. At some point, ball or no ball, your rode will be pulling directly on the tie as you pass over it and it should easily break; then your ball will pull your freed anchor up to the surface. However, should you head off in another direction rather than going right over your anchor, I do not have a clue as to what would happen. It would be very hard to figure out the angle the rode will make with the fouled anchor, hence it is not clear what component of the rode's tension would be on the tie. The pull the ball exerts on the rode would not only depend on the size of the ball but the dynamics of how fast you are going as well. Sometimes things can get so complicated that rather than trying to figure it out, experience is the best teacher. Hopefully, some other form member that has used a ball to snap a fouled anchor's tie could relate to his/her experiences using this technique. As you can probably sense, I always view retrieving an anchor as something that can very easily get out of hand especially in inclement conditions. Toss in inexperience, carelessness, and fast currents, and one could have a disaster in the making. What ever you do, be very careful out there as this form reminded us all of what could happen when two people lost their lives last year due to their rode tangling with their propeller.

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"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go" by William Feather

AlloyToy

Good info there scup. Also factor in trying to do this alone, and that's why I perfer the ball as a pulling device.

Thx. for your input

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"First The Bite Then The Fight"

74Formula233

Here's a good example of what NOT to do when rigging your anchor.

The previous owner of this anchor underestimated the strength of Betts Ties LOL

I pulled this anchor up with my CQR while using the anchor ball method one day LOL!

Attached Images

Rock Anchor.jpg (333.7 KB, 2 views)

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