Anchor Questions

Ok guys I'm sick of getting blown around and dragging my fluke style anchor so thinking about getting the box anchor but have a few questions and maybe I'm just not doing something right.

Would having a chain on my fluke style anchor help? If you are anchoring in say 30 feet of water, how much rope would you use. I see people pull up to another boat and just drop straight down and not move???

My lake has a very weedy bottom, will the Box work? They are the long type of weeds

For a 2008 MC X15 would the small box be fine?

i have a tige 22ve with bimini an 4 boards in the racks . i used the small box anchor memorial day weekend . one day in the sand lots of chop 8mph winds didn't move a foot. the next day in the mud lots of chop 10 mph winds same results. i would think the small would work for you also. only complaint man that spring for the lock arm is strong.good luck

Yes, you need need about 6' of chain to make the anchor lay down.

And to do it in 30' of water, you need like 90'+ of rope.

As I understand it, you don't need either with a box, but I have yet to pull that trigger.

^^^so maybe I will try the chain first and if that doesnt work I'll try the box. My fluke style anchor might be too light, I think it is either 8 or 13 lbs not sure. I also think that the issue with 90 feet of line is wont the boat swing?

Get the box and you won't be sorry!! Best investment I could have made. Used a it a couple of weeks ago to anchor my 20 foot I/O and a guys 33 foot Sea Ray who was blowing all over with his digger anchor. We anchor in a cove that has a very muddy/silty bottom that is 30 - 40 feet deep and drop the anchor in with about 20 extra feet of line and go no where, even in high winds. It also works in a very weedy cove we go in quite often. I love my box anchor and would never use anything else. Best part is no chain needed!

Yea, the boat will swing with the wind no matter what kind of anchor you use. Typically you would anchor at 2 points to minimize that, ie; anchor your boat at one end of the raft up, and the last boat anchor at the other end of the raft up, or anchor off the bow, and a Sandspike on the shore.

Originally Posted by jame04

^^^so maybe I will try the chain first and if that doesnt work I'll try the box. My fluke style anchor might be too light, I think it is either 8 or 13 lbs not sure. I also think that the issue with 90 feet of line is wont the boat swing?

We had an 8 lb with 6 ft of chain and it would do nothing unless we caught on a log. With the fluke anchor you also need to make sure you anchor into the wind drop your line then hit reverse to make it catch. With the box, wind direction does not make a difference.

Any anchor type needs a certain amount of rode in order to hold right. A traditional fluke style needs about 7ft for every foot of water when it's windy or choppy. I'm sure the box will hold with less, but no anchor will hold well when just dropped over board and tied off. $.02

To really set an anchor you need scope and need to properly set it by dragging it until it catches and then paying out the scope. Scope is the extra line needed and sailers recommend 5:1 scope for most anchors which is for every foot of depth, you need an extra 5 feet of line. So for 30 feet of depth you would need 180 feet total. If you only set one anchor, then your boat can travel in a 150 foot radius around the anchor. In foul weather the rec is 7:1 scope. Those recs are for when you are going to leave your boat unattended and need to be darn sure you are not going to come off an anchorage. Now if you are not going to leave your boat unattended, you could get buy with less scope, but the less you have, the more likely you will be to drag your anchor but not a big deal if you are on the boat. You can compensate lower scope with heavier and bigger anchors or going with the box which claims it only needs 2:1 scope.

For party cove style action you really can't set scope with all the boats around. The best you can do there is drop the heaviest anchor and pay out a little scope, but that is more like putting the brakes on the drifting and not truly 'anchoring' your boat which is all good in those situations with fairly light wind.

well I think I am going to give the Box a try. I am going to also put 10 or 5 foot markers on my line so I know how much I have out. It just sucks to have to keep moving the boat because I am drifting into someone.

biggest problem with digger type anchors is that most people don't know how to set them. When you use them properly they will hold no problem. Not to be negative but when was the last time you saw a large boat with a box hanging off the bow??? Bottom line is you need to have a section of chain and properly set it not just drop it over the side and tie it off as soon as you have enough line out for it to hit the bottom. You have to get ti to dig to do that drop it over and pay out 2-3 to 1 for depth back up a little you'll fell it start to dig in and then let out another 1-2 times depth, do that and you shouldn't be going anywhere. The chain and extra line is there to get the line to lay down on the bottom so that when you start to drag it just digs the anchor in deeper and holds. I want to say mine is 13#'s and I've had three boats rafted to me with wind and chop and we stayed put just fine.

Yeah, before the Anchor Buddy we always just use a digger anchor with 6' of chain and 150' of rope. If you set it like Mike says, it will hold in crap weather. Once we got it solid we would just play out enough rope to get the back end at the depth we wanted, tie a loop and run the clip through the loop and clip the bow to it, then just pull the boat in and spike it to shore. In a heavy wind it will move a little but will not drift off.

I just bought a small box anchor last week which is good to 30' vessel, and per Slide Anchors recommendation use double the rode per the depth as it's made to work with a 2:1 scope at 45 degrees so i bought 100' of 3/8" line. He said play it out until it looks like 45 degrees or so and it will set. We'll see, i'm heading to Pedro next weekend then Bullards in two weeks.

Razz-

How did the box anchor work for you?

@ everyone else:

Does anyone ever anchor with 2 anchors? One at the bow and one at the stern of the boat? It looks like I may be getting a box anchor to minimize the required rode.

Looking through the Slide Anchor website, they have some very cool gear that I see myself buying in the near future. Slide spike, danik hook, and a small box anchor. I guess BOAT does mean: Bust out another thousand (No reference to Lon either)

m-

box anchor and anchor buddy. no chain no rope. drop overboard backup to shore and tie off the back of the boat. never had a problem, but never tried anything else. Most people on here said box anchor, and I couldn't be happier I listened to the Majority. they are expensive, but worth not having to reset when it gets windy, and I've had my boat in real windy conditions. Lake San Antonio winds can be in excess of 30 mph
I would advise changing the anchor buddy line out every two years or so. it's made from some type of rubber tubing, and looks like it could wear out rather easily.

Just used the box anchor the week of the 4th. I was in 6ft of water, and I attached the longer of the two anchor buddy's (20' I think), and also 25' of rope. I had about 3' of slack in the rope from the anchor to the bow to allow us to pull the boat in for boarding from the swim platform, and to minimize drift. Beach spike on the beach and ran more line to the transom hook on the bow. With the use of Danik hooks on the both bow and transom we could adjust how far it was from shore and/or how tight to hold. With the remaining line from the transom I ran this to the Danik hook on the bow along with a bouy marker. We could disconnect, go have fun, come back and hook right up to our anchor and beach spike with no problem.

We did have a couple nice storms roll through central Fl this week and it all held up nicely. I was a little nervous the first night, but after that, I never gave it a second thought.

I anchored for the first time with it in 35' of water and winds of about 15mph and it held awesome. In fact we tied up three other boats to mine and it held them all without slipping! Highly recommended

I did buy a Danik Hook as well to make it easier to play out or bring in line.

i normally use 2 anchors, one front and one back. a box anchor and a regular one. it holds well. the box anchor works like a charm unless you have a really loose sandy bottom and then it slides a little, but i think any anchor would.

Bought a box anchor about a month ago, and have been really happy with it. Dropped the anchor, tied off, and tied the bow to a friends pontoon that was beached where we were hanging out. Boat didn't move, and were were able to keep it off the sand and rocks. I've got to get a Sand Spike and a few Danik Hooks for those times I don't have another boat to tie off to.

Another box anchor question:

Does anyone use a box anchor out here in the Delta (Norcal)? The bottom is muddy or covered in plants.

Thanks.

Mario-

I use one in AZ in a cove that has a muddy weed covered botom and it never slips at all. can be tough to unanchor though. you have to make sure you get right over the top or just past to release it, but it is well worth the strain to know you are not going anywhere at all.