Anchors aweigh!

F

Fishstix2

New member
Something funny happened on the way to the .......

As TomCat newbies we attended the Pontoon Gathering a few weeks ago--highly recommend to all boat or not--and attended one of the seminars on anchoring. We thought we knew about that subject but found out we really didn't. Thanks Dr. Bob.
On our first outing after coming back we got stuck but good on what for 5 years has been a sandy beach easy peezy anchor spot! Seems we caught the only sea laden log in all of SW Fl. We tried the 180 reverse pull, we tried the 1/4 angles after that but nothing. After many attempts and impending darkness along with an ebbing tide we called TowBoat U.S.. We were afraid we might burn out the windlass if we kept going. Our wonderful Tow Boat guy kept trying many different things and finally poof--something broke loose. Stay tuned for the rest of the story.........
 
Well, we've never resorted to TowBoat for hauling up the anchor, but getting it stuck on something down there sounds familiar. I used my back instead of the winch, a mistake. My sympathy.

Boris
 
When my anchor gets stuck (on my 22) I use the bounce technique to break it loose. Pull the rode up as tight as you can, tie it off and then cause the bow to bounce up and down. If possible tighten the rode when the bow is down. So far this has always worked.

It helps to be patient and let the boat do most of the lifting.
 
Bought up a huge mess last time we anchored in Montague. Some sort of home-made mooring, uh, "anchor". An old anchor tied to several cinder blocks full of concrete with huge 1" rope. The windlass barely, I mean barely, manage to get it up. I then had to cut everything loose with a knife. What a PIA. I feel for your frustration.
 
Yup, been there. Anchored of Mound Island in the Broughtons, A quiet little corner of the bay in my own little bay, big enough for a short basketball court right. Boat stayed right in the center of the little bay, with a couple of circles on the plotter track from overnight. The windlass grunted a bunch on the anchor retrieval, and the bow dipped some, then I saw a piece of angle steel, rusty, peaking up about 6 feet forward of to stbd. :shock: I was still hooked to the bottom so I climbed out on the foredeck to see what I had. ..... long story short, it was some sort of framework, like a big Radar tower, about 12 feet tall, and about 8 ft square at the base. After some imaginative lifting, tying and cutting, I put that ugly thing back on the bottom, got my anchor back and go on my way. Maybe an hour elapsed time, and a lesson learned. Scan the bottom before I drop the hook.

Can't wait to hear the rest of your story.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Oh yea we tried the back pull— I once hauled a 10 ft section of pinetree to retrieve an anchor out of Lake Lanier- but not even a bit of budge this time. And yes my D/H was yelling “ Put yer ass into it!” The entire time. No luck. As Towboat said, One for the books! ( and we’ve paid for many years for towing so felt we could recoup a wee bit)
The hilarious part or ironic part was it happened right after attending Dr Bobs anchor seminar. I will upload a pix to my album so gave a Shazammm! Moment on us!
 
Another trick is to slide a 6' loop of chain down the anchor rode, and let it slide under the stock of the anchor, then pull from the opposite direction--this is different from the "trip the anchor"--this is pulling between the flukes and shank.

We have brought up all sorts of materials on anchors, including an intact Bimini Top, a dirty diaper, and an intact mason jar! (also battle ship chains, 1" logging cables etc...)
 
Towboat tried the slip down the chain then pull trick but no luck. What finally did it was a monkey fist knot in the chain then a large shackle thru this and pull like hell until we heard “Pop” goes the weasel! I just knew that sound was the windlass going but T/G I was standing on the chain to take as much pressure off as I could. The Pop wound up being the anchor bending into a hard right and then sliding off!

Pix are loaded now. We are using old anchor as yard art now. A win/win right?
 
boy, it looks to me like that would be the perfect anchor for anchoring in side winds.

On the Columbia and the charter boats in AK we attach the rode to the hole in the shank at the business end of the anchor and then zip tie or just tie off with ganion the chain to the hole where most folks attach the rode. Ideally when the anchor gets stuck the zip ties will break and trip the anchor, doesn't always work but often does. I do know it doesn't work when your anchor is caught on an abandoned long line or when a commercial troller with and attitude gathers up your anchor line and starts dragging you around
 
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"What finally did it was a monkey fist knot in the chain then a large shackle thru this and pull like hell until we heard “Pop” goes the weasel! I just knew that sound was the windlass going but T/G I was standing on the chain to take as much pressure off as I could. The Pop wound up being the anchor bending into a hard right and then sliding off!"

Pretty sure that that anchor got into that shape with a "POP". Nope. If there was a "POP", something broke, and that anchor shaft is not broke, but it took a whale of a bend, and that took some power.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Ha ha felt like it for sure. You just feel so stupid out there with nothing but white sand all around and you’re stuck on a VW! Everyone probably thought we were trying to April Fool them early.
 
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