Powerpole anchor system?

C

CharlieRock

New member
In the process of down-sizing from a Ranger Tugs R23 to a C-dory. We are shallow water boaters in the Gulf ICW, inshore islands and sand flats, and St. Johns River and tributaries. We fish / or anchor out quite a bit. Our our paddle-boards, we have Sand spears or Yak Parknpole. Drive it down thru a thru hull and into the bottom to hold you steady and fish. A c-dory is a lot heavier than a paddle-board, but in Tierra Verde there are huge 30 plus foot, multi-engined Center Consoles with these on back. Anyone have experience with power-pole to hold your c-dory inclose to shore, temporarily or overnight?
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We also have boated the St. John's extensively--there is excellent holding and often many anchorages would be too deep for the power poles. They are not good in tidal areas, and I would never use one for overnight anchoring.

Could you use one--either manual or power on a C Dory 22? Sure. The purpose is very shallow water, bay and protected areas when temporary fishing. If there is much wind the C Dory profile will torque most of the smaller systems from the forces.

I would stick to anchors, or bow/stern to the beach in non tidal areas.

I have never seen one on a C Dory, I see many of them--often in back of our house, used by bass fishermen.
 
A power pole is normally mounted at the stern of the boat. This is ok in calm water. Not so good where there are waves. The boat is not unattended when a power pole is in use. Also, the rising and falling of a boat in waves will probably make short work of your power pole.

Anchor from the bow is a much better idea.
 
We do a lot of fishing around the St marks florida area of the gulf. Depths range from 2'-10' in the area we fish. The reason we bought our Cdory is because my wife loves to fish and told me to buy a boat that has A/C and we could sleep on so she wouldn't have to get off the water. We could just pull up into one of the grassy islands and anchor out for the night. When it comes to buying a boat that your wife gives you permission to buy you don't hesitate. I have a 10' minn kota talon that I use on my carolina skiff. The way the talon is made there is no external pumps or hoses only the power cable. I have an additional bracket that I will install on the cdory so i can move the talon between the boats. I have not tried it yet. I will be installing it as soon as the boat gets back from being repowered. I let you know how it works when we get to try it out.
 
Our 25' came with the Mincota and it works great in the skinny water we are in. It has the rough water setting so with the movement up and down it is always adjusting. For overnight I would use our other anchor at the stern and not the Talon. I normally use it in 4-5' of water with the bow anchor and our currents are pretty strong. Ours came on the boat.
 
You have to take into consideration

the fact that a C-Dory has quite the surface are for wind to push it around

I'm thinking for the cost of a power-pole you could easily buy a good windlass
 
I hope everyone is well. It’s been awhile since I’ve logged on. I thought I’d give an update on the power pole topic.
I’ve spent a lot of hours over the last 6 months rebedding all bolt and screw holes with epoxy and 3m4000uv. Cleaning up and labeling all the wiring and a myriad of other repairs. Installing new simrad electronics including radar and autopilot. I installed a minn Kota talon and Ipilot link trolling motor. I chose the talon because I already had them and it’s electric and I can swap it back and forth between the Cdory and the skiff. The talon will hold the Cdory in 12-15mph winds with a 1’ chop with no problems. The trolling motor holds the boat fine but anything over 1’ it struggles because the shaft needs to be 72” instead of 60”. It’s funny to watch people’s expressions in flats skiffs when they see me creep up in 2’ of water in this boat with a cabin. Get the stern where I want it and drop the talon then use the trolling motor to spot lock the bow where I want it then commence to pulling in redfish tailing on the oyster bars. I posted pics in my album.
 
Just a couple of weeks ago or so our local sea rescue service had a heck of a time trying to bring in a boat that had their power pole fail in the down position. Apparently a cable broke so it couldn't be raised manually either. I know nothing about these systems and have no opinion on them and had to look up what it was when I read about it. Here is the report:

"Rescue 1 with a crew of five responded and found the boat with eight aboard locked in the jetties. It seems the owner had lowered a hydraulic anchoring power pole (on the stern of his boat) deep into the soft bottom. When he went to raise the pole, the cables snapped as the power of the current had actually bent the pole. There was no way to raise it manually.

... a crew member with marine engineering experience climbed aboard the stranded boat to find a solution to a problem never-before encountered. In the end, he used large bolt cutters to cut the power pole frame off the stern, freeing the vessel."

Just passing it along. As I said, I have no experience with these systems and no opinion.
 
Gerhard, Thanks for the info. Since I move it back and forth between boats I installed it on a quick release bracket. Loosen 4 knobs and unplug it and it comes right off.
 
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