I fish out of a 16' flat bottom, mainly on the MO river. We like to anchor but pulling up the line is getting tiresome for us older cats.... I want to get something to "assist" in pulling the anchor. Was looking at the AnchorLift and really liked it until I read that several of you more experienced folks on here are afraid of the possibility of getting the line caught in the prop and spinning the boat. I read a little on the capstan's and windlass.
What you would suggest? What do you use? Pros/Cons -- Brands/models...making my Christmas list for the wife.
I have fished with a couple guys that fish the river in Warsaw--the start of LOZ-- and they have a large ball that your anchor rope goes through and when they are ready to leave they just drive the boat to the ball and the ball lifts the anchor and all you do is lift the ball and the anchor in the boat.
I use 2 styles of anchors; the heavy grappling style and the fluke style. The grappler works great in rocks and hard bottoms and the fluke works good in dirt or sand bottoms. The fluke weighs much less, so I don't know what style anchor you use, but you may be able change the style of anchor to make it much easier to pull up. As a side note: the weight of an anchor does not keep you in place, you need a lot of rope out and have the anchor dig in. When leaving just motor the boat over the anchor and lift; all the excess rope will be easier to retrieve than trying to pull the boat to the anchor. It does still take some backbone to break the anchor loose from the bottom once dug in.
When we anchor, we use a home made river (grappling?) anchor. The tines get caught in the rock or dig into the bottom. When were not in the really fast water we use light zip ties that hold the boat ok, but break rather easy letting the anchor flip over and free itself from the bottom without much fuss when we're ready to move. Guessing the anchor weights less than 20lbs. so it's not bad at all reeling in the line.
Anchoring in the outside bends in the really fast water is another story.
I would love to have one of those, however the I'm not in a position to spend $800 on one just right now. Got my boat last year and had to outfit it totally. Part of that was spent on a pretty fancy Helix 10, love it but was a bit pricey. Little by little I'll get it fixed up.
Doug that is definately sweet. I like my trac winch. I installed a switch so i can retrieve anchor while driving. The remote control that came with the unit ended up not working out. I’m anchoring a lot less boat. Merry xmas!
Having a second person on the boat helps greatly. One to maneuver the boat while the other handles the anchor(s). If you are alone things are harder but once you develop a routine or procedure it comes less a chore.
ATV 12 volt winches are pretty reasonable. About $65 from Harbor Freight. I don't see why it can't be used like a windlass. Put a mark on the line to know when you reach full retrieval. The 2000 lb model has a line speed of 3.3 feet per minute with a full load, and 10.5 feet per minute with no load.
I know some like to move fast but not me. My two rules for staying out of trouble are: 1. Don't get mad. 2. Never get in a hurry. As a mechanic working on dangerous machinery and chemicals it was the golden rule for not getting hurt or hurting someone else. Additionally, not destroying equipment. Safety is always first. All the ones I worked with that had to fly at everything then are dead now. They fretted and had anguish when something held them up. I can wait.
ATV winches don't have the spool capacity for anchor line. Also they are way too slow, only rated for intermittent use, ie: prone to fail if used for anything but short pulls.
I would only use the spool for pulling by wrapping the anchor line around it once or twice, it would feed in on one side and off on the other. I am in pretty good shape for pulling at 72 yr. old, might be OK by hand.
The lift ball works great for me. Like anything, common sense will go a long way in staying safe.
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