Best Lake Anchor for 19' Runabout

[bwady]

I am trying to find the best holding anchor for my boat. Any suggestions? I have a cheap galvanized folding anchor that is not holding my boat. I do not have alot of storage so I am looking for the best "compact" yet "best holding" anchor for my 19' Islander.

 

[Stachi]

Re: Best Lake Anchor for 19' Runabout

Do you have any chain on the anchor ? Are you letting out enough anchor line ? You should at least have 4 times the depth of the water you are trying to anchor in of line or it will never hold.

 

[rallyart]

Re: Best Lake Anchor for 19' Runabout

A small Box Anchor. You can use just a nylon line for the anchor line and wrap it around the anchor, which folds compact, when stowed.

 

[blifsey]

Re: Best Lake Anchor for 19' Runabout

Although I found a danforth style anchor to hold better, the bow storage on our previous 20' Glastron did not have enough room to store one. So, I used a smaller but heavier navy style anchor with 8' of chain and it worked well. I only used it for short periods as a "lunch anchor." For anchoring boat overnight when camping I used the danforth. The trick is to have the length of chain (technically, I think 8' wasn't enough for my 20' boat), to use sufficient scope (5x to 7x length rode for depth) and to deploy/set anchor properly (drop in water, don't throw, let out scope while reversing and do a "set" when proper scope is out).

 

[bwady]

Re: Best Lake Anchor for 19' Runabout

What will the chain achieve?

 

[cribber]

Re: Best Lake Anchor for 19' Runabout

Weight to the anchor to help keep the anchor on the bottom as the blades are being set into the lake bottom.

 

[blifsey]

Re: Best Lake Anchor for 19' Runabout

Chain makes the angle of pull on the anchor more parallel to bottom of lake which helps the anchor dig in. It also helps keep rope portion of rode taught as boat rises/falls on wakes/waves or changes in current/wind. That is also why proper score is important to get the best angle of pull on the anchor.

 

[mpsyamaha]

Re: Best Lake Anchor for 19' Runabout

in my experience the chain makes more difference than the anchor type. adding a length of chain to your current anchor would probably be all you need.

 

[JimKW]

Re: Best Lake Anchor for 19' Runabout

My anchor did not work at all until I put six feet of chain on it. I got the white plastic coated chain and now it works great. I do throw my anchor out though when I want to anchor and then back up until the rode gets tight.

 

[pmillar]

Re: Best Lake Anchor for 19' Runabout

To really pick the best anchor you need to know what the bottom is like. There's a difference between sand, mud, rocky, weedy... in general a danforth type works well unless it's all weeds or rock. The chain comments apply to most any type of anchor though.

 

[Stachi]

Re: Best Lake Anchor for 19' Runabout

Read this , and search my other posts on anchors...

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=497240&p=3354668#post3354668