Would my helix anchor design hold in a hurricane ?

[Clever screen name]

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This is the design I just thought of, get a post hole auger bit, create a long extension and drill it WAY down .

 

[Clever screen name]

The helix anchor

 

[Clever screen name]

I don't have anyplace real good to tie for a hurricane so I thought of this today.


I have a friend who welds and think that if we welded a long *** shaft solid steel from that metal warehouse to one of these auger bits then made a coupler and used the post hole digging power head to sink this bit like 10 or 15 feet into the bottom of the bay it should hold.

The auger bit will rust and be gone but should be fine for the length of the storm.


Got 3 days storm is coming need an anchor... These auger bits are not that expensive , earth auger bit > Google it > click on shopping

 

[Clever screen name]

[FONT=&quot]A36 Steel Round Bar [/FONT][FONT=&quot]is a hot rolled, mild steel solid steel bar that is ideal for all general fabrication, manufacturing and repairs.[/FONT] https://www.metalsdepot.com/products...cc=%20&aident=



I looked in the tool rental section of Home Depo at the post hole auger and imagined it buried 10 feet and being pulled sideways and imagined the metal would snap before that pulled out.


And that's it , would this work ?

 

[wrvond]

Nothing good ever came of mixing moored boats with hurricanes. That's why when a hurricane comes to town the Navy and Coast Guard get underway. Pier side or at anchor are dangerous places to be. The best you can do is put out extra fenders and lots of extra lines and make sure your insurance is up to date. I made good money diving on sunken boats for the insurance companies in South Carolina after Hugo came through.
​To directly address your idea, let's suppose for a moment that your auger anchor works and no amount of force can pull it free of the bottom. How much mooring line do you plan to use? When the surge hits, and your boat runs out of mooring line, it'll be pulled under bow first. If, somehow, you are able to predict how high the surge will be, you'll have to have your boat well clear of anything that it might be driven into before the surge hits but the winds are blowing.
So no, I really don't think that idea will work.
​You're thinking though, and that's always a good thing!

 

[Clever screen name]

Boat torn from its moorings by Hurricane Irene >​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUFh9XtJoDM

 

[Clever screen name]

Re: How much mooring line do you plan to use?


I would set up the same way I would if I was using a regular anchor, lots of scope so the force would be as horizontal as possible.

 

[Clever screen name]

I am thinking maybe we could build one and sink it someplace on a beach shallow water in a spot we could test it by pulling with the dually diesel truck like its a tree stump. Different ropes with known breaking strengths as a way to see what the truck can do or has done.





[h=1][/h]

 

[Scott Danforth]

Put a buoy on it so you can identify where your boat is when it sinks because of the hurricane storm surge.

Only sure way to keep the boat safe is to move it out of the storms path

 

[GA_Boater]

How deep is your anchorage and what boat do you have?

 

[bajaunderground]

To put it succinctly...Nope. If you have the time to plan for a pending hurricane, you have the time to land the boat and not even take that chance. I guess you could pre-sink it before the hurricane got there...that way you'd already have the coordinates for where it is submerged?

 

[Clever screen name]

How deep is your anchorage and what boat do you have?

48 foot cabin cruiser and the Tampa Bay Area to chose a spot to anchor. Lots of places 6 feet deep low tide and sheltered.

 

[Clever screen name]

One of the more interesting innovations to come out of Hurricanes Bob and Gloria, which clobbered the New England coast 20 years ago, has been the development of the helical anchor, which is screwed into the bottom using specialized equipment and offers tremendous holding power, even when scope is reduced. A study by the BoatUS Foundation, Cruising World, and MIT in 1993, found that a 500-pound buried mushroom anchor could be pulled out with 1,200 pounds of pull (supplied by a 900-hp tug); an 8,000-pound dead weight (concrete) anchor could be pulled out with 4,000 pounds of pull. A helical anchor, however, could not be pulled out and the strain gauge recorded 12,000 pounds of pull — its maximum — before a shackle burst apart. (In an earlier test with a larger tug, a strain gauge registered 20,800 pounds before the hawser snapped.) http://www.boatus.com/magazine/2011/june/hurricaneprep.asp

http://www.boatus.com/magazine/2011/...ricaneprep.asp

 

[Scott Danforth]

Your in Tampa, storm wont even be close. http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html

Take your boat up one of the rivers if you are concerned.

You will get lots of rain. Make sure your pumps are working

 

[wrvond]

http://www.boatus.com/magazine/2011/...ricaneprep.asp[/URL]

Well, I know I'm just a dumb old sailor, and I certainly wouldn't argue with a bunch of academicians about something like this. But I will tell you that over the years I have been through more tornados and hurricanes than your average bear.
I once saw a personnel berthing barge that had been picked up by the storm and deposited five miles inland. One of those things weighs significantly more than 20000 pounds.
I've laid out why I don't think it will work but if you have the resources to try it I certainly wouldn't want to discourage you.
The problem is gathering meaningful evidence to indicate success. Just as I've seen massive items moved great distances, I've also seen relatively fragile items emerge unscathed. Hurricanes are capricious and far from completely understood.
Good luck to you!

 

[GA_Boater]

http://www.boatus.com/magazine/2011/...ricaneprep.asp[/URL]

Yes, those are impressive numbers, but will the boat hardware stand up? All the anchors in the world won't help when the strain from massive waves rips off the boat hardware.

In Tampa, you will probably OK - This time.

 

[GA_Boater]

I once saw a personnel berthing barge that had been picked up by the storm and deposited five miles inland. One of those things weighs significantly more than 20000 pounds.
QUOTE]

Saw the same thing, not 5 miles, but far enough. In Biloxi, a casino ended up on top of a Holiday Inn Express about a half mile down the beach. The casino was a huge barge because Mississippi gambling laws prohibited wagering on land, so all the casinos were floaters.

That changed after Katrina when the floaters became sinkers or crushed buildings like the HIE and the industry was all but destroyed and the state revenue loss was enormous at a time when every penny counted toward recovery. Now on-land gambling is OK.

The power of wind and water can't be underestimated!

 

[JASinIL2006]

I'm trying to imagine running an augering machine from a boat... it's hard enough running those things on land, where you can anchor yourself against the auger's tuning action. I can't imagine how that would work on a boat, unless you had some pretty specialized augering machines. Wouldn't the boat just spin around?

 

[Clever screen name]

A helical anchor, however, could not be pulled out and the strain gauge recorded 12,000 pounds of pull ? its maximum ? before a shackle burst apart. (In an earlier test with a larger tug, a strain gauge registered 20,800 pounds before the hawser snapped...

Yes, those are impressive numbers, but will the boat hardware stand up? All the anchors in the world won't help when the strain from massive waves rips off the boat hardware.

In Tampa, you will probably OK - This time.

From what I have read anchor rode elasticity is the solution and that makes sense because I know in the past when I have used a tow chain to pull one vehicle with another its really shocking when the slack gets taken up the a chain and it jolts both vehicles but if you use a tow rope it is not nearly as bad.


At the dock I keep the boat tied with 5/8" Double Braid Nylon Line, 13,500lb. Breaking Strength and in parallel to those lines I have White 3-Strand Nylon, 1/4'' Diameter, 2000lb. Breaking Strength I am guessing about a foot shorter.

The 1/4 inch line does all the holding till it stretches from wind or boat wakes to the point the 5/8" Double Braid becomes tight and does the holding.

I came up with this idea when the wind and waves were hitting the sailboat on the end tied by a short length of like 3/4 Double Braid and I could feel the whole dock moving on each bounce because the pilings are in bad shape all eaten up by worms.

When I tied a shorter length of 1/4 inch in parallel to the bouncing sailboat the elasticity totally prevented that jolting of the dock, it worked so well I went and bought enough to run it in parallel to all my lines.


Good elasticity should save the boat hardware, I am imagining pulling out a thumbtack with a rubber band vs a foot of fishing line. The fishing string I could yank it right out but with a skinny rubber band it would be different.

2 fishing weights one tied to a thumbtack on a bulletin board with rubber bands the other just fishing line I imagine dropping the weight the thumbtack would hold with the rubber band but not with just the line.

 

[Grandad]

In regard to shock pulling on hardware, you could try one of these:
http://www.iboats.com/Boat-Parts-Ac...e--searched.1--session_id.873799655&q=shockle

In regard to auger style anchors, you might consider pole line hardware. Electrical distribution pole everywhere are secured by anchors screwed into the ground. The rod is very strong as is the auger itself. It's all hot dipped galvanized and long enough to dig deep. When pole lines are damaged in hurricanes, it's not because the anchors pulled out of the ground. - Grandad