Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

nola mike

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I'm looking to make a good mooring for my 19' bowrider. It will be in approx 5' of water with a hard, sandy bottom. I'm thinking that a screw or helical type anchor would be best, like this:
http://www.go2marine.com/product.do?no=88163F

this would be a permanent mooring. Any thoughts on the best way to secure the boat, and perhaps some other sources for this type of anchor? And what size should I be looking at? Thanks!
 

Expidia

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

An answer to one of your questions would be it gets hooked to your bow ring.

Many people who moor also use one of those small floats that has a long thin pole sticking out of it. This way when you come back to the mooring You can just go to the bow of the boat and grab the pole and rehook a line from the float and the other end clips back onto the bow ring.

They look like this:
http://www.iboats.com/Mast_Buoys/dm/*******.490875830--**********.795872569--view_id.426990
 

nola mike

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

Thanks, though I'm not as concerned about securing the boat to the mooring/float; I'm more interested in anchoring the mooring itself to the bottom.
 

Expidia

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

Any thoughts on the best way to secure the boat,

Sorry, I read this part of your post and gave you an answer to the way it was worded! I thought you meant how do you secure the other end to the boat too!

Also, just search out your question on google. There is a lot of information out there.
 

nola mike

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

Also, just search out your question on google. There is a lot of information out there.


yeah, i've searched google, and while i can find a number of manufacturer sites, the link i posted is the only retailer that i've found. i'm looking at the screw-type anchor because it seems to be the best option for my situation.
 

Expidia

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

Like you have said "You" are thinking of that screw system. It would not be the direction I would go. I don't know that much about anchoring a mooring but I've been with a buddy as he was setting his up on lake champlain in NY. He used a large weight and many feet of big heavy chain. And I mean "BIG" chain links.

Even with all this effort his Searay cabin cruiser floated off the mooring the next season only to have a neighbor down the lake call him on the phone and say his boat is crashing up against the rocks in front of the callers house.

I don't have any connection with iboats but they have a broad line of products and a search turned up this type of mooring system.

http://www.iboats.com/Bridle_Plate_...4200004--**********.915764511--view_id.426997

If it was my boat I like the looks of this set up rather than that screw pole.
I have one of those for my dog. I wouldn't trust my boat being tied up to it when the wind and rough waters hit your rig.

You can make the weight out of cement that you mix and pour into a plastic bucket. Break the bucket away after the cement hardens and float it out to where you want to drop it.

And by the way . . . it's just my opinion, but that device you are looking for seems more like a sand spike. Which is what boaters sink into a beach for their dog or boat to be land moored to while they spend the day on the beach. I would not plan to sink it into the sand underwater to hold a boat no matter how hard you think the sand is. I would not use that device to anchor a 2000 lb plus boat to unless you sink it into the middle of a bucket of cement like I described above.
 

nola mike

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

cement block is a pretty crappy anchor for a number of reasons. systems that work best embed themselves into the sand and have far more holding power than just weights. that's why you don't see anchors that are just blocks of weight, and why a 20# properly designed anchor can hold a boat that weighs 100x more. the firm sandy bottom that i have makes mushroom or dor-mor anchor (http://www.dor-mor.com/) i think less effective, while a helix anchor in this condition should be better.
 

mphy98

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

Is this mooring off your land? If so I would get one of the local cement people that make these 1000lbs weights and chain it up rather than trust that thing. What you are trying to use would pull out in the 1st storm. remember telephone poles are also embedded int the ground, your boat is not. Any Concrete place can make you what you need, 1000lbs of cement on the bottom with a heavy chain will usually withstand anything but a hurricane.
 

Expidia

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

Is this mooring off your land? If so I would get one of the local cement people that make these 1000lbs weights and chain it up rather than trust that thing. What you are trying to use would pull out in the 1st storm. remember telephone poles are also embedded int the ground, your boat is not. Any Concrete place can make you what you need, 1000lbs of cement on the bottom with a heavy chain will usually withstand anything but a hurricane.

My point exactly. I was there at my buddies house the day his boat drifted off. I looked out his window and said "where are you keeping the cruiser now days"? He thought someone stole it until his phone rang. It's a 32 foot Searay and I too would have thought the mooring we put in would have held it. He had sunken some big mushroom weight and it dragged it along . . . boat mooring and all about a mile before it started hitting the rocky shore line.

Check with a few marinas and ask them how they set up their moorings. For my 2nd boat a 22 footer if I had to moor it (which I might have to) it would be with a 1000 lbs of cement block for a good solid mooring.

Or make sure you have enough insurance on the boat.
 

roscoe

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

Where to buy? the answer is the link in your post.
Any thoughts on the best way to secure the boat. With a float and a line.
I'm more interested in anchoring the mooring itself to the bottom. The anchor screws into the lake bed.

More important is the size of your boat, exposure to high winds or seas, and is it a legal mooring area.

Nothing beats steel, small railroad wheels are great, with 20 feet of chain and a buoy on top. Steel equipment framing is good too, and it sinks into the bottom of the lake.

Will this have to withstand winter icing conditions.
 

nola mike

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

ok, as luck would have it, my neighbor informed me that the previous owner had already installed a helical anchor, but that it was now lost on the bottom somewhere. well, at low tide i shuffled through the water until i found it. so now my problem will be to attach the boat to it (it's deeply embedded, and the eye seems solid--i'll take a better look this weekend). looks like i'm going to need 1) a heavy chain attached to the mooring of about 10' (1.5x water depth) 2) a light chain of 6' or so, 3) a buoy, and 4) some heavy duty nylon rope 2.5x my freeboard. questions:

1) how heavy, exactly, should the heavy chain be? i see "as big as you can", but a more solid # would be nice. this boat will be moored on the potomac, which is generally fairly serene but can get rough. i'm only leaving it in the water when i'm there, so i should know if something real severe is on its way in.
2) how do i attach the pennant to the mooring, and to my boat? as in, what knots/securing devices should form the loops in either end of the rope? looks like i can use some nylon-reinforced pvc for a chafe guard to attach to the chain shackle, and presumably to the chain hook/clip or whatever that i attach to the bow eye.

as for the mooring system, here's the info i was looking for on the helical anchors:
"Helical Piles or sea screws are not common,
but are exceptionally effective. These are long
shafts of high tensile steel with an attachment eye
at the top and large threads at the lower end.
These ?screw anchors? are screwed into the bottom.
Common lengths are 8? with threads of 10? to 14?
in diameter. When embedded into the bottom with
the top eye flush or into the bottom soil attached
to traditional ground tackle, their holding power is
exceptional. Recent tests have shown that their
holding power is vastly greater than any traditional
mooring system of mushroom or deadweight
anchors. These anchors have been used by the
offshore oil industry for more than 20 years and
are quickly appearing in the yachting market."

here's the source http://www.inamarmarine.com/pdf/Moorings.pdf

very useful info on moorings.
 

Bob_VT

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

A nice degreased engine block buried in the bottom with a chain is pretty strong. We have water jetted a few of them into the bottom of the lake in 5-7' of water and once buried they do not come up. Fairly cheap too ;)
 

nola mike

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

yeah, i'll buy that if you bury them deep enough. what do you use/how do you jet a hole? and degreasing seems like it would be difficult, no?
 

grego

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

Just a thought, I have a telephone pole guide wire ,augered into my front yard. We easily tipped a backhoe trying to pull it out, with bucket full of dirt. You may want to look at one of those. It is still in ground after trying many times.
 

Bob_VT

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

yeah, i'll buy that if you bury them deep enough. what do you use/how do you jet a hole? and degreasing seems like it would be difficult, no?

De-greasing a stripped 4 cylinder is easy..... can or two of degreaser and the $2.50 DIY car wash bay to blast it off.

We had a gas operated water pump in the boat with the pick up in the lake connected to a hose outlet and a section of pvc 2" pipe...... run the pump and watch with a swim mask on....... you can really blast the bottom away when the engine block is falling in the hole.

We had fun ;)
 

drandlett

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

Up until 6 months ago I worked for "Helix Mooring Systems" the embedment mooring company based in midcoast Maine, I now work for a boatyard in southern maine.

You can buy the American made Helix Anchors direct from Helix (www.helixmooring.com), or from Hamilton Marine (www.hamiltonmarine.com). I believe you get a better price through Hamilton, but can order direct if you wish and be able talk to someone that does this on a daily basis.

The Helix anchors hold very well in firm soils, infact they can out hold concrete, granite, and other dead weight systems. The largest self installed Helix Jr mooring anchor installed in a firm sand soil can deliver holding of 3500lbs, that is roughly what a 4500b concrete block will hold when set on the same soil. And the price and ease of installation of a Helix Jr far outweighs dealing with a several thousand pound concrete block.

Clearly I am a little bias being I worked for them. But I have seen what they can do, and seen what others cannot, both in the states and overseas. For me there is only one mooring system for my boat, Helix.

Goodluck with your mooring system, and let us know what you decide on!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Dana
 

Bondo

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

1) how heavy, exactly, should the heavy chain be? i see "as big as you can", but a more solid # would be nice. this boat will be moored on the potomac, which is generally fairly serene but can get rough. i'm only leaving it in the water when i'm there, so i should know if something real severe is on its way in.
2) how do i attach the pennant to the mooring, and to my boat? as in, what knots/securing devices should form the loops in either end of the rope? looks like i can use some nylon-reinforced pvc for a chafe guard to attach to the chain shackle, and presumably to the chain hook/clip or whatever that i attach to the bow eye.

Ayuh,...
#1, You can use 3/8" or better yet, 1/2" for the 1st chain, then 3/8" or 5/16" for the 2nd 1...
#2, A Bowline loop is pretty hard to beat,... even after a season of mooring, it can still be Untied...

As for Mooring Blocks in general, I moor my 34' houseboat tied to a 1/2" line(about 20'), tied to a 1/2" chain(about 10'), tied to a 4cyl. motor block, chained(about 4') to a V8 motor block...
Even in a 'ell of a Blow,... If the 4cyl. motor block happens to get Distrubed,...The V8 block will Never move...
 

nola mike

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

old thread resurrected!

as luck would have it, my neighbor let me know that there already was a helical mooring buried "somewhere" off my shore--a few years ago, the prev owner and neighbors to either side put them in. so i slogged out there and shuffled my feet until i actually found the thing, much to the surprise of all. i ended up using 1/2" for the first chain and 3/8" for the second chain. i used some 3/8" rope with bowlines on either end from there, with full intentions of upgrading to 1/2" nylon with an eye spliced in. didn't get around to it. next season. anyway, even with the roughest weather we had, the mooring was WAY overkill. which is good. weak point is definitely the rope now.
 

rbh

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Re: Where to buy screw/helical anchor/mooring?

If you need a screw anchor and a 5-8 foot galvinized rod, talk to someone at your electrical retail store or some one from the power company.
 
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