What size/weight anchor for a 14 feet inflatable boat?

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boatlova'

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I have a Saturn XD430. I plan to take my family out to lakes and slow rivers. Planning to get a mushroom type anchor. What weight should I buy to be safe? Will under 10 lbs hold the boat in place if it starts to drift and the motor malfunctions or something? Should I go for a higher weight to be safe? Thanks.
 

Sea Rider

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What type of bottom do those rivers, lake have ? It's not about weight, it's all about how well an anchor anchors on river, lake bottoms. A mushroom anchor will probably not anchor properly if Sib needs to deal with water currents, wind. There are some nice Grapnel Folding Anchors that might work much better.

Happy Boating
 

boatlova'

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To be honest I have no idea what kind of bottoms these rivers and lakes have. How do I find out?

As mentioned I will only be using the anchor for emergency purposes only.
 

Pack Rat

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A good length of chain will assist the mushroom too. I noticed big improvement in holding on a sand bottom with ten feet of chain added.

5528999574_a79a2eda62_z.jpg
 

fhhuber

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Start with the cheap appx 12 lb "mushroom" and about 8 to 12 ft chain (standard Wal-Mart stuff) 50 ft of 1/2 inch twisted nylon anchor rope.

Chain helps the anchor lay on its side until you are pulling it up. The chain will help ANY anchor.

Mushrooms are not as likely to get stuck on stuff on the bottom as most other types. But they don't hold as well either.

If the anchor gets stuck, let out 3 to 5 ft slack (a little more than the chain pulls down) in the line and drive the boat over the anchor slowly. That will pop the anchor free 90% of the time.

Later consider the grapnel and /or fluke style anchors.

To test holding you just go out and drop the anchor. and see how it holds.

You need at least 3X as much rope out as depth of water. For best hold 5X depth. If the line is too short it pulls the anchor mostly upright instead of dragging its digging edge into the mud and rocks.
 

boatlova'

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Start with the cheap appx 12 lb "mushroom" and about 8 to 12 ft chain (standard Wal-Mart stuff) 50 ft of 1/2 inch twisted nylon anchor rope.

Chain helps the anchor lay on its side until you are pulling it up. The chain will help ANY anchor.

Mushrooms are not as likely to get stuck on stuff on the bottom as most other types. But they don't hold as well either.

If the anchor gets stuck, let out 3 to 5 ft slack (a little more than the chain pulls down) in the line and drive the boat over the anchor slowly. That will pop the anchor free 90% of the time.

Later consider the grapnel and /or fluke style anchors.

To test holding you just go out and drop the anchor. and see how it holds.

You need at least 3X as much rope out as depth of water. For best hold 5X depth. If the line is too short it pulls the anchor mostly upright instead of dragging its digging edge into the mud and rocks.

Thanks for the info. I don't necessarily understand the logic of 3X the depth - why do you need that much extra rope?
 

boatlova'

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A good length of chain will assist the mushroom too. I noticed big improvement in holding on a sand bottom with ten feet of chain added.


As mentioned earlier, I am only hoping to use it in emergency such as in the events of an unexpected motor fail and the boat starts drifting despite efforts to oar the boat etc. Hoping to get the one with the best hold in such cases.
 

fhhuber

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If the angle on the line to the anchor is closer to vertical than 45 deg, its unlikely to hold under even best of conditions. The closer to horizontal, the better the anchor will hold.
The chain helps change the effective angle at the anchor towards horizontal. But still you need the line to be much longer than the depth from hull waterline to where the anchor is resting.

The pull of the anchor line acts partly to drag the anchor horizontally and partly to lift the anchor. The shorter the line, the more the lift and the less likely the anchor is to hold.
 

PondPickle

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Great advice, I'm following this as well. First time out today and I only managed a good anchor a couple times. Seahawk 4 with a small grapple and a sand-filled gallon jug as a second. Grapple too light, line was too short, nor any chain on board. Even when anchored we swung around a lot, but it worked for fishing a spot. Brought up huge seaweed clumps when we hauled it up, because we mostly just dragged the grapple around.

I'd guess a big grapple with chain and much rope for that emergency stop. If you not in such dire straights you're able to drop anchor, you may be able to keep a hand on the line till you feel it catching and tie it off to halt further drifting. My worry would be currents swinging me into the banks to where I might not want the boat to contact shore. Depends on the river I suppose. Use the oar as a pole if need be.

I piloted us into a low-hanging leaning tree today near the lake banks. Wife had to help fight and push off from the branches while I quit trying to remove a lure and pay attention! All too easy to float astray if not watching, let alone fighting current and a dead motor.
 

Lynx7386

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I use two 10lb scuba belt weights on a rope...cheap and no sharp edges. So far so good.

that makes me wonder if some simple weightlifting dumbells would do the trick... they have the rubber-coated ones that you could tie a chain to easy enough.
 
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