Anyone use a river anchor?

[undercover500]

The one we have is nearly identical to this. 12lbs connected to 5 feet of chain and 100 feet of line.

Coated 12-lb. River Anchors

Rivers Anchor cast iron with black vinyl coating are designed for rivers and mud-bottom lakes.

www.overtons.com

I keep it as a secondary/stern anchor, and actually used it this past weekend to hold our stern in place. Had the danforth off the bow, but with the wind we were swinging a bit, so I tossed this out and was pleasantly surprised. It dug in immediately and set. Couldn't back down but I pulled on it and it didn't budge. We were over about 6 feet of water, and I could see the bottom was a mixture of weeds, sand and muck. We were anchored like this for maybe a half hour with very minimal swinging. Anchor held just fine with maybe 20 feet of line out (4:1 scope or so), and was easy to retrieve once the boat was over top of it. Had lots of weeds, sand and muck on it when I pulled it up.

I was unsure of how this anchor would perform, but after testing it out in a real world application, I can say that I like it. I probably wouldn't have it as my primary, but as a secondary anchor, or a stern anchor, it worked wonderfully.

I might test it out more now. Try it as a primary for a bit, see how it handles in different conditions.

 

[alldodge]

Used one of those on my 23 footer for more then 25 years and it did great. From mud, sand, rock and tree stumps only didn't hold one time. The one time was it was slate bottom so nothing to grab hold of

 

[undercover500]

Used one of those on my 23 footer for more then 25 years and it did great. From mud, sand, rock and tree stumps only didn't hold one time. The one time was it was slate bottom so nothing to grab hold of

What weight did you have? I've seen people use mushroom anchors before, without much luck. You wouldn't think the river anchor would work so well, since it's basically just a modified mushroom, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Glad to hear yours worked well. Sometimes a simple $30 anchor from your local Bass Pro or outdoor store can work! Granted, we're not anchoring our 53 foot yacht on the ocean overnight, so a $350 CQR anchor is a bit overkill.

 

[alldodge]

Think it was 15 . The 3 prongs helped it hold over the regular mushroom

 

[Captain Caveman]

I've used those on my 12' to 16' boats and they work just fine. My main is also a fluke anchor but it's not always great digging into rocky bottoms.

 

[909]

I've used both 12 and 15 and they're both great .

The work well as an all purpose anchor with no sharp edges.