Anchor Float

[Irwin32]

West Catalog, pg 726 describes a float that is supposed to float your anchor to the surface. By the description I cannot undeerstand how it could work. Has anyone used this?

[paulk]

IMHO, I believe this anchor buoy simply marks where your anchor actually is. If the flukes get caught on something, having the buoy line tied to the anchor head enables you to extricate the anchor by pulling it out backwards.

[Irwin32]

According to the West catalog this float actually helps pull your anchor up when you motor at "45 degrees to your rode" and then floats it to the surface for easy retrieval.

[paulk]

Found a 2003 catalogue that gives a description of how it''s supposed to work. The float is attached to the anchor line with a 5.5" steel bail, held shut with a carabiner. Powering off at an angle, after the float is attached, causes the float to submerge, due to a combination of the vectors of the anchor line, the boat''s movement, and the lifting force of the buoy. When the float gets down to the anchor, the ring slips over the anchor stock, and lifts it off the bottom. ( This might not work well with a Fisherman type anchor.) When you see the buoy surface, reel it in.
It looks like you could put together your own one of these, using a buoy and a ring of your own. A really big shackle might serve as a trial ring, to see if it works in your situation. In my first tests I would use a lot of scope on my anchor line, so as to try to increase the vectors for getting the thing to submerge. In the meantime, I''ll pull up my anchor by hand.

[Irwin32]

That is the description. I don''t understand how it can work. What I understand is that you have a 5" bail that is free to slide up and down the rode. The bail is attached to a float by a short line. Since the bail is free to slide, why won''t the float stay on the surface. As you you motor at an angle, the rode will slack and then tighten as you proceed, but what forces the float under water? With the bail sliding on the rode, the float will only follow your boat.

[p32]

We use this technique when I go out grouper fishing with a friend in the Gulf of Mexico. We regularly anchor in 100+ feet of water. Obviously its a drag to pull the anchor to move to a new spot, and he likes to move often. We deploy the bouy, then power off at about 180 degrees from our anchor course. Since the bouy is so large (12" or more in diameter) the water provides enough resistance to force the bouy down the line and lift the anchor. I should point out he has a power boat, we usually power quite fast (8-10 knots or more) to raise the anchor, and the anchor is a light danforth type. Since we are just anchoring for a few minutes at a time there is no need for a heavy anchor or much chain. I should also mention that the anchor comes up mangled on occasion.

If you have a sailboat (limited speed under power), use a reletively heavy anchor, have a length of chain approaching the depth of the anchorage, anchor in fairly shallow water (under 30 feet), or don''t want to bend your anchor with your engine''s hp, I suspect you would not benefit from this device.

By the way, his is homemade as suggested above and works great in our application.

Brian

[Irwin32]

OK - I think I may understand. By powering out, you pull the anchor off the bottom. As you power off the float stays pretty much stationary and the rode, following the boat, passes through the carbiner until the anchor itself surfaces and gets caught in the carbiner. You then bring the rode on board and work your way back to the flat/anchor. This would mean if the anchor was heavier than the buoancy of the float, the system won''t work. Thanks for you post - I get it, now.

I use an aluminum fortress and suspect this system would not really be that much help to me.