best anchor

[ron nh]

What type anchor do you guys think is best all purpose for pontoons? I'll be in rocky lakes, brackish bays, calm and not so calm rivers. while I'm at it. what size docking line is needed? I'd like to go as short as I can for fenders and docking. what do you guys use? I've never owned a pontoon so I'm starting to think of the little things. Thank you all.

[COTTS4x4]

Hands down the best anchor I have ever seen is the box anchor. They're expensive and I was very hesitant to buy one, but I finally did and was amazed at how well it works. I was so amazed that I bought another since we anchor sideways in a lot of places we go like the springs. I tried everything to not spend the money they wanted for these, but can honestly tell you that if they went missing today I would order two more tomorrow.

If your interested in them the best price I found was through overton's after having them price match and matching their own sale which gave a higher percentage off.

Here's the thread I made when I found the deal on them;
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=19656&p=163960&hili ... or#p163960

[RcgTexas]

A box anchor, and I use nothing but nylon line(3/8 to .5 inch) on a small boat like a pontoon. Everything else gets sun burnt, breaks and deteriorates too quickly IMHO.

[teecro]

One thing to keep in mind is how much do you really expect to use the anchor? While the box anchor for what I've read is the best thing since god invented the dog is that they are both costly and they are huge when compaired to say a mushroom anchor etc.... Keep storage in mind.... As to anchor and docking line size I say the same go with the 3/8" to 1/2" at best and always use good quality nylon for anchoring as it has some give; I use 3/8" solid core braided nylon for both and cheaper braided fender line that is 5 or 6 foot long. My mooring lines are 10 or 12 foot long and the anchor line is 100 foot as our lake can be quite deep in places...

[COTTS4x4]

The box anchor folds flat for storage. I have two (a large and a medium box anchor) and all of my anchor line under one seat.

[ron nh]

Thanks guys, that thing looks evil.

[zoom650]

I use 2 Danforth style anchors, with 4-6 ft of chain, one on a 100 ft 3/8 rode, the other on 150 ft. Dock lines vary in length with at last one line as long as my boat. Most of my anchorages are sand or earthen.

[JBO]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LR ... UTF8&psc=1

I've only used this anchor a handful of times but it works well, even with a 22ft Pontoon.

Also use:

http://www.amazon.com/SEACHOICE-LAND-44 ... _sg_text_y

[woolznaz]

Another box anchor fan here. Like the poster above, I was hesitant and even skeptical. Hands down the best anchor I have ever had. There are many advantages. Collapsible is nice. Designed to roll over and dig in again if the wind changes is excellent (watch their video). The fact that no chain is needed with it is a plus for some. One more great advantage is that it does not need the scope most other anchors need to work.

Most anchors work best with a 6:1 or even 8:1 scope. If you are anchoring in 20 feet of water, and have 100' of anchor rope, then you do not have enough rope to give your anchor a chance to work at its best. That is not true if you have a box anchor. They work beautifully at a 3:1 scope.

My parents were boating before they had me. I grew up loving boats and I just could not accept the box anchor as being a better anchor. It looks funny. It does not look like an anchor. In my mind, that is NOT an anchor. I got over it. It is simply a better design.

[lightpants]

I use a box anchor as well. The bottom where I boat is sand/mud and it holds better then anything else I have tried.

[landlockedsailor]

Box anchor great. Folds flat and we store it in a big duffle bag with 50' of coiled line on top. An extra 50' stored under the seat just in case. (A retired Navy ship captain recommended the extra line.) Easy to deploy, holds, and easy to retrieve (even for your non-nautical guests who like to help).

For me, the big question was which anchor could we count on in a big storm, on a variety of bottoms.

Got it from Overton's. Discounted, free shipping. We also use this jam cleat thing to hold the anchor line. Easy peasey.

We have 15' docking lines that seem to work fine at any docks/marinas we tie up to. Also have 5' fender lines but they're usually too long for what we need. We also keep a couple of extra 15' lines with clips on one end for emergencies.

If you're keeping your boat in a slip, we have permanently set dock lines so that all you need to do after coming in is step onto the dock and clip the end to the boat.

We're pretty anal about lines, but as long as you're thinking about the little things,we also have a 70' line, with a V knotted into it to use for towing someone. After reading everyone's posts about how to tow, how not to, etc., we did up a tow line hoping we'd never have to use it and stored it under a seat. Sure enuff, our neighbor's family was stranded on the boat about 2 miles away, little kids and all. We're novices to all ths stuff but we couldn't say No. We had the tow line ready by the time we got over there and were able to quickly attach & deploy the tow line after getting all the kids and extra adults onto our boat. The whole thing looked effortless and it went great. I was scared shitless but didn't let it show, apparently. Planning & preparation (and reading the forum members' posts) really paid off.

[sharky300]

Hi All- I have a question about the box anchor...

My main lake is Guntersville, in Alabama... The water us ussually pretty rough, but that is not the biggest problem. About mid June, almost the entire lake bottom becomes covered in THICK tall grass... can be 5'-8' tall. and did I mention thick??? Will this box anchor get down into that stuff??? If not- Do you have a recommendation for such conditions?

I just used a grapple anchor last year- Worked OK until this stuff showed up.. then I couln't anchor unless I got in deep enough water where the grass was not growing... and for me-thats not usually where I want to be.

Thanks!

Jason