Drift Boat Anchors
- This topic has 9 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated Apr 6, 2008 at 2:20 pm by
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We ditched an anchor the other day and I am not looking forward to shelling out the cash for a 30lb chunk of lead…not to mention shipping it from who knows where.
Any suggestions on where to get one on the cheap, or has anyone found a suitable substitute?
Mike you could always go to a scrap yard and find a chunk of metal to use. The one good thing about lead is it is soft and won’t bogger up the boat too bad. I had a buddy make one out a coffee can, concrete and an eye bolt once. It worked pretty well.
Joel
Mike might be a good time to rethink the use of lead. Have a look at some of the Hyde steel anchors. Or some lengths of heavy steel chain. We don’t really need lead in the water. Rich
I have always known the coffee can trick and if you loose it, you are okay with it. Hard part is finding a coffee can these days. If you are scared about scratching the boat, Go to home depot and get the paint on rubber coating from the paint department. But if you are going that far… Cabellas and Bass Pro have good river anchors or mushroom anchors from $14 – $22 bucks – Both located in PA. But I’m not sure how close to you.
-kp
what rivers are you floating??
Here’s a couple of more options.
The railroad tie is locally available in some areas from welding/machine shops or possbily scrap yards. A six inch section weighs about 20lb. You can add sections of chain on to it to up the weight another 5-10 pounds when you need it for high flows. It grabs fairly well with the angles but “clangs” when it hits bedrock.
My friend used barbell weights. Just be sure you use a solid oversized stainless steel washer to hold them on. He lost his weights because the washer was too small and not stiff enough.
One of the most interesting Drift Boat anchors I’ve seen was being used by a guide out on the Yakima River in Ellensburg, WA several years ago. This homemade anchor was well suited for the river and could be quickly adjusted to add or subtract weight depending on the current flows. It was nothing more than a 1″ x 9″ X 1/4″ piece of steel with seven 1/4″ holes. Each hole had a screw bolt attached with the middle one reversed to tie a line. To each of the other six screwbolts were used to attach a length of chain. In heavily flows, more chain was added, in low flows, just a few were needed. Very innovative. Here’s a quick drawing from what I remember.
Mike,
What I did was buy a 30# dumbell, which was really cheap and had a friend weld a curved loop onto the center of the grip. This worked great and was really cheap. I would just clip my caribener to the loop and I was ready to go.
I had no problems getting this anchor to stop my boat and no problems with it hanging up either.
Dustin
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