Breakaway Anchor

Hookup1

Hookup1

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Does anyone have experience with the breakaway anchor setup? I bend at least one Danforth each year in Florida. This year I lost the anchor and chain - could not get it out and cut it off. Switched to the Bruce claw. Two feet of chain, two 175 lb tywraps. We will see!

Last summer I installed the Five Oceans pivoting anchor roller. Ignore the unfinished glass work - can't seem to get a glass guy to do small jobs. Roller works great.

Breakaway anchor.jpg
 
I have no personal experience with it, but I've read about it/heard about it for years. I would imagine you'd need to replace the zip ties every so often as "maintenance"? I don't know if I could handle that maintenance cost, though... :)

Pulpit... spray the thing with some slightly off-white Rustoleum. It'll be good enough that you may find you forget about it! When/if you do get a gel guy, it'll sand off easy/quickly enough.
 
I use that method with some success with a claw and also with re-bar grapples. You have to have proper scope to keep it from popping if there are waves.
You have to have some slack in the zip tie. Don't zip the chain too tight to the anchor stock or you won't be able to pop it. I've used mono fishing line in place of a zip tie also.
I recommend that you normally use a second shackle(or carabiner) where the zip tie is and only use the ziptie when you are fishing. That way if you have to emergency anchor, you are not on a zip tie.

Sometimes the chain is what gets stuck and you are screwed.
 
I think a lot of divers have a pretty good collection of anchors. If you engrave your phone number into it, you might get lucky if the right person finds it.
When you changed the roller, did you have the groove where the stock roller fits on a lot of GW's, and if so, did you fill it or just go over it?
 
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glacierbaze said:
I think a lot of divers have a pretty good collection of anchors. If you engrave your phone number into it, you might get lucky if the right person finds it.
When you changed the roller, did you have the groove where the stock roller fits on a lot of GW's, and if so, did you fill it or just go over it?
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I had the groove but it was narrow. I cut out the pulpit to recess the front of the roller and filled the groove when all the raw edges were finished.

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In 15+ years down here I only lost two anchors. One was a broken shackle and the other I had to cut the line at the chain. I usually bend them!
 
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So far not so good. On three drops it broke away three times! The anchor held and I got it back but had to re-rig it. Today I’ll try some rope.
 
The trick is getting just the right amount of slack in the ziptie/mono. Also, you need a lot of scope before you try to set and you can't back down hard to set it.
We usually try to let it drag and set itself. A lot of times we're in rocks and it just catches a rock and holds. It usually works with a claw type or a grapple.

On my 20 footer with the grapple we could snag a wreck and stay tight with little scope on a calm day. We have not been having much success with that on the 265
 
Hookup, have you thought about using a trip line, instead? It's a small line tied to that hole that then goes straight up to a small float. If the anchor gets stuck, you pick up the float and pull the anchor out backwards.
 
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If your anchor gets hung up, keep a buoy on board your boat so if you do have to cut it, get the buoy on the line so you might be able to hire a diver to retrieve it
 
DennisG01 said:
Hookup, have you thought about using a trip line, instead? It's a small line tied to that hole that then goes straight up to a small float. If the anchor gets stuck, you pick up the float and pull the anchor out backwards.
Click to expand...
I though about that. seems like a good idea in shallower water but I anchor in 70 to 150 ft. I wonder how that line is going the get in the way of hauling the anchor. I guess if you set the length to stay straight up & down over the anchor...
hmmm, still have to bring in both at the same time without tangles once the anchor is aweigh. hmm, or back away from the bouy while raising the anchor then haul in the bouy...
 
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SkunkBoat, I worked in dredging for many years and when anchoring our crane barges, we used the exact system that Dennis talked about. Our anchors of course were much larger (11,000 to 31,000 lbs.) but the principle is the same. That line is called a crown pendant. It is called a pendant because it is fixed on each end, one end to the crown of the anchor and the other to a buoy. You are right about weighing your anchor and dealing with the buoy, but it usually will drift away from you and once you have your anchor fast you can just hand-over-hand the pendant to bring the buoy in. If you use a piece of weighted line like you would for shrimp or crab pots, you won't have to worry about boats getting entangled if you have a lot of extra length in the water. Just a one pound sinker weight tied onto the pendant at the proper level will also keep the extra length safe.
 
Hookup,,,, you have any in progress install pics of the roller system? Curious as to your mods to the pulpit. Looks interesting.
 
There are a few vids on youtube from Dark Horse Marine with at least one on the breakaway configuration. They also show the proper use of a swivel with a shackle to ensure the swivel doesn't break if the anchor twists.
 
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