Posts: 224
Threads: 0
Joined: Jan 2005
Reputation:
0
[#505000]Ok after my first pontooning experience in a breeze, I found I was spending a lot of time trying to stay put. Time I would have much rather spent putting fish in my fish basket. My pontoon, the Fish Cat 9 has a built in anchor system, however I need to supply my own rope and anchor. [/#505000]
[#505000][/#505000]
[#505000]I have in mind what I want but before I plop down some hard earned scratch I wanted a little input. I'm thinking one of those pyramid shaped gobs of metal with a rope should do the trick. My questions are these.....[/#505000]
[#505000][/#505000]
[#505000]1. How heavy of an anchor will I need?[/#505000]
[#505000][/#505000]
[#505000]2. Is there a better shape/style of anchor than what I am looking at?[/#505000]
[signature]
Posts: 3,336
Threads: 0
Joined: May 2005
Reputation:
0
Anchoring your pontoon is easy. I have several that I have used:
1. 3 # folding grappling hook type. Attached is about 5 foot of chain and 100 foot of anchor line. This held against 20 + mph winds and 3 foot white caps on Utah lake while anchored in 8 foot of water - I had a scope of 9 to 1.
2. 1 # Navy type anchor. About 4 foot of light chain and 75 of anchor line. This one held against 15 mph winds and 2 foot waves at willard while in 9 foot of water and a scope of 8 to 1.
3. Empty heavy canvas bag - fill with rocks - weight depends on conditions(this anchor has to be heavier in the boat than the other anchors) - attached to 50 foot of light poly rope. This type of anchor can allow drift or drag in wind. If you rig the rode with a small chain(I used a 3 foot length off some snow tire chains) and increase the scope to over 8 to 1 it might even hold in some wind.
Depending on a few variables like water and wind conditions, depth of water, and bottom structure your pontoon will not need anything greater than about a couple to three pounds of anchor.
You should attach a small length of chain between the anchor and the anchor line - it does several things - reduces chaff on the line, maintains the bite of the anchor by keeping the anchor line motion at a minimum, etc.
Your anchor line should be either poly or nylon(some like braided, others like twisted) and should be about 10 times longer than the average depth of the water where you would be likely to anchor. This length covers most situations. Realistically, for your application, you can get by with much less line.
Here's a few rules of thumb concerning anchoring:
1. ATTACH THE BITTER END FIRST - BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE !
2. Anchor from the bow of the boat and orient the bow of the boat facing into the wind and waves.
3. Increasing the scope of the rode, increases the hold and stability, and decreases drift, drag, sway and chances of loosing the anchor.
4 Always have a sharp serrated knife(or other suitable cutting device) handy.
OK, now let's be realistic with your application(fishing from a pontoon raft) in mind. You have almost no weight and your craft is quite manueverable. You are going to be busy fishing and don't want to deal with too much just to be stationary for a few minutes to fish.
A heavy bag with rocks and about 50 foot of rope would do adaquately for a lot of the fishing you would probably do.
[signature]
Posts: 283
Threads: 0
Joined: Jan 2005
Reputation:
0
Keep some of those Carp you love so much, pour a bunch of concrete down their gullet, tie off on their tail and drop them over. If they get trapped in the mud - leave 'em be!
[signature]
