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Anchoring

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mellosunset

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Hello - My wife and I are new Bennington boat owners. We anchored our pontoon boat today on the lake and where blown everywhere by a stiff breeze. We had a 15 lb bell anchor on one end and a 22 PWC anchor on the other. Any suggestions on how to have a better experience when just wanting to set and relax ?
 
I concur with Matt B  above. I have a box anchor and have found it to be effective as long as I let out enough rope. If you are in 20 feet of water, let out 40 ft of rope. There are some great videos of how the box anchor works on YouTube.
 
I use two 18lb river anchors. They take a better bite than mushrooms and I can quickly store them in buckets when I'm moving between fishing spots. That's the only reason I use them instead of a box anchor.
 
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Where are you boating (anchoring)?  Lake? Ocean? Gulf? Strong currents? Tidal swings?


We're in the Gulf of Mexico, so I have a Fortress FX-11 anchor.  Sticks like glue, and very lightweight at 7 lbs.


Fortress FX-11


6' of chain and 150' of rode.
 
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What is a bell anchor? If you got blown around its time for a change.


Whatever anchor you get you need one that is going to grab and hold the bottom whether it's sandy, muddy, weedy, rocky, etc. etc......


Box anchors are very popular on this forum. But I have had a 15 lb. Digger anchor going on its 9th season as my main and a regular fluke anchor as my pendulum effect preventer.
 
We have the small box anchor for use on the lake, pretty calm water.  Hold well on the sandy/muddy bottom.  We haven't had to throw out too much rope.
 
Box anchor was my go to after years of frustration and fighting.


waters so down this year that I have been able to use my pvc and auger screw in pole anchor
 
We have several anchors to choose from on the boat.  Main holding anchor is a simple danforth and then a 15 pound navy anchor as a backup.  A small mushroom anchor is normally used on the stern just to minimize sway.  If the water is really rough at the sandbar we get our the sand anchor (pvc pipe with a dock screw on the bottom)....you screw that into the bottom and tie off to that.


I like our danforth because it has the sliding ring on the main beam to make pulling it out easier when you are ready to go.  It does take some practice to get them to set but once they are set you're good to go.  It's not just a throw it overboard and we're good type of anchor.  The big navy anchor we use in the mucky bottom and it holds just a good as the danforth in sand.


 Before buying a $100 pvc sand anchor look at your menards or home depot for the dock augers (screw on the bottom) since you can find them for roughly $10 and a 10 foot section of pvc pipe is pretty cheap.  I have less than $35 in a pair of the sand anchors we have.


Hopefully these links work.


Navy anchor


Danforth anchor


Sand Anchor
 
tcpip95 said:
We're in the Gulf of Mexico, so I have a Fortress FX-11 anchor.  Sticks like glue, and very lightweight at 7 lbs.


Fortress FX-11
Click to expand...

+1 on the Fortress. Lightweight and sets easily in our sand/marl bottomed lake.
 
For a pontoon boat it's very tough to beat a "Digger" anchor.  No chain required or recommended which is really nice to keep scratches and mud off your toon. The Digger also pops open with a pull of the rope when vertical to self clean. I have had mine for eight years now and its been just great. Sets first time nearly every time and holds really well!!


Good Luck


Dan
 
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