Custom Anchor system...

[orange_spokes]

so here is my dilhemma...im going to do the float trip for the spring fling...ive got a Creek Company Classic and its only seen lake lanier so far...this will be its first trip on moving water...i want an anchor system on it..but i dont want to drill or weld onto my new boat...this is what im thinking...if you look at the boat from behind...just over the cargo deck is a cross bar that is about 10" above the cargo deck and a few inches from the back of the seat...what im going to do is take a rope that i have and tie it to one side of the frame and start wrapping on this cross bar and when i get to the middle of the bar im going to thread a pulley on it and then wrap the rest of the rope all the way to the other side of the boat...then put another pully hooked by carabiner to the frame and run the anchor rope under the seat to the front...this way the anchor will be behind me and when i want to drop it the rope will go from the back cross bar to the side of the frame and i can operate from the front and tie off at the front of the boat... i know its kind of hard to imagine but those of you with this boat will kind of have an idea about what im talking about...i should have it completed by next week...when i do i will post pics

[chuckwagon]

Why not use "U" bolts to bolt around the cross bar instead of drilling holes?
Rope will always get wet and stretch. When you put some anchor pressure on it you may sag more than you like?

Trey
CW

[orange_spokes]

the rope is pretty tight...and with the way ill wrap it...if it sags that much i would be surprised...but ill definitly keep the u bolts in mind if the rope doesnt work

[Gatorbyte]

OS:

when I get home I can email you what we have worked out. We have the same frame. It works really well, no drilling and is innexpensive.

Bret

[chuckwagon]

The rope will definately look cooler than the bolts.
Let us know how it works. We want pics too!

Trey
CW

[orange_spokes]

hey thanks gatorbyte...your not as bad as everybody claims...

[watkins]

Please e-mail same anchor plan. Got same frame also. Thanks, TRW

[cucarachafly]

hey thanks gatorbyte...your not as bad as everybody claims...

Have you actually met him yet?

[Gatorbyte]

Hey, I take offense to that. I am nowhere as bad as they make me out to be. I am much much worse.

[Gatorbyte]

Here's the system that I came up with and it works great. The key is the quick release cleat.

I used 2 sets of galvanized plates from Home Depot. They in the building materials department where they have the brackets for trusses and decks. I doubled them up for strength. I just ground down the sharp corners with a belt sander. I modified it since I took the pictures and repositioned it below the square bars. This will also be necessary if you have a hard plastic molded seat. The anchor line runs through an eye bolt and then up to the pulley. the bracket I found is from the electrical department at Home depot. Slowstreamer has a nylon plastic bracket he got at BPS which I like better, but this works fine for now. I protected the Powdercoat with clear vinyl tubing. this also works as a friction barrier to hold the bracket in place. The pulley hangs from a removable link. I then attach my anchor, 6 feet of plastic coated chain bunched up, from a large clip. The line runs right under the seat and to drop my anchor I reach down below the seat and pull up on the line. It releases from the cleat and drops the anchor. When I've released enough scope I just cinch the line back down and come to stop.

Here's the pictures:

As I said previously, I've moved the bracket under the square bars.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t14/gatorbyte/PC220001.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t14/gatorbyte/PC220002.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t14/gatorbyte/PC220003.jpg

Pulley:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t14/gatorbyte/PC220006.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t14/gatorbyte/PC220007.jpg

I hope this helps. Oh yeah, the cleat is a V-Cleat and I got it at West Marine.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10001/25100/377%20710/0/v%20cleat/Primary%20Search/mode%20matchallpartial/0/0?N=377%20710&Ne=0&Ntt=v%20cleat&Ntk=Primary%20Search&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial&Nao=0&Ns=0&keyword=v%20cleat&isLTokenURL=true&storeNum=2&subdeptNum=332&classNum=12351

[watkins]

Thanks for the pics, and I know for a fact you bathe once in a while. I saw it.::ke:

[Jack Hise]

I broke down and bought the Creek Co kit for the trolling motor. It comes with an achor system and rod holder. I had replaced the seat with a swivel seat so couldn't use Gatorbyte's system.
I don't like the rear pully on the system as it drops the anchor on the trolling motor, if you leave it down. But now I know how to fix that!! Thanks guys!
That idea will also get the anchor well out of the water so you don't have to worry about snaging something.

[orange_spokes]

alright boys and girls, pirates and ninjas here is my custom anchor mount...

2 Pulley
1/4 Rope

sorry for the picture quality...cell phone camera...but it works pretty good in the living room...we will see on the water:cheers:

[Jackster]

Gatorbite and others... if you use an open clam cleat almost like Gator has and put a small pulley just behind it you can pull at and angle then just lay the line in the cleat to cleat it off.
West Marine and other marine supply stores like Boat U.S. have all sort of neat cleating sytems and small, lightweight pulleys (blocks) that won't rust, are very efficient, won't weight you down and are low-profile. Good stuff, but they're not nearly as cheap as hardware store stuff.
That's all those rag-boaters do is cleat and uncleat lines... most times with huge loads on them. Plenty of good idea's available from them.

[orange_spokes]

finally got my creek company out on the water with my anchor system...and it works great...the chain slowed me down when i needed and stopped at some points which was even better...cant wait to do another float

[TOP TURRET GUNNE]

Hey Orangespokes--I don't see any pictures --shore would like too--

Thanks Gunne