Box Anchor Gone

[hethj7]

I have no idea how this is even possible, but my box anchor is at the bottom of the lake now . I was using two Danik hooks - one on the anchor and one on my bow eye. We were tied up and holding for well over an hour when we started drifting. The wife wanted to go wakeboard anyways, so I went to pull the anchor up and the rope felt very light. I figured we were just over the top of the anchor, but it turns out, the anchor was no longer attached.

The rope never broke. I have no idea how this happened unless the box anchor mechanically failed or a combiniation of highly impropable events happened (something on the bottom created pressure to open the danik hook and then the slide anchor came out ).

Below is a picture of the Danik hook that was attached to the anchor right after I pulled it up. It's completely intact, and the spring mechanism works fine.

[BSUBU_Kris]

It is possible the spring got caught on something on the bottom. I would not recommend a clip to connect your rope to the anchor. I use an anchor shackle to attach the rope to the anchor.

Sorry you lost it, that sucks.

[Indyxc]

It is possible the spring got caught on something on the bottom. I would not recommend a clip to connect your rope to the anchor. I use an anchor shackle to attach the rope to the anchor.

Sorry you lost it, that sucks.

Why not just attached the rope to the anchor via a bow-line? That's fairly bullet proof. What's the advantage of the clip, besides being easier ?

[hethj7]

Yea, tough lesson to learn I guess. I didn't really want to rely on my rudimentary knot-tying skills, so I thought the danik hook was a good option. It still seems so impropable to me that it could happen, especially since the Danik hook still looks perfect. If something had snaggged the clip hard enough to open it and let the slide anchor come out, I'd expect the clip to look bent up a bit.

[shawndoggy]

dang that's a bummer. I just tried out my new-to-me box anchor today and it held like a champ. very impressed.

[Chia]

any divers in the area?

[BSUBU_Kris]

My anchor line has a spliced end with a nylon thimble which requires an anchor shackle to connect to the anchor. I have another anchor and line and do just use a bowline knot to connect the rope to the anchor.

I do use the danik hook on the line to connect to the bow eye, it works great!

[hethj7]

any divers in the area?

Yes, but none that I know that own their own gear. We were only in about 7' of water, so the wife and I are contemplating going out in the morning and searching on our own. Odds are we won't find it though and I'm not even sure how the best way to search would be. It will probably be a big waste of time though and I just need to pony up and buy a replacement.

[DONTW8]

It was the spring loaded hook.

I had the same exact thing happen to me using a spring loaded carabiner.

I have 3 different anchors (not box) that I use and 3 different anchor lines.

I go several different places and have a method I use that is slightly different at each place.

My short anchor line for day use I was using a spring loaded carabiner and lost an anchor in ten feet of water.

The high dollar 15 pound BiMart fluked mushroom anchor was holding my boat fine while we were just floating.

When I went to haul the anchor up somehow the spring clip got caught and I was left holding a limp anchor line.

I now use a threaded chain link on that day use line.

[Ndawg12]

Yes, but none that I know that own their own gear. We were only in about 7' of water, so the wife and I are contemplating going out in the morning and searching on our own. Odds are we won't find it though and I'm not even sure how the best way to search would be. It will probably be a big waste of time though and I just need to pony up and buy a replacement.

Yeah probably, hijack alert, I just "acquired" a box anchor, what length rope do you guys suggest.....

[hethj7]

It was the spring loaded hook.

I had the same exact thing happen to me using a spring loaded carabiner.

I have 3 different anchors (not box) that I use and 3 different anchor lines.

I go several different places and have a method I use that is slightly different at each place.

My short anchor line for day use I was using a spring loaded carabiner and lost an anchor in ten feet of water.

The high dollar 15 pound BiMart fluked mushroom anchor was holding my boat fine while we were just floating.

When I went to haul the anchor up somehow the spring clip got caught and I was left holding a limp anchor line.

I now use a threaded chain link on that day use line.

Tough lesson for me to learn I guess. I would have never thought the spring clip would open and allow the anchor to come out.

Yeah probably, hijack alert, I just "acquired" a box anchor, what length rope do you guys suggest.....

If you "acquired" a box anchor from the bottom of my lake, I'll pay you a finder's fee

I had 75' of line on mine. I didn't have any real reasoning for that length though. The deepest parts of my lake are about 40', but we usually anchor in much less than that. 50' of line would have been plenty for me.

[augie09]

Sorry to this, that sucks!

I got mine the same time as you, have yet to use it, but I noticed my bolt on the anchor would fail to stay tight and loosen up very quickly if rattled. I covered it in red loctite so that thing will never loosen again.

Do you know anybody with a decent fishing boat? I know my friends boat at LOTO has a humminbird fish finder able to to depict even small branches on the bottom. Actually, if you see a fisher out on smithville, bribe him with a case of beer to help find the anchor.

[BSUBU_Kris]

You could drag a magnet around. You are just as likely to find a pirate chest full of gold as your anchor as it will require a lot of luck with no line attached to the anchor.

As far as the length of anchor line, the Box Anchor website indicates you only need a line length twice the depth. Most other anchors require line length of 5 or more times the depth you are anchoring in.

[obski]

If you know where it was, then you should be able to recover the anchor. One year we were with a group at Shasta and someone lost their anchor in the lake at a depth of 150'. One of the other guys with our group used another anchor and very methodically trolled the area in a grid pattern and was able to recover the lost anchor. I was impressed. If someone could recover an anchor in 150' of water, then you should be able to do it in only 7'.

[Lance B. Johnson]

Tough lesson for me to learn I guess. I would have never thought the spring clip would open and allow the anchor to come out.

If you "acquired" a box anchor from the bottom of my lake, I'll pay you a finder's fee

I had 75' of line on mine. I didn't have any real reasoning for that length though. The deepest parts of my lake are about 40', but we usually anchor in much less than that. 50' of line would have been plenty for me.

Wondering if ndawg is a diver...

[Bill_AirJunky]

We had 10 boats anchored with 4 box anchors at the NW Wow this weekend in about 4' of water over a clay bottom. In fact, 06VLX had his anchor in with 4 boats tied up before the next anchor got dropped in. The anchors never gave at all.

Harbor Freight has large, inexpensive magnets you could drag around to find yours. As others have said, I'm sure the spring loaded hook just got disengaged somehow by the rope or anchor pressing on it. I use a C clip that screws together then tighten it with some pliers. So far so good.

[Ronnie]

I had a similar spring clip on a Anchor Buddy one time to clip to the bow eye. I clipped it to the eye and heaved the anchor away only to watch the Anchor Buddy and spring clip fly away with the anchor. It had somehow come unclipped. Never saw it again...

[hethj7]

Wow, well hopefully this thread will at least warn some others that may be using clips and save them an anchor.

I do know the general area the anchor should be, so I'll probably do some looking the next time I'm out. But, I'm not counting on finding it. I'm sure I eventually could, but I don't know how much time I really want to spend searching. Summer is too short around here and I don't want to waste too much time looking for an anchor.

[Simo]

In all my years of boating, I never thought too much about dropping an anchor. More like losing an anchor while dropping. I used my box anchor for the first time yesterday and thats all I could think of. I guess spending that much coin on an anchor will do that to you.

[Bill_AirJunky]

I had a similar spring clip on a Anchor Buddy one time to clip to the bow eye. I clipped it to the eye and heaved the anchor away only to watch the Anchor Buddy and spring clip fly away with the anchor. It had somehow come unclipped. Never saw it again...

Hey, look at the bright side..... at least it didn't come unclipped from the anchor end of the Buddy & come springing back UP AT YOU!

[FXIGUY]

Yes, but none that I know that own their own gear. We were only in about 7' of water, so the wife and I are contemplating going out in the morning and searching on our own. Odds are we won't find it though and I'm not even sure how the best way to search would be. It will probably be a big waste of time though and I just need to pony up and buy a replacement.

I lost one of my Richter anchors last weekend and found it in 12 feet of water. The shackle bolt came loose and the anchor fell off on the retrieve. Grabbed my mask and couldnt believe I actually found it. I just finished painting both of my anchors blaze orange....looks pretty redneck, but I'll be able to find them easily if it happens again.

[hethj7]

A redneck anchor is better than no anchor:thumbup:

[Ronnie]

Hey, look at the bright side..... at least it didn't come unclipped from the anchor end of the Buddy & come springing back UP AT YOU!

LOL! Yep, that wouldn't have been good...

[WakeGirl]

It's only 7' of water. If you know roughly where it is, why not rig up a ghetto dive setup? A pair of goggles & a longish hose for air.....

[stumpf101]

It's only 7' of water. If you know roughly where it is, why not rig up a ghetto dive setup? A pair of goggles & a longish hose for air.....

i have redneck diving gear for this situation:

-a pair of googles with a maglight strapped to the side

-a 10' garden hose with a snorkle on one side and a piece of pvc on the other that i pushed through a float