Tagging under water ready anchors
 

This is a yearly problem for us and we are desperate to find a solution!!

We have a floating raft and each summer it is a task to find the anchors!! We've tried attaching detergent bottles at the end of summer ... Floating them at the surface. Floating them below the water line etc. Each year the marker is not in place the next summer!! It's so frustrating!

Does anyone have ideas on how we can mark the anchor so we're not diving and searching each year?? My husband is not so young as he once was. ;)

Lisa

Run a line
 

Run a line from the connector(s) to the rest to the shore and tie it off. In the spring, follow the line out to where the rest anchors. I have friends who have done this for years.

Dave

^^^ This, make sure you use strong nylon type line, I get it at Heath's. Leave plenty of slack, you want it to rest on the bottom. I tie it to my dock. It was broken this year, but I found it about 10 feet from the dock in about 8 feet of water. Hooked it with the boat hook and I was good to go. This is the first time in about 5 years of doing it this way that it wasn't attached to the dock. It works well.

Tagging anchors
 

I did what ITD suggests, only I used a light gauge chain between the end of the anchor chain and tying it to an underwater part of my dock. The light chain was easy to pick up using a grappling hook in the spring. Also, my anchor was only in about 15 feet of water, and not to far off shore.

Asking a question about anchoring, or related topics, is a great way to generate a conversation. If you ask 4 people, you are assured of getting 7 answers.

We tie a old fender to ours. It floats at the waters surface. Somehow over the entire winter with ice moving and shifting in and out - it's always there in the spring. I didn't believe my neighbor when he said he's done it that way for years and never had it 'lost'. This is our second winter and we are 2 for 2.

We tie a thin braided metal line to our anchor chain, drop the chain to the bottom, and tie the thin metal line to a rock on shore (through an eye bolt). Throughout the winter, the braided line cuts through the ice so that the anchor chain and anchor never move, and you just follow the line out in the spring, lift the chain up, and store the braided line. 6 years now and the anchor hasn’t moved an inch (and no diving in freezing water to find the chain)!

-Mike

I always tied a piece of floating poly rope to the chain and dropped it down. then I would weigh the rope down with bags full of rocks and tie it off to my dock. The rocks would keep it from floating up and getting caught by fisherman or boats, but if it did get cut it would float up to the surface for retrieval. Watch out for fish hooks though, I got a few in the hand left by fishermen.

Sinking Rope
 

Here’s what I have used for the past number of years and has worked well. This same piece of rope has been underwater for the past 5 or 6 years and still seems fine. Tie to a tree or similar on shore.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Dan

locating anchor
 

Over the past 70 years we have secured a plastic bottle (usually Rv anti-freeze bottle) to the anchor rode and have never lost an anchor. This has included a raft and various number of moorings. We do think a couple of the anchors may have been dragged by the ice a couple of times. And don't forget to maintain the anchor rode periodically as needed.

BTW, we are in a cove and 65+ years ago the crib dock on shore was totaled by the ice, then again, 5-10 years ago the aluminium crank up was damage by wind/ice. Point is, the water is always on the move.

I've tried all these methods as well. One spring, I untied the rope and boated out to the first mooring...worked great! I untied the second, boated halfway out, and the rope wouldn't move. I pulled as hard as i could and discovered a tree floating around underwater had ended up on top of the rope. Had to enlist my neighbor and wife...we finally freed the rope after an hourlong struggle!

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