Best anchor for 18' boat

[Bosshogg]

Danforth style with a slip ring. I've used this style for better than 50 years. Works well in mud, sand, rock. If the anchor is buried deep in mud or sand, backtracking over the anchor allows the slip ring to travel down the shank so the anchor can be pulled out from its backside. Never lost this style anchor even when anchoring in higher winds.

[Bobby Winds]

Get R Done........

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...act=mrc&uact=8

[Lazy Ike]

Originally Posted by Bobby Winds

Get R Done........

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...act=mrc&uact=8

Wow REW has an anchor for sale?

[pjcodner]

I use a 15lb Navy Anchor that I have had for 15 yrs or so now. Used it on my last 20' fish n ski and I have it in my 1880 Angler. If I were in the market to buy a new anchor I would get a Digger. A 15lb anchor with 40 lbs of muck and yuck on it gets pretty heavy to pull in. The diggers are self cleaning when you retrieve them.

[3M TA3]

Using a 50 foot line for anchoring is not going to cut the mustard unless you're in 10 feet of water. The USCG recommends a minimum of a 5:1 ratio for anchor line however a 7:1 ratio is preferred. It is also recommended that a chain is used at the anchor end to help prevent the lake bottom from chaffing your anchor line and keeping your anchor at the correct angle for digging into the bottom. That recommended length is 10 foot minimum but ideally 1 foot for each foot of your boats length. For most of us that isn't practical, we just don't have the room to store. Also recommended is a braided 3/8 inch nylon anchor rope for boots up to 27 feet.

Having the right anchor set up when getting out in bigger deeper water, especially when you've lost power and the winds are whipping up, will be greatly appreciated and not at a great cost. The cost of a boat damaged in the rocks would be far greater. Murphy has no bounds.

By the way, I haven't really followed the rules. I only have a 5 foot chain on my anchor with 200 feet of 1/2 inch nylon braided rope. I've also added a a 4 foot, 4000 lb rated nylon braided bungy shock absorber at the boat to help when trying to stay put in waves over 2 feet. Works well.

[andersaki]

Originally Posted by 7 Mag

I use a 15 lb. Digger anchor, they work great

I saw my neighbor this morning and asked him what he uses for his 22' Bayliner when he takes the kids swimming. He pulled it out of the boat and said that he didn't know what it is called, but that it holds real good. I recognized it from one that I had seen on the 'net as the "Digger anchor". He wasn't aware of the self cleaning "dump" feature of that particular anchor that I had seen a video of so I showed him. After releasing the anchor from the bottom, a sharp tug on the line trips the flukes to release any weeds or anything else that it pulled up. It is easily reset.

andersaki

[2bestkids]

Water Spike if any wind otherwise 28# navy anchor

[Ches]

I use two 18lb river anchors and they hold my 20' boat in moderate winds. I did make a bungee system that is attached to the anchor which does help a lot. I took a 6' piece of marine bungee cord and put it inside of 1/2" hollow braided Poly line. The bungee stretches until the bunched up line straightens out and gets tight. Like REV said, it stretches when a wave hits it vs. just moving the anchor. A heavier anchor might hold better, but don't forget you will have to pull it up multiple times in a day of fishing.
Ches.

[REW]

Bosshog,
One place that you can potentially lose the type anchor you mention.

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I was with my friend in his boat fishing in the Mississippi river.

On the bottom of the river there are numerous pipe lines, cables and other misl stuff on the bottom of the river that runs from side to side in different places

At any rate, we were fishing one day and wanted to anchor on a wing dam so I dropped his anchor where he suggested. We had fished for a bit, and then decided to move.

I went to retrieve the anchor and it was a no go.

No matter how we backed up the boat, around and back and forth, the anchor stayed hooked up. It felt like the anchor had hooked up and was under an under river cable or pipeline. i.e. I think that as the anchor slipped down, it landed on the bottom and then slipped under the cable before hooking up. So, the anchor was actually hooked on the wrong side of the underwater obstruction. I could lift the anchor a couple of inches off the bottom, but that was all. So, I took out my knife and with the boat directly over the anchor, we lifted as high as we could lift the anchor, then, I reached down under the water as far as I could reach and cut the anchor line. The anchor line was nylon so would not float and be a navigation hazard. But we wanted to minimize the length of any anchor line that we left in the water.

I felt responsible for dropping the anchor in a spot where it could not be retrieved so I went out the next day and bought him a replacement anchor that was identical to the lost anchor.

Stuff happens.

Be safe