Stuck mushroom anchor mooring!

[windshear]

I've got a 75lb mushroom anchor that is stuck on an a muddy/sandy bottom in about 12-25 ft (depending on tide) of ocean water in a bay. I attached the chain to a 12' alum. boat with a 9hp motor and could not pull it free of the bottom (went around in circles a lot). We even attached the chain to the boat an hoped that the up and down action of waves would pull it free...no luch. Any advice from someone who knows how to haul a mushroom anchor for the winter?? There is no rope, it's all chain.

 

[Boatist]

Re: Stuck mushroom anchor mooring!

I would try a come-along with the chain over the transom and just keep cranking it tighter. It probably 5 feet deep down in the mud.
Why would you use such a heavy anchor for a 12 foot aluminum boat?

 

[gene8084]

Re: Stuck mushroom anchor mooring!

I used to scuba dive down in Long Island Sound to locate anchors/morings every spring after the ice dragged them around. Folks tried all kinds of things to pull their morings up to move them.

One sure fire way to do it is with 2 boats...even a couple 12 footers will do.

Go out at low tide, lay a strong 2x4 / 4x4 across the boats, snug up the anchor line around the 4x4 and then lay back and wait for the tide to come up. Pull's them up every time.

 

[windshear]

Re: Stuck mushroom anchor mooring!

Thanks, both are great ideas. The mooring isnt' for the 12' alum. boat, it's for a 16' runabout with 88hp outboard. But that boat has already been hauled. I forgot to use it to loosen the mooring anchor before I let them haul it. Another question: How much would the chain and anchor corrode if i just left it over the winter? I realize that ice might move it and/or break the buoy off.

 

[gcais]

Re: Stuck mushroom anchor mooring!

Mr. Brown, that's a great idea. That's one of the reasons I like to read this stuff because every once in a while somebody's brain starts working. I used to spend too much time in mudholes up north and getting out of them required lots of similar thinking. You never know when a good idea will be used. Gcais

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Stuck mushroom anchor mooring!

If you have holes in it good luck. If solid mushroom (still concave topside, just no holes to relieve the suction), my experience is that they just suck harder the more you try to free them.

One summer we anchored at the inlaws lake house for a couple of weeks and I used a 20lb solid mushroom to hold the boat between jaunts out in the lake. It was in 5 feet of water.

I couldn't get it out with anything. Finally just cut the rope to the buoy and left it.

Mark

 

[PhatboyC]

Re: Stuck mushroom anchor mooring!

The chain will have surface rust after one winter in the water. But will definitely still be usable just not as pretty.

 

[pgdignan]

Re: Stuck mushroom anchor mooring!

If it's that shallow can't you find a diver willing to go down and excavate it for you, shouldn't take all that long?

 

[windshear]

Re: Stuck mushroom anchor mooring!

Thanks. I don't really want to pay a diver to dig out the anchor. I could leave it to the winter weather, and in the spring it will either be there or it won't!

 

[jollymon]

Re: Stuck mushroom anchor mooring!

Easy way to do it, is a 55 drum with a couple of wide straps snug around it. Connect the chain to the drum at low tide, and let the tide do it. It may take several tides, with you snugging the chain at each low tide.

The other option is to just leave it for the winter. I would not just bouy it, I would put a long line on it, and bring the line ashore. In the spring you will still have your line to the chain.

If you go this route, you can bet, the anchor is in the mud for life.

Where are you located?

 

[Scaaty]

Re: Stuck mushroom anchor mooring!

Come'on...new one $20 at Walmart

 

[windshear]

Re: Stuck mushroom anchor mooring!

I'm in Massachusetts but my mooring is near Portland, Maine.
$20 dollars? plus chain plus buoy plus hardware...what was that quote, "a boat is hole in the water that you throw money into."

 

[Scaaty]

Re: Stuck mushroom anchor mooring!

I'm in Massachusetts but my mooring is near Portland, Maine.
$20 dollars? plus chain plus buoy plus hardware...what was that quote, "a boat is hole in the water that you throw money into."

Its not a quote..is probably written in the Scriptures..

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Stuck mushroom anchor mooring!

BreakOpenAnotherThousand=BOAT