best anchor

[LakeSuperior]

FYI - I looking to get one strictly for hooking into wrecks for diving.

Grunzster,
We found that a small 5 or 10 lb mushroom anchor is way more effective than a grapnel for diving on our 35' Bertram. We use 3/4" nylon and 12' of chain on the mushroom (the chain for chaff on the wreck). The mushroom snags into the wreck just about as good and it can be released from the wreckage much easier. We got tired of trying to get the grapnel out of the wrecks. The heavy nylon is for ~ 2:1 scope when diving.

[off-the-grid]

Originally Posted by LakeSuperior

FYI - I looking to get one strictly for hooking into wrecks for diving.

Grunzster,
We found that a small 5 or 10 lb mushroom anchor is way more effective than a grapnel for diving on our 35' Bertram. We use 3/4" nylon and 12' of chain on the mushroom (the chain for chaff on the wreck). The mushroom snags into the wreck just about as good and it can be released from the wreckage much easier. We got tired of trying to get the grapnel out of the wrecks. The heavy nylon is for ~ 2:1 scope when diving.

Oops! I meant to start a new thread.

The mushroom may work.

Were you trying to release the grapnel from the surface, though?

Around here, they usually have a second piece of short chain on the anchor. First one in wraps that around part of the wreck and then around the anchor, sometimes there's a clasp or small piece of line to tie it to the anchor. That way there's no way it's releasing.

Then the last one out...or the fist mate sometimes dives back in, and unwraps that chain. Give it some slack from the surface, and the diver releases it and stays with it until it's clear of the wreck and far enough off the bottom that it won't set again. Then the anchor is either retrieved very slowly, or you drift while letting the anchor hang, and retrieve it after the diver surfaces.

[Talbot]

Hooking into wrecks for diving. That would get you shot in some places.

We used a concrete sinker. on the last dive of the day, the last man up attached a lift bag and a quick blast of air got the shot line up at the same rate as the diver.

[off-the-grid]

Originally Posted by Talbot

Hooking into wrecks for diving. That would get you shot in some places.

We used a concrete sinker. on the last dive of the day, the last man up attached a lift bag and a quick blast of air got the shot line up at the same rate as the diver.

Nice! I never heard of that one before.

Obviously I'm not hooking into military wrecks in foreign countries, wrecks with permanent moorings, or just anything in another country without knowing the regulations first. Up here in the NE US hooking in is common practice, though.

[Talbot]

Originally Posted by grunzster

Up here in the NE US hooking in is common practice, though.

I prefer to leave a wreck as I find it so that I dont leave any trace of my presence. Thus it should not deteriorate any faster than the normal course of rust/waves.

I get really bent out of shape about the guys who dive with wrecking bars looking for trophies.

[off-the-grid]

Originally Posted by Talbot

I prefer to leave a wreck as I find it so that I dont leave any trace of my presence. Thus it should not deteriorate any faster than the normal course of rust/waves.

I get really bent out of shape about the guys who dive with wrecking bars looking for trophies.

I'm not big on completely stripping wrecks either. I don't even own a hammer or a bar and the only artifact I've ever taken, was an old bottle in a river buried under the silt.

But most of the wrecks around here are old enough, and already been scavenged for years, that I don't really see the issue with a diver taking something as long as they don't go overboard.

There are also some deeper and old wrecks that are quickly deteriorating. By divers taking artifacts from those wrecks it allows people to actually see them, because eventually they will become to dangerous to dive, and at some point will collapse into just a pile of rubble that you'd have to dig through to even see anything interesting.

[Cacique]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

I would be very in terested in seeing a test between the raya and the FISHERMAN,CQR,BRUCE and the nex gen anchors...he he he

LOL I agree
But seriously I like the look of the raya, I dont know how well it would stowe in my bilge it still looks a lot wider than the Luke, the stowage in my long keeled yacht allows the stowage of heavy long and narrow parts 6" max. I would like to see a raya in the flesh and an independant test would really interest me.