# Using an Anchor Ball and Risk of Fouled Anchor?



## Scardog7

I have been using an anchor ball to retrieve the anchor BUT I always wonder what would happen if the anchor was fouled? am I risking tearing a cleat off my boat? Sure wouldn't be worth losing an anchor over.

Thoughts?


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## Firefishvideo

I was just watching someone use one of those last week.....half throttle, and no idea of wheather it is fouled in the wreck until it either pops up or someting breaks! Looks dangerous to me....but I know LOTS of experienced boaters use them. Sure looks like it saves a lot of work.....I'll just stick to tossing a bouy or pulling the anchor by hand.


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## Death From Above

You'll know the anchor is stuck in the wreck way before you tear a cleat off.


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## Realtor

if you anchor in deeper water, and you have a couple years on you, you will then love the anchor ball......

I would magine if you "took off" then you coud do something to your boat, but I go just above idle or enough to make headway. You can tell if the achoor is fouled or not, the trick is to not take off until youcan tell the anchor is off the bottom. A time or two, you can tell if you are stuck or not.....


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## captken

*If you tear a cleat off, it must be a crappy installation.*

If you are worried about a cleat popping out, install a decent backing plate and bolt the cleat on with at least 5/16" bolts.

I fish over very rocky bottom and use nothing but a home made stainless steel grapnel anchor. When I sold my last charter boat I sold my 20 plus year old anchor with it. Figure chartering 3-7 times per week and anchoring as many as 20 times per day and hauling with a ball every time, that anchor got lots of use. I re-bent the anchor with a pipe cheater several times per trip. It wasn't pretty but it darn sure worked. 

You gotta plan where you are going to drop anchor and not drop it in a wreck.


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## Firefishvideo

I guess it all comes down to skill and experience....the pros know how to do it..... BUT ...while diving I sure get to see a lot of lost and bent anchors though .....from the non-pros.
I'll have to try the ball next time we anchor.


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## Jason

As long as you don't go full throttle, you don't have to worry bout tearing crap up. ifin you are in less then 100 ft of water go ahead and pull it up but when you are deeper then a buoy is the way to go!!! If you hang 1 and gotta cut it, let Sealark know and pay him a finders fee, he finds em all the time!:thumbsup:


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## jjam

Rig your anchor (break-away-style) and throttle up til anchor breaks loose when stuck. Haven't lost an anchor yet using this technique.

There's a many of threads rigging break away style anchors on this site.

Jimmy


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## MillerTime

I have a windlass but still bought an anchor ball. The first time out with it I couldn't pull the anchor up as it was stuck on some rocks but was able to get it out easily with the anchor ball. For those without a windlass it sure beats pulling up an anchor in over 100fsw a couple times a day while diving.

As someone said already you will know it is hung before the cleat rips out. We have almost put the front of the boat under before with the cleat not being close to ripping out at all. That is another reason not to go at full throttle.


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## jjam

Realtor said:


> if you anchor in deeper water, and you have a couple years on you, you will then love the anchor ball......
> 
> I would magine if you "took off" then you coud do something to your boat, but I go just above idle or enough to make headway. You can tell if the achoor is fouled or not, the trick is to not take off until youcan tell the anchor is off the bottom. A time or two, you can tell if you are stuck or not.....



this, and I'll add, never cleat off the stern, always the bow for me.

Jimmy


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## Scardog7

Okay, I appreciate all of the quick feedback. I use a reef/wreck style anchor most often and I'll pull it up in bent condition but I had always been wondering, what if it was fouled badly. Seems the answer is that I'll know it's snagged before I rip a cleat out. I must confess that I unreasonably resist anchoring and drift more than I ought.


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## Play'N Hooky Too

If you hook it to a forward cleat (like you always should) and don't take off WOT you will know pretty quick if it is fouled by the fact that the anchor ball will submerge and the front of the boat will be pulling to the side that the rope is tied. I would dread anchoring off if i knew I was going to have to pull the anchor by hand especially when it's just me on the boat.


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## sealark

Take it slow when pulling the anchor and the cleat is the least of your worries. The MAIN thing to watch out for is when you are pulling the anchor is getting the line fouled in the propeller. If the line gets fouled in the propeller your boat will swing around with the stern facing the seas. If the seas are of any height they will swamp your boat in a micro second. Never put the trailing line over a cleat at the stern or the same thing will happen if the anchor gets hung when pulling. Lastly ALWAYS have a sharp knife handy if the line gets fouled in the prop. It's better to loose an anchor than the boatfrom sinking. Two people lost there lives a few years back on the Freighter doing that exact thing. I know I was the diver that found there sunk boat with the anchor fouled and tied to the stern cleat while pulling the fouled anchor.


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## Jason

jjam said:


> this, and I'll add, never cleat off the stern, always the bow for me.
> 
> Jimmy[/QUOT
> 
> Ahhhhhh come on Jimmy! Don't like getting swamped!!!


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## Plattinum

Already mentioned in a couple post, but worth repeating for any novice boaters on the forum. Never cleat off your anchor line to the stern when out at sea. Especially don't try to unfoul your anchor motoring up thinking you can pull it loose this way. Quickest way to sink your boat.


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## Breeze

Kind of funny how you guys are saying never to use the stern cleat, yet this article tell you to do just that....

http://www.boatingmag.com/skills/seamanship/using-anchor-ball

Course I would go by what you guys on here with the real-world experience say before I go with a magazine article... but how many of us novices would have read the article and used the stern cleat without knowing any better?


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## mekell

*Russian Freighter*



sealark said:


> Take it slow when pulling the anchor and the cleat is the least of your worries. The MAIN thing to watch out for is when you are pulling the anchor is getting the line fouled in the propeller. If the line gets fouled in the propeller your boat will swing around with the stern facing the seas. If the seas are of any height they will swamp your boat in a micro second. Never put the trailing line over a cleat at the stern or the same thing will happen if the anchor gets hung when pulling. Lastly ALWAYS have a sharp knife handy if the line gets fouled in the prop. It's better to loose an anchor than the boatfrom sinking. Two people lost there lives a few years back on the Freighter doing that exact thing. I know I was the diver that found there sunk boat with the anchor fouled and tied to the stern cleat while pulling the fouled anchor.


It was in mid April. We were Cobia fishing and came upon a boat waving us over. They found the young girl floating about a mile west of the beach pier. We called 911 and waited on authorities to arrive.A sad time.

One thing we could not understand is how the body came that far against an outgoing tide.


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## sealark

So you guys found her! The fwc told me that she was found close to PB. Her fiance was never found as far as I know to this day. The boat was salvaged and gone within 2 weeks. All from trying to pull a fouled stern cleated anchor in 2 to 3 ft. Seas. They has just called there family and said they were leaving and heading in. There jackets were still in the cabin when I found the boat.


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## my3nme

Ive never used a anchor ball. I usually dont anchor because of what a pain it is. So if you have the ball attached you drive to and past the ball to get anchor to release?


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## jjam

my3nme said:


> Ive never used a anchor ball. I usually dont anchor because of what a pain it is. So if you have the ball attached you drive to and past the ball to get anchor to release?


Here ya go, something like this:

http://www.google.com/url?url=http:...system&usg=AFQjCNEVHemYyptCTR0990KASEYJdWf2wg

Jimmy


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## grey ghost

I love my anchor ball retriever, like anything else, common sence goes along way! It definatley is alot better on my back than helping pull up manually!! LOL


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## Ocean Master

I used one since they first came out many years ago with never a problem. Now I push a button.


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