My son ( @CarterB341 ) often wheels on Sardis Lake in the winter when the Corps drops the lake level. Out on the flats, there is nothing to winch to. He wanted to see if a boat anchor would work. We are scuba divers, and once found a 14 pound Danforth-style anchor on a wreck. To put it in perspective, this is the same size anchor on my 27 foot, 8000 pound offshore fishing boat. So this is a big anchor, mostly stored and deployed from a pulpit and a windlass (boat word for winch). The flukes (fin parts that bury in the sand) are 12 inches across and the the width at the stock is 19 inches. This is really larger than anyone would want to carry as recovery gear.
We live in coastal Mississippi and there is a sandy area when went to test. I chose sand because the Danforth style anchor develops its highest holding power in sand.
Test 1:
Anchor just poked in the sand like it would if it were thrown from the boat. The flukes were dug in a bit to get it started. When we were just taking tension up on the winch, with the truck not stuck and in neutral with the parking brake on, the anchor was already dragging. So test 1 was a fail.
Test 2:
We buried the anchor about a foot in the sand, and even buried the shank (long part along the pulling axis of the anchor) of the anchor so that the line would not pull up. The goal was to get the anchor to self bury in the sand as this is how it develops its full holding power. While this was able to get the winch tensioned, it did not move the truck before it was dragging too. So test 2 was a fail.
I have seen a few anchor holding tests as part of my day job. Most anchors in this size range develop between 4000-6000 pounds of holding power in ideal conditions (sand bottom). Considering the winches we use, this isn’t much. Perhaps if you really buried the anchor deep you could get it to hold, but at that point, I think I would just bury my spare tire.
Here are pictures we took of test 2. I realize that we don't have any pictures of the anchor, but google "14 pound danforth anchor" and you will see one.
The set up. You can see the truck is a good distance away so that we didn’t pull up on the line. The sand is soft, but not the softest I’ve seen. We both went in there without airing down and didn’t have a problem.
The bury. The anchor is down there. The red line is to pull it backwards to retrieve it in case it got buried deep.
The pull out. You can see the trough it made.
Since this is Mud, for the folks who are interested in the truck, it is a 2007 Sequoia with a 2 inch lift and 32 inch KO2s, a Bruteforce bumper and a Warn VR 12000 pound winch. That truck impresses me everytime I wheel with it, and the seats are soooo much better than my 60's seats. Its like wheeling driving a lazy boy.
We live in coastal Mississippi and there is a sandy area when went to test. I chose sand because the Danforth style anchor develops its highest holding power in sand.
Test 1:
Anchor just poked in the sand like it would if it were thrown from the boat. The flukes were dug in a bit to get it started. When we were just taking tension up on the winch, with the truck not stuck and in neutral with the parking brake on, the anchor was already dragging. So test 1 was a fail.
Test 2:
We buried the anchor about a foot in the sand, and even buried the shank (long part along the pulling axis of the anchor) of the anchor so that the line would not pull up. The goal was to get the anchor to self bury in the sand as this is how it develops its full holding power. While this was able to get the winch tensioned, it did not move the truck before it was dragging too. So test 2 was a fail.
I have seen a few anchor holding tests as part of my day job. Most anchors in this size range develop between 4000-6000 pounds of holding power in ideal conditions (sand bottom). Considering the winches we use, this isn’t much. Perhaps if you really buried the anchor deep you could get it to hold, but at that point, I think I would just bury my spare tire.
Here are pictures we took of test 2. I realize that we don't have any pictures of the anchor, but google "14 pound danforth anchor" and you will see one.
The set up. You can see the truck is a good distance away so that we didn’t pull up on the line. The sand is soft, but not the softest I’ve seen. We both went in there without airing down and didn’t have a problem.
The bury. The anchor is down there. The red line is to pull it backwards to retrieve it in case it got buried deep.
The pull out. You can see the trough it made.
Since this is Mud, for the folks who are interested in the truck, it is a 2007 Sequoia with a 2 inch lift and 32 inch KO2s, a Bruteforce bumper and a Warn VR 12000 pound winch. That truck impresses me everytime I wheel with it, and the seats are soooo much better than my 60's seats. Its like wheeling driving a lazy boy.
