Rear Anchor
 

Looking for advise on what to use for a rear anchor at our local sandbar. With our old boat I always used another anchor but with the new boat I don't have the space for a second anchor. I thought about a sand spike but I am reluctant that it will hold the rear of a 42 foot boat. The bottom is all sand and I use a fortress anchor in the front an it holds great. Thanks for any suggestions.

I hold the back of my 380 Powerquest just fine at the sand bar with my Slide Anchor spike. I love that thing, easy to pound in, and built in slide hammer also pulls it out easily. Only time I ever had a problem was when I was at a raft up with 5 other boats tied on and I had only anchors out and the wind picked up, and I was on the end. Pound it in the sand up to the d-ring and it holds a lot, especially if you add some backwards angle to it. Holds the rear of my boat and a 38' steal chris craft roamer on a regular basis. I use my standard Danforth anchor on the front. I do however want to buy a box anchor. I have been impressed with those too. Same company makes them.

Sand Spikes are awesome. I bet you will be fine. The front anchor of the boat which is out in the deeper water is going to take a lot of "abuse" from the wave action, but all your rear anchor is there to do it keep it from going side to side. It's also a lot 'safer' from the aspect that it's much more visible on the beach or in shallow water than an anchor that is buried in. (It saves a lot of toes.)

I made my own sand point / rear anchor. I have been using it the last 5 years and works great( Baja 265 and 33 OL). In big waves it will loosen up but I expect that.

I built a slide hammer on the top of it for hammering it down. Then to mark it, I have a shot 3 or 4 foot rope clamped to the top of it with a kids arm floatie on the other end of the rope. I get several "thank you's", "great idea" every year for the floatie to mark the anchor.

These are the only photos I have of it. Over all it is about 36" long with

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...ps08v0zpoq.jpg

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...psfbdc827c.jpg