# DIY Shallow Water Anchor



## theyyounggun (Dec 10, 2012)

Every body has been seeing these types of anchors on the back of the big glass boats. They look pretty sweet! With how I bream fish which is basically moving spot to spot it is nice to be able to put yourself right where you want to be and not worry about drifting onto the bed before the anchor catches. Ive been thinking about it a little and have come up with a few ideas. Kind of thinking about a spring loaded one that way I dont have to get my lazy tail out of my chair. Any of you have a good idea?


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## Bass n flats (Dec 10, 2012)

I've looked at them a bit. I usually don't like to post about other boards but if you look at microskifff.com or customgheenoe.com they have done quite a few.


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## theyyounggun (Dec 10, 2012)

Thanks


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## lefty (Dec 10, 2012)

Skinny water products makes an affordable version. Its a piece of tubing with various mounting options and a extendable push pole type of fiberglass rod. Mount the tubing to the boat and stick the rod down in the mud/sand when you wanna stop. I made my own with concrete bull float extension handles and some aluminum tubing. But Tackle warehouse has some i think.


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## Badbagger (Dec 11, 2012)

Here you go... read this. I've touched base with Chad Ferguson and a great solution at a very affordable price.

https://www.mgs4u.com/shallow-water-boat-anchors.htm


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## kofkorn (Dec 11, 2012)

Grainger has the raw rod in a 10 ft length. More expensive for the rod, but you can get it delivered to a local store and pay less than the shipping cost from the previous link. 

https://www.grainger.com/Grainger/DYNAFORM-Rod-Stock-4ATL9?BaseItem=4ATL9


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## Josh in FLA (Dec 11, 2012)

Haven't gotten around to doing it yet, but my plan for making one on the cheap is an oversized u-bolt at the gunwale and a piece of galvanized electrical conduit. I don't think the short term installation would cause much in the way of pitting on the aluminum, if it does, just wrap some electrical tape around the conduit at the contact points. The conduit is easily cut to size, available in different diameters, comes in 10' length standard, and is relatively cheap 1/2" is around $2 a stick locally at Lowe's or Home Depot.

Galvanized or black pipe could be substituted, but weighs considerably more.


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## Captain Ahab (Dec 11, 2012)

Do you thing conduit will be strong enough to hold a bot in any work of wind without bending or buckling?


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## JMichael (Dec 11, 2012)

I bream fish also and have been thinking about different ways to anchor up in the shallows when I find a bed. If I can find them locally at a nursery, this is what I would like to try. They already have a point, a coat of protective resin over the fibers, so a little creativity to fasten a T handle and line to the top is all that's needed.

https://www.gwestern.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=936


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## Josh in FLA (Dec 11, 2012)

Captain Ahab said:


> Do you thing conduit will be strong enough to hold a bot in any work of wind without bending or buckling?



I think it would work, but I haven't built or tested it yet. My use would be around the shore edges or small creeks so I would be in a semi sheltered area. Once I get a chance to finish up the some other projects I'll try it out and report if it works out or not.


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## TNtroller (Dec 11, 2012)

just an fyi, check out some kayak forums, lots of yakers use 'em when fishing the flats and other skinny water. Probably find some how to's as well. Gander Mtn has 'em in the yak area, several different places make 'em and have 'em for sale online as well. Most yakers attach a bunge cord or paracord to the stake out stick and their yak, acts a "shock absorber" to some extent, or even stick 'em thru the scupper holes at times.


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## simbelle (Dec 11, 2012)

Why not use aluminum pipe? Aluminum Schedule 40 Pipe 6061T6 1/2 (.84 OD X .109 wall) X 8' is 12 bucks you could thread it for a T on top or make a wooden tee insert and the same for the point on the bottom.


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## theyyounggun (Dec 11, 2012)

Thanks for all the replys! Once I get my boat done I will go to my grandpas metal fab shop and see what I can figure out!


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## CaseyP (Dec 12, 2012)

Badbagger said:


> Here you go... read this. I've touched base with Chad Ferguson and a great solution at a very affordable price.
> 
> https://www.mgs4u.com/shallow-water-boat-anchors.htm



I may order a few of these after the first of the year.


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## Mojo^ (Dec 15, 2012)

Badbagger said:


> Here you go... read this. I've touched base with Chad Ferguson and a great solution at a very affordable price.
> 
> https://www.mgs4u.com/shallow-water-boat-anchors.htm



Thanks for posting the link! This is EXACTLY what I have been looking for!


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## Bugpac (Dec 15, 2012)

Aluminum or steel isnt gonna flex, its gonna bend. Hence the reason there fiberglass, if you wanna stay put you need 2 of them


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## theyyounggun (Dec 15, 2012)

Bugpac said:


> Aluminum or steel isnt gonna flex, its gonna bend. Hence the reason there fiberglass, if you wanna stay put you need 2 of them


I didnt mention it but I think I finally came up with a good plan. I will draw it out on the computer and post it.


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## theyyounggun (Dec 15, 2012)

Green=transom
Grey=aluminum tubing
Black=fiberglass rod
Red=hinges
Orange=cable going to operator
Purple=a spring that is loaded when in the anchor is in the stored position so when the cable is released the spring trys to pull itself back together so thusly it pulls the anchor down.


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## JMichael (Dec 15, 2012)

If red = hinge, what's preventing this?


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## theyyounggun (Dec 16, 2012)

Did you notice the second hinge at the top? The cable is running through the tube to a hook eye in the rod. When you release the cable that sends the rod loose and then the spring/tube shoves it in the ground. And to retrieve it you simply pull the cable up by hand or possibly a hand operated winch.


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## JMichael (Dec 16, 2012)

theyyounggun said:


> Did you notice* the second hinge at the top? The cable is running through the tube to a hook eye in the rod. *When you release the cable that sends the rod loose and then the spring/tube shoves it in the ground. And to retrieve it you simply pull the cable up by hand or possibly a hand operated winch.



My point exactly. If the spring is pushing down on the grey arm, and the fiberglass pole is hinged at the top, as long as you are holding tension on the cable, that will hold the rod pulled up against the grey arm. If the spring has any tension at all, it will force the grey arm down faster than gravity can get the pole to swing to a vertical position, every time the cable is released.


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## theyyounggun (Dec 16, 2012)

Aww yes yes. That is very good thinking. So thinking that now I will have the cable going to the aluminum. And the fiberglass will be hanging loose. But during transport it will be bungeed. How does that sound?


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## tsaints1115 (Dec 16, 2012)

It would take a pretty stout spring to have enough pressure to keep that in place in any kind of wave. That's a lot of tension, almost dangerously so.


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## theyyounggun (Dec 16, 2012)

The trick with the spring is to just keep the stake on the ground with some force. I eill alway have the trolling motor to help me out some. If I can't figure anything out it is no prob just to use normal anchor.


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## JMichael (Dec 16, 2012)

tsaints1115 said:


> It would take a pretty stout spring to have enough pressure to keep that in place in any kind of wave. That's a lot of tension, almost dangerously so.


I agree, and it would take even more pressure to drive the pole in the bottom at times depending on the type of bottom. I would think you would have to look in to some sort of electric motor drive system or even small scale hydraulics. And I'm no mechanical engineer but I would think you would need a double hinged system to maintain the pole in a locked vertical position regardless of the angle the arms are at. Something similar to this.


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## theyyounggun (Dec 16, 2012)

I agree


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## RiverBottomOutdoors (Dec 16, 2012)

I'm imagining you using this in pretty calm conditions. You're just concerned with that little push of wind or momentum taking you on to the beds in the shallows. Is that accurate?

If so, you don't need the robust ideas that have been suggested. Something light duty will probably work. Like the one guy , I have some reservations about the physics of your diagram but I think it's definitely a good concept. Custom stuff is trial and error. Interested to see how this goes if you tackled it. I use bream for catfish bait and I could see something like this coming in handy. 


Good luck.


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## theyyounggun (Dec 16, 2012)

I am definitely going to finish the boat before tackleing it.


JMichael said:


> tsaints1115 said:
> 
> 
> > It would take a pretty stout spring to have enough pressure to keep that in place in any kind of wave. That's a lot of tension, almost dangerously so.
> ...


I couldnt agree with you more. If you look at the actual SWA's they do have that dual arm design. Im not smart enough to do electric motors and all that. That stuff is pricey to!


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## JMichael (Dec 16, 2012)

I've only seen demo videos of the SWA's in action on youtube, and all of those had the covers on so you couldn't see how they accomplished the mechanical portion of the system.


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## theyyounggun (Dec 17, 2012)

Maybe if everyone on tinboats pitches in $2 we could buy a couple and then take them apart [-o< then put them back together and put them in a drawing to give them away! :LOL2: haha


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## Trapper02 (Dec 17, 2012)

What about simplifying the design, think about the Minn-Kota Talon, it just goes straight down. surely that would be easier to make some sort of "pole" that you could slide up and down the back of the boat and lock into place.

Instead of having those arms with joints etc.

Although you may be limited on your height, cause like the power pole and your design folds up to save space. Where the Talon design, you might have 8' pole sticking in the air when not in use. If you make it that tall.


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## theyyounggun (Dec 17, 2012)

Trapper02 said:


> What about simplifying the design, think about the Minn-Kota Talon, it just goes straight down. surely that would be easier to make some sort of "pole" that you could slide up and down the back of the boat and lock into place.
> 
> Instead of having those arms with joints etc.
> 
> Although you may be limited on your height, cause like the power pole and your design folds up to save space. Where the Talon design, you might have 8' pole sticking in the air when not in use. If you make it that tall.


Thats a good idea. I wonder if we coud do it where it is telescopic. That way we dont have to worry about going under bridges and stuff.


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## tsaints1115 (Dec 17, 2012)

Mount a thick wall aluminum tube on the transom, a tube on a bow mounted bracket, and have manageable lengths (6' ? ) of aluminum rod threaded at one end with a female threaded end one the other. Slide a length through the tube into the lake bottom. 6' not enough for your water depth? Thread on another 6'. Four 6' sections should cover most depths before you'd switch to a regular anchor I'd think.


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## theyyounggun (Dec 17, 2012)

Thats a good idea


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## Jim (Dec 17, 2012)

Great thread fellas! :beer:


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## JMichael (Dec 17, 2012)

Multiple sections might be necessary for bass fishing but I doubt you'd ever need over an 8' pole for the purposes of the original post. Bream bed in shallow water and I've never seen them bed in anything over 4-5' deep myself but maybe they do.


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## tsaints1115 (Dec 17, 2012)

Just for S&G I googled 6061 T6 aluminum bar and the first link I clicked on had as one of it's choices 3/4" bar, chose a length of 6', for $15.75. Four pieces plus some thick wall tube, say 3' should do for front and rear, some hardware to mount it, etc, and I could see having a working set of SWAs for under a $100.

That's all shooting from the hip of course.

If you're lucky like me you have a metal dealer in the area that sells used metal by the pound.


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## Jim (Dec 17, 2012)

I would love a 6-8 foot one just for these shallow, shielded coves we have up here in Mass


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## theyyounggun (Dec 17, 2012)

JMichael said:


> Multiple sections might be necessary for bass fishing but I doubt you'd ever need over an 8' pole for the purposes of the original post. Bream bed in shallow water and I've never seen them bed in anything over 4-5' deep myself but maybe they do.


agreed. I dont fish deeper than 15ft anyways. But shoreline for bream.


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## theyyounggun (Dec 17, 2012)

Not sure about this but

Red=spring
orange=cable
grey=aluminum
black=fiberglass
green=boat transom

This would work by the spring being compressed when in the stowed position but to anchor you winch the cable and it pulls down the fiberglass rod. So when you release the cable it pulls the rod back up.


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## theyyounggun (Dec 17, 2012)

forgot the picture


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## tsaints1115 (Dec 17, 2012)

You sure love your springs. lol


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## theyyounggun (Dec 17, 2012)

: :LOL2: sorry. its just the best thing I can think of anything else to use :roll:


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## Bass n flats (Dec 17, 2012)

What about a Wang anchor? I've seen them on bow and stern applications even trolling motor mounts. You could even work a Clovis pin to hold it up for a quicker release.


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## theyyounggun (Dec 17, 2012)

Ill probably end up resorting back to something like this. I'm just trying to make things more difficult than they are.


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## Bass n flats (Dec 18, 2012)

Plus it's so versatile anchor, push pole, attach a magnet and now you've got a key retriever Plus get creative for multiple mounting locations


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## JMichael (Dec 18, 2012)

Oooh, I like the idea of having it pinned with the TM.


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## theyyounggun (Dec 18, 2012)

Yes. I think I may do something like this.


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## tsaints1115 (Dec 18, 2012)

theyyounggun said:


> Ill probably end up resorting back to something like this. I'm just trying to make things more difficult than they are.



The golden rule...

K.I.S.S.


P.s. Be very careful googling "Wang Anchor". It appears there are more than one version out there.


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## txboomer (Oct 21, 2014)

Don't mention to hijack but I have been researching and there are a ton of diy projects for a shallow water anchor. But I have not seen anyone using T-Post. I have a 12ft Lowe V-hull that has a set of handles on the transom and I was thinking of running a 7ft t-post through each of the handles (if necessary). I would grind one end into a spike and drill holes in the post to add attachment rings as required. Besides the additional weight is there any other disadvantage? Do you think this would work for rocky bottom?


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