Moving my anchors - rope question.

[EFW]

23 years ago I set my anchors and the bottom is pretty muddy. We have to move them slightly to survey it. (I set all the subs at about 6'.) Would you know anyway to grab the rope (Std. blue ski line) so we could pull on it without pulling the sub bouys over the top knot. I bought a rope clamp that was designed for 3/8 anchor line but it will not work with that hollow braid ski line. What I'm trying to avoid is going down - pushing the sub down and making another loop on top to pull from. Why? Because then the subs will be about 8' deep. I'm afraid that if I just hook it under the sub as it is right now when we yank it'll probably pull the sub over the top knot. if I just make a knot and a lasso I'm afraid it'll just slide up the rope. I need something where I can just grab that rope so that it will hold without making an underwater expedition like raising the Titanic or something.Just curious if you might have a better idea?

[skierjp]

How deep is the lake?

[Deke]

Just guessing... but 23 years on a muddy bottom those anchors are probably going to be like suction cups. You might need to pry them to get them to release.

[Mick04]

Can you tie a loop in the rope below the subs? End result will be subs 8” or so deeper if you can’t get the loop out, if that is acceptable.

FWIW, we had Ed Brazil (RIP) and his diver Jay, survey and adjust our course about 10 years ago. Sounds like setup that you have. Ours is in 35’-40’ deep water. Some of the challenges: Like Deke says, some of the anchors really sunk into mud and were very tough to break free. Make sure the anchor lines are still in good condition (are they 23 years old or have they been replaced?) Breaking one, may mean losing the anchor under the mud. You may need to dive to each anchor and clip a fresh rope directly to the anchor (and work through the muck to do this). Ed had his “anchor wanker” to lift the anchors. It was a mini pontoon contraption, about the size of a single person fishing catamaran. Instead of a seat it had a hand cranked winch in the middle. The anchors would have been way to difficult to break free just by lifting.

BTW, with ours, if they were to be moved less than 6”, they tended to settle back in same hole in mud.

[EFW]

@skierjp shallow is 12' then gradually descends to about 23 ft.

[EFW]

@Deke in a 10 foot boat tender I couldn't bust them loose an hour later after I set them. But with just me in the boat the boat would rock like mad. Maybe from a ski platform be a different story.

[EFW]

@Mick04 the only goofy thing is a few of the sub buoys seem to have become spongy. The rest of everything is solid. Freshwater and darkness. My friend puts a ratchet strap on the bow eye. 23 years later we're still perfecting it.

[skierjp]

Bow Eye is the way to go. You can also use a set of rope blocks. Do you happen to know any Lineman? They would have the hoist, blocks or whatever you need. I would change out all the ropes.

[BraceMaker]

At the marina we used to move mooring bouys by using a gas powered water pump with 1" PVC pipe, fire up the pump on the platform of the boat and then just probe around the anchor till it loosens up enough to get it moving.

 

Helps when setting an anchor too because you can blast a bit of a hole then settle it in and be good to go.