Baller blagrata Posted January 5, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 5, 2020 I'm going to help a friend put in a permanent EZ-Slalom course in a couple of months. We're trying to come up with the best way to anchor this thing. The lake has a mucky bottom and the water depth is about 10 - 15 feet. Not a lot of boat traffic. I've read a lot of thoughts on forum with regards to anchors... but wanted to hone down on this. I was thinking that a scrap steel I beam would be a good anchor. Drill a hole and put a length of chain through it to attach to mainline. Has anyone here used beam to do this? The opinions on concrete seem to be mixed since it has some buoyancy. We're a little hesitant to do something with rebar. We have to be able to manage the anchors on the platform of a prostar. How heavy of a beam would we need? 50 lbs? 100? The other guy is scuba certified if that would help anything. I wouldn't presume underwater visibility would be very good though. Thanks for your thoughts. Looking forward to the project! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Andre Posted January 5, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 5, 2020 We fabricated 2 Danforth style anchors of about 100 lbs each out of scrap steel.Same mucky bottom and depth.They never moved an inch.We dropped them with some tension in the course but do the final tightening with a 2'' wide ratchet strap. Install since 2009,permanent set up,SS mainline from ED and dropped to the bottom every winter.Great product.We had to recrimp in 2014 but other then that no problems. My ski finish in 16.95 but my ass is out of tolerance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller BrennanKMN Posted January 5, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 5, 2020 I took a 5 gallon bucket and made a rebar spike ball. I attached a ~25lb piece of iron in between the spike ball and the course mainline to keep the pull angle down helping to drag and lock in the spike ball. Worked pretty good for me on our mucky bottom. Came back a week later to really tighten after dropping it and it didn't budge. For you it probably isn't a great idea if you need to use your tow boat to install it. I had a small crap fishing boat for doing course work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller 3mustskiteer Posted January 5, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 5, 2020 @Andre Do you use a SS ratchet strap? where do you place the ratchet strap to adjust the tension? one on ea end? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Andre Posted January 5, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 5, 2020 No we use regulars but for us the course never move and once tight it will stay that way.So far we replace the original in 2014 and the relacement is still in use.Won't work for someone who must adjust tension frequently but for us we just hook balls and ski.The replacement must be all rusty by now and wouldn't move probably.We use it only on one end.Course must be already close to tight as you can't take 6' of loose with the ratchet strap.We pulled the anchors pretty tight first then tighten the strap. My ski finish in 16.95 but my ass is out of tolerance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller MDB1056 Posted January 5, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 5, 2020 @Andre ideally you find a skier with a pontoon boat which would make life much easier for installing . I cringe at thinking of hauling a beam or anything like that in your Prostar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Andre Posted January 5, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 5, 2020 Wasn't a beam,just a bigger then usual boat anchor and my boat is a 94...but we did use a johnboat.Ski boat for thightening with someone holding a looped rope around the anchor,slowly bumping the boat forward then final tightening from the 2'' ratchet strap.Someone less cheap then me could use a SS strap. My ski finish in 16.95 but my ass is out of tolerance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller sheskis7 Posted January 5, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 5, 2020 At our lake which we ski into the bank at each end we have winches screwed in at each end with an auger. Then we run our cable (close to the bank thru an eye bolt that is attched to a metal car wheel) then it goes out to the end of pre gates. We have had this system for about 10 years and if the cable ever breaks (1 time) both ends are attached to either the winch or the course about an hour fix. It takes a lot of cable but it is worth the price to have a super tight course . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller slalom frog Posted January 6, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 6, 2020 I have a semi-permanent setup. I used something that I call a "box" anchor. It looks very similar to this: I made one out of flat bar steel. If I remember correctly I used 1/2" x 8" and the box was roughly 20" x 24". In a previous course setup that I had, the bottom was very mucky and it was relatively shallow. I used a guy wire anchor. My anchor solution worked well in both situations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller BraceMaker Posted January 6, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 6, 2020 Divers always help, the I-beam isn't a terrible idea and could easily be built into a sort of extra massive box anchor with little difficulty, torch the top flange off one side of the beam for a few inches and blow a hole through it then use a shackle to a length of chain to a sub bouy for the hook up to the course mainline, then weld something like a length of angle iron cross wise on the far end and it will auger down into the mud as its pulled tight. Then you'd just need to set both of them far enough apart that you can drag them together prior to connecting them. Strongly suggest you also leave yourself a chain/float on the rear end to drag it backwards if needed to recover from the muck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller aupatking Posted January 6, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 6, 2020 One of our courses has a “failed to winterize” 351 block anchor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller mmosley899 Posted January 6, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 6, 2020 @blagrata if you want it to be permanent, and straight, put screw anchors in at each end about 100 feet from the end of the course. Your water is plenty shallow enough to work in but scuba gear will be needed to install. Put a loop in the anchor rope to pull tight against. Tighten by hand or with a ratchet strap then tie it off. To make it straight you need anchors that will not move. Do not leave the ratchet strap in the water. Mike's Overall Binding USA Water Ski Senior Judge Senior Driver Senior Tech Controller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Zman Posted January 6, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 6, 2020 What @mmosley899 and @slalom frog said with the screw anchors. Our lake level varies, so I used a screw anchor on one end, and a weight on the other end. Also, on the end with the weight, I screwed a 2nd screw anchor into the lake bottom about 20 feet in from the weight. Then pulled the anchor line down into the loop on top of the screw anchor. If we ever pull the course tight on a windy day we will not change the course centerline by drifting the weight to one side. Even with a mucky bottom a screw anchor should work. Under the mock you will hit some solid earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller PurdueSkier Posted January 7, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 7, 2020 @blagrata. The I beam is exactly what we use. Each anchor is a section about 18" long. I don't remember the exact size of the beam but probably weighed about 80 to 100 lbs. We torched a hole in the top flange for the mainline so the beam sits perpendicular to the course. I assume the bottom flange digs into the lake bottom a bit. We also attach a tag line with a buoy that floats about 3' below the surface. When we need to tighten the course or pull the anchor we dive down and hook a handle to the tag line. Anchors work great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller UWSkier Posted January 7, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 7, 2020 are you far enough north that the lake safely freezes? Best time to put in big permanent course anchors is through the ice assuming safety is accounted for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller mmosley899 Posted January 7, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 7, 2020 @blagrata a 100 pound anchor is not near enough weight to pull the course tight and straight without moving the anchor. Mike's Overall Binding USA Water Ski Senior Judge Senior Driver Senior Tech Controller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller blagrata Posted January 7, 2020 Author Baller Share Posted January 7, 2020 @UWSkier The course is going to be in Florida. Water might not even freeze where I live in Ohio how things are going so far this winter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller A_B Posted January 7, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 7, 2020 Any MasterCraft filled with concrete would work pretty good... Aw come on, it's winter and just having some fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller PurdueSkier Posted January 7, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 7, 2020 @mmosley899 that all depends on the shape of the anchor and the condition of the lake bottom. In our case it was plenty. The flanges of the ibeam get drug into the bottom and stick. At one point we decided to try to move our course about 50 feet in one direction. We pulled one anchor and tried to drag the course with the boat and couldn't do it. I was sure any harder pulling would break the mainline. At the end of the year it was all two guys could do to pull the anchors off the bottom. Only 100 lbs but way more holding power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Killer Posted January 7, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 7, 2020 I have about 100lb of concrete blocks. Since the bottom is muck, after a few weeks and a few pulls it's stuck for life. More weight isn't necessary if the bottom assumes the anchor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller BraceMaker Posted January 7, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 7, 2020 Just like boats this is a vector issue - the longer the mainline the more its going to try to slide the anchor and the less it is going to try to lift. Single balls w/ subs on a single anchor don't really try to drag sideways at all but have lots of lift force - that's why you end up needing a lot of weight to hold. With a mainline course you have to evaluate the depth and length of the mainline. At 10-15' of depth you can just lengthen the ropes to drop the arms down to say 8' and that makes the mainline run pretty parallel to the ground and removes a lot of the lift, that lets you have the anchors closer together. In mud you want to be able to sink that thing down so an I beam with a few wings will really hang up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller skiep Posted January 7, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 7, 2020 We took a 2" steel rigid conduit 10' long. Dive down put the pipe at a 45 deg angle slide the handle of a 20# sledge hammer in the pipe (steel 1" handle not wood) and pound it until strong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Zman Posted January 7, 2020 Baller Share Posted January 7, 2020 @skiep Dang, you're a stud! I like your current set up even better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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