@drewkaree I got my auger so I'll head to Home Depot to get the rest of the supplies this weekend. Since you've had some time to put it through the ringer, any improvements or suggestions you have?
@tdonoughue was right with his thinking that a boat might need something more substantial, and for a breakdown/modular version, your boat weighs too much for my measurements/configuration to work out. The modular version, IMO, is useful and will work for a jet ski, but a wasted effort for a boat - a neighbor uses one for his jet ski with zero issues over several months. My 1-piece versions have caused zero issues over a similar time frame, so I'd say stay away from the modular versions for your boat.
@Redneck_4Play was also right to be concerned about the hitch pin (wire lock pin), but not for the reasons he was thinking. The wire came off the pin way too easily. The pin would never break, IMO, so perhaps a bolt with a wing nut might allow a breakdown version, but then you have more parts to keep track of when disassembling them. A glued-together solid 1-piece version works perfectly - tested over several excursions,
@WiskyDan can attest to mine working to hold his boat, my boat, and the neighbor's pontoon in line, with some help off the bow from his box anchor. I've since switched over to 3 solid 1-piece anchors, as swapping out the handles like I originally envisioned was a gigantic PITA, and forced me to be the one to do this all the time, since it was hard to explain, and cumbersome to say the least.
Make yours 5 1/2', anything much longer than that will be too hard to stow, will tend to bend more than you'd like, and if you're in water deep enough to need something taller, then you're better served by an anchor. These will work even if the top is slightly under water, as you can get them darn near directly under the nose of your boat, so you won't have anchor line issues like a typical anchor. Stow it in the ski locker, it's the best and easiest place to run these. I keep all 3 of mine in there along with 2 emergency oars/dock hooks.
Spend the time/effort/money for the clear primer and cement. Acetone will remove all the other markings.
Use a chop saw for nice square cut ends, if you've got one.
Get short bungee lines with clips or loops on both ends, or some other method that will make these easy to deploy, even by those who might not know what they're doing. The type
@anmut posted above work great, although I wasn't a fan of those when we were tied up in a line. In that situation, I prefer to use the orange lines shown in a few of the pics I've posted.
Skip the 1 1/4" PVC to slide through the T-fitting, just make handles and cement them into place. They don't even need to be that large, 4-6" on each side will be sufficient, you just need something to hold onto when turning them into the ground.
In the first pic of this thread, you can see the "notches" that keep a space between the auger and the PVC. On Amazon, MANY doorknobs modify their PVC (and ding the product for their own stupidity) to have the augers fit snug to the PVC. That space allows water to drain easily and also allows you to clean off any debris from the augers.
Thanks to
@anmut and his idea, I added a U-bolt to the top of the T-fitting - stainless, 1 1/4" wide. Before you glue up/assemble the T-handle, drill holes for the U-bolt, run the included nuts all the way to the top of the threads on the U-bolt, then add the plate, and run it into the holes. Use some nylock nuts for the inside to keep everything together, and after everything is sufficiently tight, then glue the handles on. I've seen a few examples of a larger U-bolt ran completely through, but I wasn't a fan of the scratch/gouge potential while stored.
If you don't want to add the U-bolts, figure out the best knot to tie off the boat - "if you can't tie a knot, tie a lot" makes these a pain. U-bolts and bungee lines with clips on both ends makes this quick and simple for those who might be a bit harder to train
Another of
@tdonoughue's tips, use something to mark off each foot (or at least the top 2'). Masking tape will work if you don't want to mark it up. Once you're aware of just how deep you want to bury these, you can remove the tape, vs trying to remove sharpie. It proved quite useful for my wife, and now she's gotten it down to where I felt comfortable removing the tape.
