[pvsprme]

I bought some polypropolene rope at Fastenal for anchor rope after noting it's what NRS recommends for their anchor system. I was buying bits and stainless screws/nuts and didn't pay much attention to the rope other than size (3/8") and amount in bag (50'). Got home and noted it was marked at 250# breaking strength-WTF? I looked up NRS' polypro and it's rated at 1900#. Big difference.
Local Sport Chalet has climbers rope at 4000# for about same price as NRS and no shipping, didn't notice what it was made of, but not polypro.
Wondering what you are using?

 

[co_bjread]

I think a better anchor would be made form 1" tubular webbing. For my swift water rescue class we used a 15' length and tied a loop out of it using a water knot. It is an easy anchor to wrap around a tree or rock and it's strong. I tie it in a chain, and store it in a nalgene bottle with my prusiks for easy access. hook a couple biners to the lid loop on the bottle, and your pin kit is nicely consolidated.

 

[carvedog]

I think a better anchor would be made form 1" tubular webbing. For my swift water rescue class we used a 15' length and tied a loop out of it using a water knot. It is an easy anchor to wrap around a tree or rock and it's strong. I tie it in a chain, and store it in a nalgene bottle with my prusiks for easy access. hook a couple biners to the lid loop on the bottle, and your pin kit is nicely consolidated.

He is not 'making' an anchor, but actually dropping an anchor into the river when fishing.

I think.

 

[pvsprme]

Correct; I need a rope for my anchor.

 

[Osseous]

Nylon three braid- Standard anchor rope in all marine applications. West Marine and a billion other outlets carry the stuff. Polypro makes horrible anchor line- it floats and is really tough on your hands. Three braid can be, well, braided- if you know someone who can do a loop splice or a donkey dick your boat will look ship shape, sailor.

 

[matt cook]

3/8 blue and white or black polypro rope off the spool at lowes hardware and lasts years under daily guide use. I have guided with this stuff for ten years and it works fine for a 1000lb+ raft. You don't want anything too strong because you want it to break under certain circumstances, say your anchor drops in the middle of a ledgey, undercut class III rapid. If your rope is too strong your boat sinks. I know it sounds crazy but I have seen it before, twice in the same rapid with a drift boat.

 

[Osseous]

Gotta strongly disagree with this one- An anchor is a safety device on a boat. You don't ever want your anchor line to break. You particularly do not want to not know exactly when it's going to break and when it's going to hold!? Secure it appropriately for the conditions you're planning to be in and the above scenario will not be an issue. One way you avoid the issue related above is to not tie a knot in the end of an anchor line. If it fails when you needed it to hold (it's only job- and the reason you have it on board in the first place) you're in worse trouble than the imagined scenario above. Blue poly is not anchor line-

 

[matt cook]

an anchor rope is NOT a safety device, it is one of convenience that allows you to hold a spot to fish. If anything, anchors and their ropes are the most dangerous things on a fishing rig in whitewater. If you are in a spot that will break 3/8 solid braid polypro, you really shouldn't be dropping anchor there anyways. The dumbasses I referred to earlier dropped theirs in the muddle of a 5 foot tall wave train by accidentally hitting the foot release on their drift boats, then not allowing all the rope out. I don't know how large of a rig you are running, but I assure you that 3/8 solid braid blue and white polypro rope can and will hold a loaded 13' fishing rig in class III water for thousands of river miles over several years.

 

[Osseous]

If I bash somebody in the head with a fire extinguisher, is the fire extinguisher no longer a safety device? Nobody's advocating dropping an anchor in a wave train- or in class III waves. That's extremely dangerous and foolish behavior. Anchors do represent potential danger in moving water, for sure. But to plan on your rope breaking when you make a mistake is not a plan.... it's a wish. Anchors are designed to hold- problems crop up when they don't. Floating anchor rope is dumb and dangerous, and so is a weak anchor rope. Will poly work? Sure- right until it doesn't.

 

[James Brown]

You would be surprised where people will drop their anchors especially if they are fishing.

Three braid rope sucks for the cleat system of NRS. Go to REI and get some 1/2 inch climbing rope equivalent (densely woven type). Make sure you do NOT knot the end of the rope so if you have to , you can leave the anchor behind but save the boat (and maybe your life).

Also once you have the rope all the way in the boat and the anchor snug, get some red paint and color about 6 inches of the rope just as it is in the cleat. That way when you are pulling the anchor in, you will know when to quit (or more like it, to keep pulling) when the red mark enters the cleat.

 

[matt cook]

If I bash somebody in the head with a fire extinguisher, is the fire extinguisher no longer a safety device? Nobody's advocating dropping an anchor in a wave train- or in class III waves. That's extremely dangerous and foolish behavior. Anchors do represent potential danger in moving water, for sure. But to plan on your rope breaking when you make a mistake is not a plan.... it's a wish. Anchors are designed to hold- problems crop up when they don't. Floating anchor rope is dumb and dangerous, and so is a weak anchor rope. Will poly work? Sure- right until it doesn't.

I still don't see how an anchor is a safety device. Saying that problems crop up when they don't hold is proof of my point. If you are anchoring upstream of something dangerous that you dont want to float into, you are creating the dangerous situation by dropping anchor and staying there rather than maneuver around and downstream. I agree that an anchor is a highly useful fishing tool on the river, but it combined with the rope have little to no "safety" value. Rather they create a much higher potential for problems, both physically on the boat, as well as the false sense of security they provide to some fishing above rapids. Again, I have used 3/8 solid braid poly rope for anchor line as a fishing guide (never used the NRS jam cleat) for ten years and tens of thousands of river miles,and have never had one break, despite wearing some halfway through and using them for 20 more trips before replacing them. My boss has used them for 20 years. But what do I know other than what I have actually experienced in life? Just wondering why floating rope sucks?

 

[carvedog]

Sounds like we all need to have a great big ole safety meeting and group hug.

Safety should never be under appreciated.....

 

[Osseous]

Google "anchor rope" and see what you find- I'm not gonna piss in your 10 years of wind

 

[gretch6364]

I need to tie my new anchor off. My rope comes out the back of my frame, then I have a pulley and clip that will go on the anchor and the rope will be tied off around the frame pipe after looping through the pulley.

What knot would you guys suggest I use to tie it around the frame? Thanks

 

[elkhaven]

I put an eyebolt through my anchor frame and tied off to that with a clinch knot...

All this discussion above is amusing. After a year or two of droping your anchor in a cleat and going through pulleys it will be significantly weaker than the original rated strength. I would not consider my anchor a safety device nor use the rope for rescue unless it was a last ditch effort and then I'd be damn careful no body would get hurt if it broke...

I've never even heard of an anchor rope breaking in use (yes, while pulling truck out of ditch) and as noted somewhere above the worst case if it did should be a lost anchor. If you anchor above a sweeper (or other obvious danger) you are, shall I say....dumb. The greatest load you are likely to have would be +/- 100lbs. Any more and you will not pull it up, even with a mechanical advantage. The breaking strength really becomes moot. Secondly the odds are infinitely greater that your anchor will simply loose it's hold on the bottom. If it were anywhere near breaking with most of the ropes noted above you would likely have already abandoned ship, not necessarily voluntarily.

Lastly as reinforcement for above....DON'T TIE A KNOT - new anchor and rope ~$125, new boat and gear ~$much much more, new friends - $priceless. Allways have a knife handy, I have seen plenty of stuck anchors and in an accidental drop a tangle on your floor is likely so being able to cut it somewhere could be curcial.

 

[gretch6364]

Yeah...everyone is just trying to help people be as safe as they can, and with this being primarily a whitewater forum, the use of an anchor can be foreign to most.

I don't have the time or the want to drill a hole in my frame for this coming weekend. I need to just tie the end onto the anchor frame so I can use the pulley.

And obviously, no knot in the other end., although, in a quick emergency situation, the rope is probably going to need to be cut anyhow since I don't anticipate it not tangling as it goes through the pulleys in a hurry. But 99% of the time, you use the anchor when pulled over at shore or in very flat water that you want to fish.