Always Secure Your Boat Anchor

A number of years ago I was T-boned in an intersection about a mile from my house from a driver who’d gone through a light.

I was also towing a recently refurbished wooden drift boat, which sadly, was also destroyed.

The car flipped on it’s side, and the boat ejected off the trailer. In the back of my Jeep was a 30-pound anchor, which punched a basketball-sized hole in the rear window about 6 inches behind where my three-year-old daughter’s head was. The anchor flew about 50 feet due to the force of the collision. Luckily, it went sideways instead of forward.

Sadly, I knew better.

This was a wake-up call for me and should be for anyone who uses an anchor while fishing from your boat. Do not leave it unsecured in the back of your truck, or car. Make sure it’s out of your vehicle on your trailer in an anchor nest, with a very stout tensile strength rope, or length of chain. Even chain it to the frame of your raft, if you prefer.

More recently, I was turned on to another hack: Using a climbing quick draw to secure your anchor to a hardened point in your trunk, or truck bed. Quick draws are climbing equipment that consist of two carabiners connected with a piece of hardened webbing material that are designed to take incredibly high loads and have a very tough breaking strength. Just think of a fully grown person falling off a rock and coming to a sudden stop. You get the picture...

In my opinion, quick draws are the only thing I’d secure an anchor with while traveling.

And anything is better than having it turn into a flying, deadly projectile if you get in an accident.