Several months or so ago OE2X and I (along with a two other friends) took his RIB out to Hat Island for a couple of dives and I found another anchor.
It isnt unusual for me to find anchors. Ive found everything from tiny mushroom anchors right on up to a ~5 ton navy type. I keep some for my collection and give others away.
This particular anchor was crusted with small barnacles and it looked like the galvanizing had failed. The shank and both flukes were bent and I almost didnt bother with it but the only anchor Ive resisted taking home so far has been the 5 ton one.
So I swam it over to our anchor chain where I tied it off and we finished our dive. Back on the boat the job of pulling in the anchor fell to me since it was my fault that it now weighed twice as much. Half way through the job I was wondering why I had bothered taking the old anchor and after I got it to the surface and into the boat I almost tossed it back!
Still, I didnt have one shaped like this in my collection so I took it home, let it soak in fresh water for couple of weeks and then left it laying on the concrete beside the rinse tank.
A couple of days ago I decided to see if I could straighten out the bent shank and flukes so I took the anchor apart. It had a removable stock and once disassemble I was able to straighten it on my hydraulic press. Funny thing about the stock it appeared to be a bronze rod!
I thought about taking the flukes and shank in to have them re-galvanized but realized that it would cost more than the old anchor was really worth. As I was mulling this over I notice a gleam near the head of the stock where I had scuffed it. I took a wire brush to the area and knocked off the scale and barnacles to see what was underneath.
Here are a couple of pictures:
It isnt unusual for me to find anchors. Ive found everything from tiny mushroom anchors right on up to a ~5 ton navy type. I keep some for my collection and give others away.
This particular anchor was crusted with small barnacles and it looked like the galvanizing had failed. The shank and both flukes were bent and I almost didnt bother with it but the only anchor Ive resisted taking home so far has been the 5 ton one.
So I swam it over to our anchor chain where I tied it off and we finished our dive. Back on the boat the job of pulling in the anchor fell to me since it was my fault that it now weighed twice as much. Half way through the job I was wondering why I had bothered taking the old anchor and after I got it to the surface and into the boat I almost tossed it back!
Still, I didnt have one shaped like this in my collection so I took it home, let it soak in fresh water for couple of weeks and then left it laying on the concrete beside the rinse tank.
A couple of days ago I decided to see if I could straighten out the bent shank and flukes so I took the anchor apart. It had a removable stock and once disassemble I was able to straighten it on my hydraulic press. Funny thing about the stock it appeared to be a bronze rod!
I thought about taking the flukes and shank in to have them re-galvanized but realized that it would cost more than the old anchor was really worth. As I was mulling this over I notice a gleam near the head of the stock where I had scuffed it. I took a wire brush to the area and knocked off the scale and barnacles to see what was underneath.
Here are a couple of pictures: