What type of anchor should one use for a 500 lbs. day sailor and a muddy sea floor.?
97465
Actually with a 500 lb. boat and a muddy seabottom a small mushroom anchor will hold you nicely under reasonable conditions.  The problem is when you need your anchor the most it will not be in reasonable condtions.  In my opinion the least discussed function of an anchor is as a safety device.  In the boat you discribe you will not be relying on the anchor to hold you fast while you sleep through the night.  But it may save your life some day by keeping you from going over a low head dam or ending up in the surf on a rocky shore. So you are correct to be concerned about what type on anchor to use on even a small boat.\n\nMy thoughts are these.  When the going gets tough you don't want to be relying a a mushroom or similar inferior type anchor.  But, also, on a boat this size space is at a premium.  A claw anchor or a plow will take up alot of room.  What you really what is a danforth type anchor.  They fold flat and perform very well for there weight.  You certainly dont need a 20-30 LB danforth as the guy above said.  That anchor would be capable of holding a 40' boat.  A 4 or 5 lb. danforth anchor should be adequate for you boat.  The next thing you need is a 4' to 6' lenght of chain to attach to the anchor.  What the chain does is cause the "pull" on the anchor to be more horizontal making the flukes dig in and hold.  You will want to attach a 100-150' length of three strand nylon rode to that chain and you are set.  The more rode you let out the better it will hold.  West Marine (westmarine.com)has some helpful advice and a wide selection of anchors with ratings.  Even if you dont want to buy from them they have good information.\n\nFair winds and following seas buddy.
468358
Use a #10 or #8 Eagle Claw hook and place a splitshot about 10 inches up the line to get it down in the water column. They are kinda gross to hook but either strait thru or piercing thru the side both work fine.
46039
try islandsurf.com, they usually have good links
376241
use a clam rake instead of a gun.  You don't have to get the expensive one at the tackle shop just get a wide toothed one at the hardware store.  you will pull in a lot more.  I like to put them in a bucket with clean water to let them work on spitting out the sand before cooking.  Don't mind the mud go barefooted it makes it easier to clean up after wards.  May sure to get a shellfish license and follow the rules and regs.  It is a pretty good fine depending on which coast your on.
1164873
The best/cheapest board for begginers is probley the 2006 CWB Sol with The CWB Torq bindings. You can find good prices at www.bartswatersports.com. I just bought this same package last night. Also check out www.wakeboarder.com. It cost me about $350 with shipping. You can get wakeboard packages alot cheaper but you will find that they are all junk. I had a pair of cheap orbit bindings and they ripped after a month. You want to make sure you don't skimp on the bindings because you will reget it if you do. www.Westmarine.com and www.sportsauthority.com are other good sites. good luck
303535
I woud reccomend you use at least a 30+ lb. thrust ,if you using a bow mount trolling motor make sure its a newer model with a foot pedal.A minn kota hypredrive is the one i have on my boat and its been great especially in the wind.
557304
Having owned wooden sailing yachts for 30 years and lived aboard and cruised them in the Caribbean and made a living as a  boatbuilder:\nOakum is good only on larger boats with big gaping seams and something solid behind them, ie the garboard or along the stem/transom, as oakum is a big hairy thing that takes along time to expand and then really expands and can blow the planking off a boat...saw it happen NOT pretty.\n\nWhat has worked for about 500 years is cotton caulking..it comes in along long skein from Distributors and Defender Industries, you pull out  a few feet at a time, twist it  so its now a tightly twisted line of cotton about , oh, the size of a pencil, and drive it into the seem with a caulking iron, which looks like a fat putty knife and is also available from Jamestown. It takes a while to develop the feel for setting the cotton deep enough to putty over without driving it all the way through; if a seam is really open, you might have to wind the cotton a little looser, say tot he diameter of a crayon and push it gently in rather than drive it in... Paint the caulking with a thin coat of paint, then under the water line use Pettits brown seam compound; above the waterline Pettits white seam compound. Both remain flexible for a goodly while and if protected by paint wont crumble out. Epoxy will NOT work; the plank swelling will spit it out.\nThere is a fair amount of controversy about using 3-Ms 5200 under the waterline and Life Caulk above.it's not old timey, its not traditional, but it works.\nRemember if the boat has been out a while and the seams need a lot of caulking...cotton, putty, 5200....as the planks swell they will force out the putty/5200, and you will have to scrape and sand and repaint the topsides until the wood is swollen to where it wants to be...\nSeams that have shrunk so you can see daylight will swell back up..but it may take several days..when you first launch the boat  be prepared for a lot of water coming in...(I needed a crash pump to back up two 1750 bilge pumps after being out for 6 months...)if you can, hose the boat down inside and out a few days before launching...use LOTS of water..it will save a lot of Ohmygod we're sinking trauma at launch...\n\nThere is a magazine devoted to fools like us with wooden boats. Its called (DUH) WoodenBoat, web site is www.woodenboat.com. Filled with all sorts of do it yourself tips and references and books and good stuff..Start reading it today.
284784
GOOD MARINE HARDWARE STORES  ARE VERY HARD TO FIND \nBUT IF YOU GO TO J C  WHITNEY  FOR AUTO PARTS YOU MIGHT FIN SOME IDEAS  CAMPER STORS /RV PARTS  AND MY TRACTOR TRAILOR WAS RE DUN IN WOOD GRAIN\nBUT!!! WATERPROOF IT FOR MARINE VARNISH \nHOME DEPOT AN MAKE IT YOUR SELF
27626
3/4" Marine plywood: (shaped to taste hehehe!) add a little rocker....cover with marine epoxy...sand till smooth... paint.. whalla!!\nthen shuvit shuvit shuvit!!!!\n\n- good for flat water skimboarding! hikhikhik!!
255649
If the mooring buoy has a pad eye or provision for a quick-release shackle hook up, then by all means use it. It was designed for those small crafts.\n\nIf still uncertain that the mooring buoy has a pad-eye provision, and if you have a rope tied to your boat, use the other end and make a lasso-type knot and secure this beneath the mooring buoy. loosen this when you disengage.
905918
I would go with a floating Rapala, about three inches long.  You cast it out and it floats until you reel it in.  When you start reeling it dives under water and wiggles like a minnow.  You can also use it as a top water bait by twitching it and letting it sit until the ripples die down and then twitch it again.  This works especially well early in the morning or just before dark.  Good luck.
358825
Well it really depends on where you want to move it and what you want to do with it when you get it there, but as a start it might be helpful to turn the 500 log into smaller parts and then you can move it by hand. This could be done by the use of either an ax or chainsaw (following appropriate safety guidelines of course).\n\nIf the use of such tools is out of the question then and dragging the log is ok then the use of a winch or a vehicle may be a possiblity; for the use of a hand winch, a rope climbing type winch is advised, one such as a 'tifor' jack, ensuring that the maximum safe working load of the steel wire rope is not exceeded, not forgetting that the 500 is the dead wieght of the log, it is likely to wieght far more being dragged along the ground due to friction/ground efffect(I would advise that it's treated as wieghing 1000lbs at least).\n\nThe winch will need to be fixed to a suitable anchourage, I suggest either a large vehicle (4x4/SUV) or a ground anchor, these consist of a plate with shackles attached at both ends, in the plate are upto 8 holes in which 2ft stakes are driven at angles to hold the anchor. Multiples of the anchors can be linked to provide more anchorage, each being able to hold 1 metric tonne, upto a limit of 6 tonnes using a 'crows foot' configuration.\n\nEnsure that all equipment is certified for the specific use and is load tested and has a current test certificate avaliable if applicable (in the UK that is anything rated for 1+ tonnes)
1046005
any surface popping plug should produce and keep you out of the sea salad. A big bobber and a fat juicy live shiner will out fish any lure as well!! \ngood luck!\n"women want me; fish fear me!"
713126
poster above is describing the improved clinch knot.\n\nAnother choice is the Palomar Knot.\n\nJust check out this site:\nPicture worth a thousand words
465772
I use a marineland eclipse 29 gallon tank.  The kit came with everything you need to keep seahorses.  The specific gravity of the tank needs to be about 1.022 and the temperature will vary depending on the type of seahorse.  You will need some live rock to start up and cycle your tank (it will take a few months).  You can purchase captive bred seahorses at marine aquarium stores or on line that have been trained to eat frozen mysis shrimp.Try www.seahorse.org
1162066
See if this meets your needs.\n\nhttp://www.fishingworks.com/tide_prediction_interval.cfm
203619
Hang a 5 lb dumbell from it for 30 min. every day.  Do this for 4 weeks to get a 1" increase in length.