How to pull your anchor?

So you are on anchor and you have 100’, 200’, 300’ or more of anchor rode out. How do you pull your anchor without breaking your back or wearing you out?

One option is to have someone else pull it for you, but that may not always be practical and you may lose your fishing buddies quicker than you like.

Another option is to use an electric winch, but if you are anchoring in a river where there is current or a strong tide influence, you are using a buoy ball for a marker or buffer between your boat and your anchor, you will want to use an anchor puller system.

A good anchor puller system will allow you to pull your anchor off the bottom under the power of your boat, leaving just the slack rope to drop in your anchor rode bag and pulling your anchor up over your bow and drop it in your anchor nest.

If you opt for the anchor puller system to pull your anchor, you will want to make sure that the buoy you use will float your anchor plus any chain that will not pull through the anchor puller.

There are different size buoy balls that each have their own rating on how much weight they will float. Below you will see a chart of Polyform A Series Buoys that shows the different sizes and weight they will support. You should note that you will want to add a few pounds when you figure the size of buoy ball you need. Polyform recommends that you add what you need plus 25%. This will accommodate for any drag that the current adds or possible under inflation of your buoy.

A good example would be, if you have a 25 or 35 pound anchor with 6 – 12 foot of 5/16” chain, then the A-2 would be a good choice.