The Boating Forum - anchor rope tangle issues

hey guys, i havent used my anchor in the last 2 yrs and today when i opened my anchor locker up to inspect it. whoa! lets just say i would have been in trouble if i had needed it in a hurry.

i know when i put it in there i carefully wound it down in there so i could pull it out easily but in the pounding it turned into a knotted mess. my anchor ball did the same and that rope was only about 3ft long.


how do yall keep your rope from getting into such a mess?thanks!

X2 I try to make it into a nice little bundle but never can get it to come out easily without tangles.

Surprisingly, the old time fishermen feed the anchor rope into to bucket and retrieve the rode from the same bucket w/o problem. It seems I have more problems with anchor rodes that are wrapped up in neet bundles.

Seems like I've read on forum to soak rope in Woolite once in a while and rinse well...espcially stranded rope. Will soften rope and remove salt which cause s the kinking --

You should not coil rope. This causes the problem. Rope/rode should be retrieved and allowed to fall naturally (that's why a basket / rope locker is used). The rope will get no twists by doing this.
You may be able to get the twists out by soaking the rope and laying it out straight on the ground with nothing attached. Pull it back to you as it is put away (in rope locker/ basket). Softer lay ropes/rodes are far less susceptable to twisting.

You should not coil rope. This causes the problem. Rope/rode should be retrieved and allowed to fall naturally (that's why a basket / rope locker is used). The rope will get no twists by doing this.


X2

I just let my rode fall naturally into what looks like a sloppy mess when retrieving the anchor. Never had a problem with a tangled rode when I deploy.

X2

I just let my rode fall naturally into what looks like a sloppy mess when retrieving the anchor. Never had a problem with a tangled rode when I deploy.

X3

X4

Not using the rode in 2 years didn't help either. The worse you can do to anything in a boat is not use it. Make a point of inspecting the anchor and it's rode periodically.

Not using the rode in 2 years didn't help either. The worse you can do to anything in a boat is not use it. Make a point of inspecting the anchor and it's rode periodically.

ive been using the boat just not anchoring. we do alot of trolling. i can try to let the rope just fall but in my contender the anhorwell is wide but not real deep if i just dropit all in the middle the lid wont close, so i have to somewhat guide it in.

That's why I use braid. Twisted nylon does not lie nearly as well and takes up more space. But, it is cheaper.

You should not coil rope. This causes the problem. Rope/rode should be retrieved and allowed to fall naturally (that's why a basket / rope locker is used). The rope will get no twists by doing this.
You may be able to get the twists out by soaking the rope and laying it out straight on the ground with nothing attached. Pull it back to you as it is put away (in rope locker/ basket). Softer lay ropes/rodes are far less susceptable to twisting.

X5

Braid and I take mine out of the locker at least once a season to rinse the stinky off and clean the locker.

The unorganized pile of line is the way to go. It comes out the way it went in, even after years of sitting.

well it is braid and i know it could have been alot worse.ill try the dropped in but i figured somebody might have found a technical way around it. thanks for the replies guys!

You should not coil rope. This causes the problem. Rope/rode should be retrieved and allowed to fall naturally (that's why a basket / rope locker is used). The rope will get no twists by doing this.
You may be able to get the twists out by soaking the rope and laying it out straight on the ground with nothing attached. Pull it back to you as it is put away (in rope locker/ basket). Softer lay ropes/rodes are far less susceptable to twisting.


I think we're up to X6!

I do rope rescue work. We don't coil any of our lines. All of them are just fed into a rope bag.

I do the same thing with my anchor line and never have an issues. Hope this helps

X2

I just let my rode fall naturally into what looks like a sloppy mess when retrieving the anchor. Never had a problem with a tangled rode when I deploy.

i do the same and never have an issue

You should not coil rope. This causes the problem. Rope/rode should be retrieved and allowed to fall naturally (that's why a basket / rope locker is used). The rope will get no twists by doing this.
You may be able to get the twists out by soaking the rope and laying it out straight on the ground with nothing attached. Pull it back to you as it is put away (in rope locker/ basket). Softer lay ropes/rodes are far less susceptable to twisting.

You can coil rope. It needs to be coiled in a clockwise direction which is the way rope is plaied.Any other direction it tends to run over itself and twists.Have alot of experiance in splicing rope and spring lay/cable