My DIY sandbar spike anchor

[kgower]

I ordered my dock augers. Before I purchase all the other components, are there any other new thoughts or enhancements to consider?

 

[drewkaree]

I ordered my dock augers. Before I purchase all the other components, are there any other new thoughts or enhancements to consider?

Been awhile since I did this, but I wouldn't do the 2-piece design for your boat. If I were making these again, I would go with less than 5' tall, and I would altogether skip any hardware other than the bolts for the auger. Get a 4-pack of these and some 5' dock/fender lines with an eye.

Fancy Amazon clickety click link - $40/4 quick-release line clips

If that listing goes belly up, here's a pic of what product should be at that link - this is what I use now, and you don't have to worry about someone not tying off properly, or with a proper knot:



However you use the eye of the dock line and those quick release line clips is perfectly fine, you'll figure out the way you prefer them. This will keep your boat rock solid, and those quick-release clips are dead simple to use, and quickly adjust, if need be.

I use 3, one in front of the bow eye, connected the same way, and 2 in the rear, 1 off each corner. I tighten each line up until the boat doesn't move and the lines are tight, and then adjust as needed due to wave action or jetski douchenozzles

There's no need for hardware other than the auger bolts if using those clips and lines, and you've got a T-fitting for screwing these in.

I had a neighbor who drilled holes for a D-fitting, too close to the top of the spike, and using a cheap bungee line, it ended up splitting upwards, and it turned out he didn't glue the handle (T-fitting), so that fell somewhere, never to be found. Glue at least the T-fitting on, if you're gonna try doing a slip-handle, where it's smaller than the fitting to allow it to break down easily. Lemme know if that explanation isn't clear, and I'll try to explain it better, if need be, hopefully that all makes sense.

 

[kgower]

Been awhile since I did this, but I wouldn't do the 2-piece design for your boat. If I were making these again, I would go with less than 5' tall, and I would altogether skip any hardware other than the bolts for the auger. Get a 4-pack of these and some 5' dock/fender lines with an eye.

Fancy Amazon clickety click link - $40/4 quick-release line clips

If that listing goes belly up, here's a pic of what product should be at that link - this is what I use now, and you don't have to worry about someone not tying off properly, or with a proper knot:

View attachment 233962

However you use the eye of the dock line and those quick release line clips is perfectly fine, you'll figure out the way you prefer them. This will keep your boat rock solid, and those quick-release clips are dead simple to use, and quickly adjust, if need be.

I use 3, one in front of the bow eye, connected the same way, and 2 in the rear, 1 off each corner. I tighten each line up until the boat doesn't move and the lines are tight, and then adjust as needed due to wave action or jetski douchenozzles

There's no need for hardware other than the auger bolts if using those clips and lines, and you've got a T-fitting for screwing these in.

I had a neighbor who drilled holes for a D-fitting, too close to the top of the spike, and using a cheap bungee line, it ended up splitting upwards, and it turned out he didn't glue the handle (T-fitting), so that fell somewhere, never to be found. Glue at least the T-fitting on, if you're gonna try doing a slip-handle, where it's smaller than the fitting to allow it to break down easily. Lemme know if that explanation isn't clear, and I'll try to explain it better, if need be, hopefully that all makes sense.

Thanks for the detailed update. Much appreciated.

 

[kgower]

I was talking to a guy two weekends ago, he made similar sand spikes, but instead of the auger, he cut the bottom of the pvc tube to make it into a sharp point and, because the pipe is hollow, just pushed it into the sand. He put two on my boat, one at the back cleat, one on the bow, worked perfect the entire afternoon. The sandbar was on a channel too so lots of boats going by to test it. I'm going to try his version as 1) less money on augers, and 2) less length to store.

A friend @ATXScarab gave me a pair without the augers while we were at JetSet last year. They work really well. I am going to fabricate a pair in the next week or two with the augers as I feel it will be better with certain bottoms.