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I have a 13 foot Whaler and when I purchased it the previous owner included a 10 lb. mushroom style anchor. I cleaned it up, primed and painted it and gave it a nice coating of truck bed lining as a final finish. Looks great, however I failed to notice until it was all done that it won't fit in the front locker ! So I did some searches on the net and came across galvanized anchors that have four folding arms, looks like they come in 5 + 10 lb. weight. When you want to store the anchor the four arms fold flat to the main shaft and there is a collar to keep it folded. This looks like a great solution and they don't seem to be too much money. Anyone using this type of anchor ? I have not had my restoration boat in the water yet but 99 % of my boating will be on inland freshwater lakes.
It depends what type of seabed you have. But for mixed seabed with rocks and wrack and sand, this kind of anchor works very good. I've always used that for my smaller boats. Not the best choise when it is only sand maybe.
I used these, river, beach, sandy, mucky or grassy bottoms. I found polished stainless on eBay. I use a 1lb for the stern, and a 3lb as the main anchor you can usually find them to come with padded sleeves for storage. They are popular as PWC anchors. They work well for me on my 15.
The key to an anchor is a longer heavy chain, the chain holds the anchor down and the anchor holds the chain, I had the same problem, I found a small anchor gave it plenty of chain and cut the stocks(cross bar) to fit in the front locker, The other way I carried a plastic milk crate, or you can set the anchor in the rear transom but keep it tied to the front...
I use the folding anchors on fishing kayaks, pontoon boats etc. They work better than mushroom and cannonball type anchors because they hold better per pound and take up little room in the anchor locker. They can get caught in bottom growth or rocks. Anchors choice however is greatly dependent on bottom type. A length of chain helps any anchor hold as does adequate scope. Normal scope is about 5 to 1. In other words the anchor rode should be approximately 5 times the depth of the water. Calm conditions can be handled with as little as 3 to 1. Double anchors, usually heavy cannonballs (bow and stern) can be used with only enough rode to hit bottom for fishing, but demand close attention and calm conditions.