I have never seen any mooring systems around here since there seems to
be plenty of dockage, but I can imagine a time when that will not be
the case and moorings will be more common. However, the current trend
seems to be those helical screw in type mooring anchors rather than
the old dead weight mushroom style ones or the old 357 chevy block
with chain welded to it. However, I have read that installation is
fairly expensive requiring a rig to screw them into the bottom.
Being the inventive type (its a personality flaw), I been
thinking...
Have a helical screw in type anchor but on top of it have an arm maybe
3' long that will turn the screw in one direction but ratchet in the
other (like a ratchet wrench). This ratchet attaches temporarily to
the top of the screw. Tie your boat to the end of the arm and over a
few days, waves, shifts of wind and tides will cause the anchor to be
screwed into the bottom as it jerks on the arm. You could make it
work faster and initially set it by motoring up to it, going in
reverse and repeating the process. After a week, you use a mask and
snorkel to check how far it has screwed in and you remove the
ratcheting arm and tie your buoy to the end of the anchor. The
ratchet is sent back to the manufacturer for re-use.
Whaddya think?