On Jun 21, 6:36*pm, Tim wrote:
On Jun 21, 8:24*pm, Wayne.B wrote:

On Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:46:59 -0600, Canuck57
wrote:

The problem: *The anchor windlass has failed in some unfortunate way,
and not easily repaired. * How do you retrieve your expensive anchor
and chain?

Drag the bottom with hook the right size to snag the chain.

Then what ?

What else? My *cemen...er..."anchor" isn't that big, so you call your
buddy with the 35 ft. Grady or the gentleman *and lady with the twin
diesel trawler to haul it out of the muck. *But I also realize that
their rescue is conditional. I should be prepared to have them laugh
at me for at least a minimum of a week before they tie on and tug.
(and rip my boat in two and... laugh some more while high five-ing
each other)

?;^ )

Go toward the anchor till the rode is vertical and allow the boats
buoyancy to lift it as small swells go by.
If it is really stuck and you are truly desperate here is a weird
possibility: Flood your boat a few inches, haul in the rode (chain in
this case) and then pump the water out, repeat. You could do the same
with your hard dinghy. You could also use an inflatable dinghy
deflated and attached to the rode and then fill it with air. On a
sailboat you can use the sail winches to haul it up, I've done that.
Attach a "messenger line" to the anchor chain and run it around your
winch to do this.
Mechanical advantage is easy to get especially if you have even a
single block and a bit of rope.