"RB" wrote in message
. ..
I have approx 600' of anchor line on my primary anchor, and 20' of chain
ahead of the anchor. The anchor, chain, and line are all stowed in a bow
compartment on my 18' center console boat.

Not surprisingly, I have tangling problems when we attempt to anchor down.
I always start out taking all the line out, at the house, and then putting
it neatly back into the anchor locker. Doesn't matter. Next time the
line comes out, for whatever reason, there's invariably several snarls in
the line.

Any tricks anyone knows of that might help me keep the line organized to
where it will pay out reliably without fouling?


How deep or fast of water are you anchoring in? Lot of excess rode from
what I see. I have 100' on my anchor + 10' of chain and extra 100' lengths
of line I can snap on to the first 100' if needed. 21' boat.

"Not surprisingly, I have tangling problems when we attempt to anchor
down.
I always start out taking all the line out, at the house, and then
putting
it neatly back into the anchor locker. Doesn't matter. Next time the
line
comes out, for whatever reason, there's invariably several snarls in
the
line. "

Actually, that may be the problem, putting it in neatly. We found that
if we just dropped the anchor line into the locker as it came up, that
the line went every which way and looked like a rat's nest, but it
didn't tangle on the way out next time. When we first started boating,
I tried laying the anchor rode in the locker all nice and neat with
coils which caused fouling, then later I tried figure "8" coils, which
still resulted in fouling. Try just stuffing it in as the line comes
to rest in its natural state. You may have to step on the line a
couple of times to keep it a little more compact. Also like the
previous person asked, is 600 feet necessary? We got by with 200' on
our last two boats with another 200 feet for a stern anchor and rarely
used more than 120' (Northern Puget Sound and Desolation Sound)