Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Thank you all for your input, some great ideas have been presented and I will pursue them all. Hopefully, we can resolve the issue this spring. One of the other wooden dolphins disappeared last summer so I don't believe this one will last much longer.

Paul, we'll be touch. Thanks.

I-beam or what we call W shapes are pretty inexpensive. I know a fabricator in your area that we've hired for various projects. Drop me an email to paulanderson at industrialsteel dot us and I'll get you a contact. I think that this will probably be much cheaper than an anchor with the scrap cost per weight.

When we had the SS city of Milwaukee tied up to the shore on 9th St. in Manistee, we had her tied off to 3 deadmen buried in the ground. 2 were old anchors which we happened to already have, but the 3rd was 2 pieces of I beam (aprox. 6 feet) welded together in a "T" with a chunk of heavy chain welded to the end of it. These were buried with a backhoe to about 12 feet deep with the end of the chain above the surface. These held the carferry to the shore just fine for 4 years. When we moved, we dug them up and now the anchors are on display and the I beam deadman is again buried and has a stern line attached. If a deadman can hold a carferry, it will certainly hold your tug just fine and is probably your cheapest deal and the parts can probably be obtained at a local scrapyard. Someone in the neighborhood is likely to have a backhoe you can hire for a couple of hours.

What you guys are referring to is called a "deadman" You bury a log (or some other object) with a cable attached and secure your mooring lines to it.

An I-beam embedded in 10 cubic yards of concrete would likely serve.

Time you buy a suitable anchor (cost per pound plus getting it to the dock, then out in the water, which may or may not hold well in the harbor bottom, why not cast a pier on the shore? Would think a cube of concrete 4' square by 4-5' into the ground would be a good anchor. During the pour, install a piece of 6-10" pipe all the way to the bottom with a cross tee in it of some 2" steel, and you'll have a great place to tie off too. With the mining activity up there, a piece of heavy pipe shouldn't be that tough to get your hands on.

Agreed, the wood is getting pretty rough looking.

Pete

How much would it cost to put in a mooring bollard between the rocks and what looks like an access road by the fence? Wouldn't that serve the same purpose as burying an anchor?

Nice photo, Been in a few boats when the Edna G's Smoke would be blowing in the pilot house and smell the steam and smoke as she helped us to the dock. Good times....

Thanks for the replies guys! I appreciate it immensely.

The anchor would actually be for the old Edna G. tugboat in Two Harbors. The old wooden post mooring dolphin that a couple of the tug's mooring lines are secured to is in terrible condition. It's in such condition that tensioning the lines could pull it over. Rot has done it's work below the water. A few other avenues to replace it have been exhausted and embedding the flukes of a large anchor on the shore was suggested as a possibility. Much like the method used on the Wm. A. Irvin. The tug is well secured to the dock but the lines serve as spring lines when there is a stiff wind and should be retained if possible.

Thoughts?

Left side, For Sale, Anchors, some appear to be located all over.

http://www.scrutonmarine.com/

Binrat

When I went on a tour at Fraser ship yard I would ask about Blades and other worn out parts that were laying around and I would get the same answer every time(they belong to the shipping company's)and they wouldn't even talk about it.
I'm going to make myself a yard piece someday,and Me being a Carpenter and being able to match any weird trim piece I encountered,I will someday make a wood mold and poor in concrete and paint it black,You'll think it came right off the Gott.

What about IMS in Port Colborne with all of the ship scrappings that they've been doing? Wouldn't there be some anchors laying around at the IMS dock from any of these lakers possibly? Just an idea and thought I had here is all.

Purvis Marine, Ltd. in the Canadian Soo may have a couple of used models in stock.

I'm assuming you live here in Duluth. I guess I'd try Fraser Shipyard first. I hope you realize that an anchor weighs several ton. It would take a crane to load it on a flatbed trailer, so you're talking about a rather expensive undertaking. The farther you have to go to find one, the more expensive it gets.

This may be a somewhat odd request but I'm wondering who to contact about purchasing a used ships anchor? IMS? Fraser? Sturgeon Bay? Thoughts?