DIY hand-crank anchor retriever

[TimeBandit]

Avidly fishing on my PWC, I often require efficient anchorage. Anchoring is one of the not-so-fun aspects, so anything to help make things more smoothly, is welcomed. And unlike the a-typical jet-ski’er, I will carry 50-75ft of anchor rope, which can make the stowage and logistics challenging.

Ver-1 . . . been using this for years . . . a single PVC pipe :
Deploying the anchor was a breeze, as I just held the ends of the pipe and let it spin off the rope. However, retrieving was not-so-great… If I one-hand loop-wrapped it back onto the pipe, yes things went okay, but I noticed the rope itself being twisted the more I did this method – mainly because we are letting it go on method, and winding it back a different method. Thus, I often settled to just roll the pipe, which meant a heckavalota wrist spinning/twisting – which can be nauseating and slow to retrieve.

I recently had some time to re-vamp my anchor system. Along with so fresh rope (para-cord), I’m trying something different for the rope retrieving . . . .
Enter Ver-2 . . . a hand-crank rope retriever :

Okay, so not a single straight pipe anymore. Using the small CPVC pipe, I configured/made the following hand crank. Takes a bit of practice, but retrieving the rope/anchor is a lot FASTER !!
The yellow buoy serves two functions . . .
It quickly helps me spot which side my anchor is on, but more importantly, it allows me to instantly ditch the anchorage (unhook) if I need too – usually if I hook-up on something BIG. The buoy permits me find and recover the line.

So how was this hand-crank thingy made...
Below is the piece layout before assembled. I have no measurements, just winged it mostly. You will note that I also add friction sleeves (aka white PVC) to the handles. Slightly over-sized, the are not glued, rather purposefully slip/rotate when you hand-crank it – as to save from blisters.
One more thing – to make it stronger – was I filled the pipe with glass-resin slurry.

[K447]

What is the round white thing between the anchor chain and the rope?

[TimeBandit]

A portion of PVC pipe, chain embedded inside and filled with resin and lead-shot. Aka, a "nose-weight". It adds about another 2ft of virtual chain, assisting with scope.

[TimeBandit]

UPDATE:
Just wanted to report-back, now that I had a chance to try-out this new DIY anchor hand-crank.


Works very well. Almost too-well. Both deploying, and especially retrieving was very easy and FAST !