Just ordered two of the blue Cooper anchors. Had a bit of adventure there. When I clicked "purchase" and it popped up the Australian bank payment form I thought "bet this doesn't work" and sure enough my credit union blocked it! Had to call and work my way through labyrinthine auto-attendant menus then two customer service reps to get them to approve the charge. But they did, and it went through the second time.
A friend had one complete with short rope lead then some chain, said he didn't think it worked very well based only on testing like Tony suggested - standing just offshore and pulling it through the shallow water. I took it to the middle of the lake on the TI, dropped it overboard, and felt like I hit a wall!
Held fast in moderate wind with waves. The TI was quite comfortable and stable, once I remembered to raise the centerboard and rudder...
Of course now he wants to try it himself!
So I ordered my own, got a second to use with my kayaks. Almost got the red one for that but heck the blue isn't that big. Lighter than the mushroom and claw anchors most use around here, and it gives me a spare for the TI just in case...
My next challenge is figuring out what to do with all that rope! Don't know how some of you use bags, I can knot and tangle a rope just by looking at it - I'd spend hours getting it untangled each time I deployed if I used a bag!
Went to the hardware store this morning and browsed... Finally came home with a couple of electrical cord reels. One is the cheap / basic "H" that you manually wrap the cord around. Fairly compact, but a bit tedious to wind/unwind - especially if I need 100 ft or more. The other is an all-plastic reel with a handle in the center you hold and a knob on the side to spin the caddy portion. I tied the anchor rope around the spool hub and wound it on there. It's a bit large, but then I can hold a LOT of anchor line if needed! I'm figuring I'll loop a tether line through the center in a large loop (so it stays out of the way when winding / unwinding) so that, even if the plastic reel breaks for some reason, the tether will be connected to the anchor line and I don't lose it all.
A question on rope - where do I find good quality stuff? I guess I can order online, if I know what to get. Some of the pages I found searching for 'boat anchor rope' suggest the stuff at the hardware stores is pretty poor quality and shouldn't be trusted. They certainly don't have anything comparable to the TI's mainsheet line.