Repairing a Broken Anchor Cable

The boat dock behind the cabin.

Our float cabin and docks are anchored in place with heavy steel cables. Because steel rusts over time, they sometimes break at key pressure points.

One day while we were entering the back of our water lot, I noticed that one of the cables that anchors our boat dock to an old tree snag was broken.

Fortunately, it was snagged on the secondary cable. We like to have two at each anchor point just in case, a  good thing this time.

Wayne used the tin boat and temporarily reattached it with a rope. Later, our good friend John came up to help with a permanent repair.

John pulling up the boat dock end of the cable.

Since it was already secured with a rope, the next thing Wayne and John had to do was take the pressure off the far end by raising the cable up out of the water. Did I mention it was made of steel? That means it's very heavy.

John uses a log to support the cable's weight.

John is a master aquatic engineer. He figured the process out in his mind and adjusted as needed as he went along. They borrowed the log we use to keep floating debris out of our natural swimming pool.

A notch at the end of the log holds the cable in place naturally.

John situated the log at the dock end and used a pike pole to raise the cable up. A natural notch at the end kept the cable from slipping off. Once the cable was half way down the log, he drove a log staple over it, but with enough room for the cable to slide through.

Driving a log staple over the cable to hold it in place at the middle of the log.

When the cable got to the far end of the log, he used another staple to hold it in place. Using the boat as a platform, he fed the cable through until the log was a little over half way to the snag. This reduced the weight of the cable because it was no longer hanging low in the water.

Another staple at the end of the log allowed John to feed the cable through.

At the stump, John and Wayne used the pike pole to pull the cable up, trim it, wrap a good section around the snag, and secure it with large clamps. The repair shortened the cable, but it still sinks deep enough to get Wayne’s sailboat out without snagging the keel.

Once the log was half way to the stump it took off enough pressure so they could work.

At some point, the whole cable will need to be replaced, but for now it makes a good secondary connection (just in case we need it again). And the log got to go back on swimming pool duty. -- Margy