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Watch out for that new silt curtain anchor they're selling...

Had a near miss on the Cooper River last month when one pulled loose during a tide change. We switched to using two old engine blocks chained together instead, and it held through a full spring tide. Anyone else find a better fix for keeping curtains in place on a fast current?
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3 Comments
alicec86
alicec861mo ago
Engine blocks are a solid backup plan, but have you looked into how you're setting the curtain itself? A lot of failures happen because the curtain is too tight. It needs slack to move with the current, not fight it like a sail. Letting it belly out a bit reduces the direct pull on the anchors. Pair that with your heavier anchor setup and you might not have to worry about it at all.
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sarah950
sarah9501mo ago
@alicec86 that slack point is key. How much belly do you actually aim for in a typical 3-knot current? I've heard people say a 10% sag, but that seems like a lot of extra material to manage.
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elizabeth_ramirez
Yeah, that slack is everything. We run a 15% sag on our main line in the Cooper, it looks like a lot but the curtain just flows with the water instead of catching it. Key thing is to make sure your bottom chain is heavy enough to keep the belly shape, or it just folds up and dumps silt.
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