DIY shallow water anchor or micro spike?

I have been debating on a shallow water anchor setup for a bit.

Cheapest would be the micro spike at 599 plus 99 for the pole. Very light and easy to mount on the back of the boat.

Also been debating on doing a manual DIY rod setup. I find it nuts panther sells a bracket sans pole for 180 bucks at cabelas.

Anywho... anyone else do this? I have been reading along on the net and pretty much 3 main articles come up.

Fiberglass rods can be ordered in very cheap and in my head i have a very simple mount design i can make for 20 bucks or less each. Bringing my total for 2 sticks and 2 home made mounts to under 100 bucks. The hassle is driving the stick down and pulling it up manually vs electronically.

So... just checking to see who's made their own and any pointers. I should be constructing mine very soon and I'll post pics.

First item is the fiberglass sticks. Silly cheap off amazon.

10.xx each with 8.xx shipping. I added 4 to the cart and shipping was 12.xx. so that means i can get each stick shipped (if i bought 4) for about 13 to 14 dollars each. Or under 20 dollars per stick if i ordered 1.

So the sticks seem to be very cheap.

Mount will be next.

A pic i saw for a silly simple mount would be a piece of wire and then a closed ring. Attach it to the cleats on your boat and just slip the spike/pole thru it. Not as secure as a 180 dollar bracket but it would cost next to nothing to have 2 poles and 2 very simple mounts on the boat. I'll try to find a pic of the rope and ring.

The simple "mount"

Attachment 227203

Don't have one myself but one I saw that interested me was, a length of gray plastic conduit with a section of Ground rod inserted into the end to make the spike. A PVC T glued on the top end. You could mount a ring eye on boat to slide it through and push down or like the flats fishermen in Florida just throw it down hard in bottom and tie off to it. With a loop below the T use boat to pull out.

I built two manuals for my pontoon. I took the guts out of two trailer jacks. Mounted them on the boat, then put the rods through the trailer jack shells. Now they stow horizontally. Pull the jack pin and they deploy vertically. Not as easy as electric, but a heck of a lot cheaper.
Btw, if I had the money, l'd buy the electric.

I forgot my dad went to the cargo largo auction and won a lot of grounding rods. Had some 1/2 and 3/4 rods in there. I took 2 rods and will see if those will work in holding the boat. Will try it out this weekend if i get a chance to go.

In the wind that simple ring won't keep the pole upright, the boat could pull it over. You'll need something to stabilized the pole above the ring a good 1-2' to keep it from tilting when the boat wants to move. I run into this problem in my kayak so I figure it will also be a bigger issue with a bigger wind catcher pulling.

what gordon said, your going to get a lot of pressure on them rods, and them ground rods are gonna bend.

MAX-GAIN SYSTEMS, INC. : Shallow Water Anchors - Fiberglass rods to MAKE YOUR OWN!

Ive been considering building one of these

Looks like i should just get the power pole. I know where i can get a new one for cheap right now.