Brendandrage :
We use our anchor a lot down in the keys, when we go scuba diving and snorkeling we need to have a good and strong anchor otherwise the boat floats away from us, it's happened a few times to us with the standard grapple anchors (typically 2) on south florida's sandy bottoms.
We also come in thru surf often and like to drop the anchor while coming in so we can control our entry and not go sideways too badly in the surf, having the anchor mounted in the rear and always ready to drop just makes more sense to us. Since the TI has a furlable sailing rig there is no downside to anchoring from the rear (you can't do that with a cat or most sail boats because of the sail, or most powerboats because of the props, plus on powerboats you want as much weight forward as possible).
For a TI it's desirable to get as much weight into the rear as possible, and since I have a trailer I never remove my anchor at all, it just hangs on a simple rack above the rear of the boat back behind the boat and out of the way of everything. The anchor system is automatic so there is no fussing with getting it out of a hatch and it never touches the boat so it won't cut the boat up like most anchors do.
Here is a pic of my setup.
The toilet paper roll type holder on the motor mount is just a neat place to store 150 ft of anchor line. Before putting that on the anchor line would fill the whole rear passenger area of the boat and get all tangled up all the time.
We also have a standard grapple anchor that we keep stored in the forward hatch for when we anchor just off Egmont key with our powerboat friends (you can't touch the land in the protected areas). They get pissed when our boat bumps into other boats for some reason LOL.
The anchor is a Guardian G7 4 lb anchor that I bought at West marine, when I bought it the guy insisted that I absolutely had to have at least 12 ft of heavy chain rode on the anchor or it will not work at all. I said why would anyone sell a 4 lb anchor when you have to add 30 lbs of chain just to make it work, plus I explained I have a plastic boat and the chain would cut the boat to ribbons. He was really pissed that I didn't buy the chain. I said I would try it out and if I had any problems I would come back and buy the stupid chain from him. That was a couple years ago and I have used the anchor probably a hundred times now in all kinds of conditions and bottoms, and have not had any problems yet. We always follow the anchor line down to the bottom when we dive anyway, and that's the first thing we always check to make sure the anchor is set correctly. Our ladder is at the rear of the boat so it's handy to line up holding onto the anchor line waiting for everyone to get back on the boat (otherwise the gulf stream current takes you away)
The bracket is just lashed onto the top of the deck with spectra string, I got the 3/4 sq x 3ft alum tubing at Lowes and just drilled a couple holes in it (pretty simple). We just release the line to drop the anchor and haul it back in, it automatically raises and lowers clear of the boat and behind it.
I'm pretty sure this is not anyone elses cup of tea, but it works for us. I never had any luck with grapple anchors or smaller anchors in general down here.
Hope this gives you some ideas.
Bob
I've never had the anchor off since putting it on the boat, I just bungy it to keep it from swinging when on the highway.