Drift anchor feedback

So, after spending quite a few hours searching this site and a few others, I decided to fab up a drift anchor for my newly acquired t13. I used the basic idea in Insayn's setup, but without the metal fabbing skills I decided to go with other materials.

 The tube is 1 1/2" sched 40 pvc, sanded and painted to match.For the bracket, I used a cheap-o shelf bracket, cut and drilled appropriately.

 The attachment point on the top of the rudder bracket is a piece of scrap metal pushed through two slots drilled in the pvc and screwed into the rudder bracket.

The pulley is held in place by the washers packed into either side, and a nylock nut. There is about an 1/8th" clearance on the top, and the apex of the pulley wheel is set back about a 1/2" from the end of the pvc to keep the line from jumping out of the pulley. There is a notch cut out of the bottom of the pvc to accommodate the anchor knot so the anchor can be snugged up tight and will clear the water.

 I got to test it out this weekend on a couple local rivers, and everything worked great. I can deploy and retrieve the anchor with one hand, and the ten pound pyramid was more than enough to hold me anywhere that I was comfortable anchoring.
   My questions pertain to the strength of the well nuts used on the rudder mounts. The only one I am worried about is the top back screw, as this point seems to take the most stress, esp. when pulling the anchor straight up and out of the water. The top mount doesn't provide much lateral support, and I'm wondering if I could be causing myself problems down the road by not using all four of the screws on the back to spread the load out a little more. Everything feels sturdy enough, nice and tight and I don't think it's too much pressure, but I don't really know how strong the rudder mount itself is. So, any opinions out there?
Thanks, Jonah

I would think that you could reduce the leverage on the vertical mount by shortening the length of the tube itself.  Bring the tip (pulley end) back far enough to still give the pyramid some room to swing and miss the yak.  The vertical screws are the pivot point (mostly the top one), and if you can reduce the overall leverage, you should be good to go.

If that doesn't work as figured, I'd suggest just making a metal plate that screws to all 4 well nuts, and attach your shelf bracket to that plate. This will spread out the load.

Are you sure your location is not Cape Meares?   

Your set-up looks pretty good!  I like the recessed pulley. 

- What's the reasoning for the angled, oversized washers on the two screws at the end?

- Do you find your weight drags in the water when moving between spots?

First off, thank you spelling officer demonnick, sometimes my fingers go faster than my brain . The washers help stop the tube from sliding sideways on the bar, it looks pretty  ,I know. The anchor clears the water while I'm moving, not by much though. Less than an inch, which is why the tube is so long. There is a slight upward angle (kick) to the bracket, so longer tube = more clearance. An earlier incarnation had a much shorter tube to reduce the leverage, but the anchor was dragging in the water. Thanks for the input on this hokey prototype, there is much more refinement and testing to be done. If the rivers keep dropping, I'll hopefully be doing some testing this weekend. Can't wait to get that first steelhead on the kayak!

I saw right away what the washers were for, as they both are used to push the tube into center.  Another option to reduce the screw height (shear factor), would be to glue on a 4 way coupler, and slice the two apposing sides at a 45º angle towards the boat.  Then drill and screw the coupler down to the well nuts. 

Also, you can rotisserie your section of tube over your BBQ to evenly heat it to allow for a smooth upward bend to be put in it.  Cool it rapidly with water and you can then hack off what you need to still keep the upward kick, yet lower the leverage on the shelf bracket.