Drag Chain

One great features of the Jackson Liksa is the built in drag chain troughs on other side of the boat, along with a large pass through at the stern that doubles as a handle. Utilizing a drag chain is a great way to slow down or completely stop your boat while floating a river with out worrying about deploying a typical claw type anchor which will catch on pretty much anything laying at the bottom of the river. This system is exactly what it sounds like, you are dragging a length of chain on a rope behind your kayak, but even though the chances of the chain snagging is extremely low you can make a simple modification that, short of getting the chain wedged into a rock will make getting stuck almost impossible. All you will need is a bike inner tube, some zipties (its not a kayak mod with out them), a carabiner, and your preferred length of chain.

First step is to figure out what length of chain you want to use. I decided to go with about 24” of chain because it just looked about right. How much does it weigh? I have no idea, but if I need extra weight I’ll double up with 2 separate 24” lengths.  

Next lay out your inner tube and cut it about 2 inches longer that the chain. This will keep the chain loose inside the rubber allowing it to slide over the bottom contours, rocks, trees, and whatnot easier. 

Once you have cut it to length, slide the chain inside the tube and get it about in the middle with equal-ish extra material on either end and attach the tube to the chain with zipties. Remember to clip the carabiner to one end to make attaching the anchor to your rope easier. This also allows you to add multiple chains together on the same rope. The easies way to connect the tube and chain is stab though the rubber with a screwdriver and slipping the zip tie in and synching it down tight. 

On the end with the carabiner you don’t have to pierce the rubber tube, instead I just placed the zip tie around the base of the clip allowing full access to the entire carabiner. 

After the carabiner is attached you’re all done with this simple modification. Now you can drift down your local river or stream slower spending more time fishing and less time worrying about getting your anchor hung up.

– James Schlingmann