Anchors
Lesson 2
Buy & Source Your Gear
Back to: Gear Prep
Create a Gear List
Think of your gear list as your farm’s shopping list for the season. On it, you’ll want to include all of the different components of your arrays. In the Gear Selection course, we laid out the common selections for each of the main gear components (anchors, lines, buoys, and hardware) and discussed which factors you should keep in mind when selecting each of these items. If you skipped over these lessons, you might want to click back to review before you start shopping.
Be sure to include
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Lines
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Buoys
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Hardware
If you’ve used the Farm Design Tool to create your farm plan, there is an auto-generated gear list in the Gear & Setup Budget tab that gives you a price estimate for unit cost based on industry averages, researched in 2021 (be sure to factor into account recent changes in price due to supply chain challenges and inflation!). If you’ve designed your farm elsewhere, write out a list of all the components of your system that you’ll need to put your arrays together.
Tools of the trade
Besides the main gear components of your farm, there are a few useful tools you’ll want to have on hand and in your back pocket when you prep, assemble, and deploy your gear.
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Fid
A cone-shaped tool used to separate the lay of a line, commonly used for splicing.
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Vice grips
Used to hold a seed spool while outplanting, and useful for loosening stuck shackles and hardware.
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Electrical tape
Prevents line from unraveling after being cut, if first wrapped around the part of the line that will be cut; useful in wet environments.
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Gloves
Used when handling rope or shellfish—barnacles and shells can easily cut through skin, and gloves can provide protection; insulated gloves are great in winter.
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Radio
A VHF radio can be used for communication when in an emergency situation or receiving weather reports (distress channel 16).
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Twine
Used to secure the seed string to the growline and lash loose tails.
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Zip ties
Used to temporarily secure loose seed string to line or keep an oyster bag closed. Some farmers use zip ties to secure all their seed string. GreenWave has found that it can chafe through and break, and we prefer to use a soft material, such as twine or surgical ties.
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Surgical tubing
Used to attach loose or broken seed string to the growline.
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Knife
A deck knife should be sharp and serrated, with a bright handle to easily spot on deck. Keep the knife in a sheath on a belt to prevent yourself from getting cut, and to have it easily accessible in case you fall in the water and need to cut a line to get loose.
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Seizing wire
Used to secure shackle pins by threading the wire through the hole on the pin and wrapping it back around one side of the shackle 2-3 times.
Tools of the Trade Photo Gallery
Pro Tip
Store these handy, everyday items in a 5-gallon bucket as a mobile toolkit you can easily transport on and off the boat. You can even add a screw-on top to keep it dry, or a tool-organizer to optimize space.