Cover Update: Anchor man

Cover Update: Anchor man

For Mike Moran, a 56-year-old boat repair specialist and entrepreneur who invented an environmentally friendly anchor, 2007 will be the year that his product started gaining some statewide and national momentum.

The patented, galvanized or stainless steel device, which releases and digs in quickly and doesn't tear up seabeds or coral going in or out of the water, has brought manufacturers, distributors and a national retailer, West Marine, knocking on his corporate door at Hunter Anchors in New Port Richey.

Even state government, the Department of Natural Resources, has taken notice and may want to put the anchors on its boats.

The market is huge, even just in Florida. More than a million registered boats and about 3 million fishing fans call the state home.

Moran, who moved to Pasco County in 1990, patented the anchor in November 2005 after a seven-year process.

"The bottom line is that it's catching on," Moran says. "Other anchor manufacturers want to make my anchor and distribute it."

Suncore Stainless, which sells its anchor to West Marine, wants to make Moran's anchor and sent a representative over to talk to Moran about it this month.

West Marine, which has grown to be the largest marine retailer, is also interested in the product. "My problem is making them fast enough," Moran says.

As a result, Moran has added four workers at his New Port Richey manufacturing center this year.

The key difference between Moran's anchor and his competition is blade design. Moran's anchor fits more easily into anchor lockers in boats. Throw it in the water and it grabs the bottom quickly.

Tested against a plow-design anchor, which lays on its side, the plow anchor drags 10 to 20 feet before digging in. The Hunter Anchor drags two feet.

Moran has worked in the marine business for 37 years. Originally from Michigan, his parents moved to Florida in 1958.

He lived in the Florida Keys for 20 years and worked in his dad's boat propeller shop and worked on marine patrol boats.

Hunter Anchors have been on the market for about 1½ years. They sell for $129 to $6000, depending on the boat size. That's about 18% to 20% more than competing anchors. But Moran's product has a lifetime guarantee and performs differently.

As an efficiency move, Moran has gone to laser cutting in manufacturing instead of a plasma torch, which uses an electrical arc. Like he helped his father, Moran's 18-year-old son, Hunter, now helps his dad in a marine business.

Their timing, with a growing emphasis on environmentalism globally, is something Moran has thought about.

"People are going fishing or boating, tearing holes in the bottom of the sea," he says. "We're going to be eliminating a lot of that."

-Dave Szymanski