Captain YARRR

Hey everyone,

It is getting much nicer around Texas lately and I'm thinking I may want to do an overnight camping out in a cove. Lake Travis is a rocky bottom and even when watching it during the day, boats have a tendency to pop loose. So naturally an overnight causes me some alarm.

So what's your guys' methods to ensuring a good safe night of anchoring?

Currently my plan is to add a good amount of chain to the anchor on this new boat and make sure to let out a much longer rode than usual. Am I missing anything else?

Thanks!

low_psi

Get a box anchor from slideanchor.com and be done... My experience with the box anchor excellent. Once set, it is set until you get right on top of it.....

Dredd

I saw this app recently: DragQueen Anchor Alarm
I don't know how well it'll work but I welcome anything that might help me sleep a little better on the hook. Little else beats watching the sun go down with no place to be.

JJONES

we anchor off of catalina island alot. very deep and step. make sure you use an anchor rated for your size of boat, use good chain at least the length of your boat, once the anchor is set, drop a smaller anchor off the stern just to stop spinning or tie off to the shore.this only will work though if your the only boat. if there is others and they arnt tied off from the rear, youll need to move with the other boats.

Twin O/B Sonic

I just spent 4 nights on our boat (24') and two on the hook. Feed out a ton of line w/a fair amount of chain on it to be safe. I use 10'.
If you have decent a GPS on your boat it will have an anchor alarm if you drift beyond a certain distance from where you set the alarm. Mine is 164'. (164' sounds like a lot but lets you pivot around the anchor w/wind shifts w/o sounding an alarm)
I just bought two new Fortress aluminum anchors for my boat. I was hesitant based on how light they are and not being sure they wouldn't drag based on this but the tests said other wise.
I bought a small, easier to handle anchor during day, light conditions and as a 2nd off the transom and heavier as a main.
We had very strong wind the first day/night and I tried the small one as an experiment and it failed.
I kept feeding out line and re-setting the alarm until I hit max length (I think 50' + 10' chain) and it would not hold us in approx. 9' of water.
Switched to heavier anchor w/100' line + 10' chain (and wind died!) and never moved.
For over night on the hook, the key for me is to get it set in day light. Feed out what you feel is proper then go on the bow and see if you can pull it loose.
Works for me. BTW, I've done probably 50 nights on the hook in everything from perfect conditions to waking up in howling winds and 3' waves forcing us to move.

Perlmudder

I agree with everything above. Large enough anchor, the more chain the better, and lots of rode. If you do have an anchor alarm on your GPS that is the best thing. If you can, throw two anchors out around 50 feet apart from each other, one on each side of the wind heading, even better. I know a lot of private yacht captains that have spent thousands of nights on the hook, even with all the above done, everyone of them is still awake every 2 hours to check on everything. I would rather have a bad nights sleep checking everything every couple hours then a great night sleep and wake up on the rocks.

Uncle Dave

X2

A "big box off the front

One off the back.

Scope is HALF what a v or danforth needs and youre locked.


Uncle Dave

Twin O/B Sonic

I have a new anchor light that pulls way too many amps and kept killing the battery while in the Keys last week.
I could see from the V-berth, through the bow hatch when it went out. I'd get up to fire off motors and charge batteries.
Was counting the hrs until day break hoping to be done with it when it shut off the last time. Had another hr of darkness and knowing we were close to a busy ramp and harbor I knew.
As I was getting up for the 2nd or 3rd time I heard a fish boat fire up somewhere very close (in the dark) and haul ass past our boat!
A lower wattage bulb is on the to do list.

drejustice

Switch over to an LED anchor light. Bright and pulls less power.

Twin O/B Sonic

Great idea. This light was a combination of three that I grafted together to get what I wanted. I'll just swap out the head.
Thanks for reminding me of that. Funny too, I thought of that while looking at the ones on the two sail boats beside me that were clearly LED's.