ThanksGiving

raybo3

Happy and safe ThanksGiving everyone at the RBOC

Black_Diamond

Babyboomer

Happy Thanksgiving

Michael T

Safe travels (in this weather) to our American brothers and a Happy Thanks Giving to you and your families. MT

bat32

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. May all your bellies be full today!!!!

TikiHut2

Out on the hook for black friday. Hi in the 70s sunny and breezy. I'd post a pic of my view but it wouldn't be fair to my northern frinds. Got a full price offer on our farm this morning and needed some boat time to get a grip on the changes coming our way. We're shopping for a house with a dock. Nothing too fancy but the dock has to be nice : D

Everybody came to the house for Tday and was shocked that we're moving. I guess I am too. Better get thankful insted of anxious. Happy Tday weekend everyone. Mike

Michael T

Congratulations Mike! The dock will change EVERYTHING! I've been fortunate to be living on water with a dock at various locations for 30 years. I'm sure your farm (with that huge workshop) was fantastic, but it will be amazing to have your boat tied-up at your house! Best of luck searching! Please post some pics when you seal the deal! MT

raybo3

Congrat's Mike it will be awesome to wake up in the morn look out the window and look at the boat.

TikiHut2

Thanks guys. Ill post a couple pics from our weekend on the water when I get back to a computer. Theyll be a great example of why we all love our time on the boat. Seems like the more time I spend onboard, the more I appreiciate what a great value we have in boating as a lifestyle. Thankful for that for sure.

Black_Diamond

Just to make you feel better on the hook in FL....it is sunny here in MI too.

Black_Diamond

Nope. All wood. Railings are mahogony. Just like a boat though, the sun kills the finish no matter what you do. So probably going to replace them with syn wood next year.

Black_Diamond

We do get deer and turkeys in the 'yard'. Last 2 years a common wasting disease virus really took out the deer in our area though. Rifle season just ended yesterday, so I expect to see more out soon.

Michael T

Hey BD we've got lots of turkeys up here but you can't shoot them because they're driving cars in winter conditions and have no idea what to do. We do have plenty of friggin deer though. Like the turkeys they think they should be on the road too and make a **** of a mess when you hit one. Unlike you guys it's real hard for us up here to get guns so we have a h*ll of a time shooting either the turkeys or the deer. That's why I love the boating season - no friggin turkeys or deer on the waterways. Well, maybe a few turkeys - they drive sea rays, cruisers and chaparalls - you know - the ones with the chrome seat logos and leather dashes - "turkey mobiles". :-) MT

TikiHut2

Here's a few pics of our Turkey weekend on the hook as requested. The temps plunged down into the low 60's at night so all the canvas went on We're certainly thankful for the boating lifestyle that we all share....the quiet anchorages, sugar white sand and gin clear water is just the icing on the cake. You can find this little slice of heaven on Google earth at 27*20' N, 82* 35' W.  Cya there. Mike



This crowded anchorage is so stressful......NOT.




A warm spot for the Admiral and the beast...




An end to a great Turkey day weekend

Michael T

Mike, you're killing us! :-) MT

TikiHut2

They call this inlet, New Pass because it didn't exist until about 1920 when a hurricane blew a hole in the barrier islands. Seeing the beautiful white sandy beaches John Ringling the circus baron was quick to build a Ritz Carlton hotel right where my stern anchor is set.



Unfortunately he never got it finished when the market crash came and it sat as a half finished derilect until the '60s when it was torn down. So there it is. Every 100 yrs or so it'll repeat but instead of a few mullet fishermen and an optimistic Circus land speculator the island is now covered with the richest zip code in the whole state. It'll be interesting.

jmoen438

Nice pics Mike, the one of the Admiral and the beast is a classic.

BoatAway

congrats on the farm offer! huge!!!

with a dock, it's only a matter of time before you go bigger. fine with me.. more room when I come visit...

TikiHut2

The light's always on when you want a break from that beltway crowd. Come on down.

rasbury

Mike- I tried to put the coordinates in google earth to see where you were at...is there a way to do that? I don't have a degrees symbol!  Also, in the one picture it looks like your anchor is straight down...does that hold the boat or just a quick stop? I always freak out when I anchor my boat that it will not hold and it will end up on shore before I can get to it!   When your beach side, do you use two anchors to make sure your holding? Another thing that  will worry me staying on the hook, when the tide changes and the boat swings, will the anchor pull loose and have to re set itself? If a storm blows in, also concerned that I'll be up on the shore before I know what hit me! When I've gone to Cayo Costa and anchored off beach side, I last about 10 mins. on shore and then I'm back making sure the anchor is holding..hard to have fun when your so concerned about the anchor!

TikiHut2

Ras, zoom out on Google earth or any nav software and look for the coordinates to change when you move your mouse pointer. or just search for the Chart House restaurant on S Longboat key and zoom south to the bridge between Longboat and Lido key. That's where we were in that basin.

The bow anchor in the pics is out about 50' but the chain hangs straight down unless it's under tension. Yes I always use two anchors on-shore but only one overnight or in a mooring field.

Doing a stern-to anchorage is easy once you see it done. Basically it's one continuous sequence with a few things happening all at once. I'll have already prepped the stern anchor on the swim platform,  While backing down I continually let the bow anchor pay out as I slowly back down. As I get close to shore with the boats momentum still moving us closer I'll first shut the engine down and then tilt the drive fully up. Just as the drive gently touches the shore the admiral or I will cast the stern anchor ashore, set it, then let run back out a few feet and then gently tension the bow anchor. It won't move until you're ready.

Anchoring out is a whole other lesson that takes more room to explain than we have here. Basically the absolute #1 rule is having good ground tackle for a good nights sleep. I use a 10kg Rocna with 30' of chain and 150' of rode. I set the anchor in my chosen hole for the night after anticipating any expected weather/tide, back it down to set it well at about 6:1 (rode to depth) and always tie it off to a cleat at the bow rather than ride on the windless.

Set an anchor watch on your chartplotter if you're a nervous guy or if you expect problems from weather or a muddy anchorage. Cayo Costa/pelican Cove is a perfect hole which is why it's so popular with long distance cruisers and locals alike. Gotta run. Mike

rasbury

lot to learn about this and if I'm going to be comfortable doing it...when you say backing down I assume you mean backing up the boat....then the other worst fear I have in saltwater is waking up with the tide out and can't get out of where I'm at!  I guess crap is going to happen and experience will teach me how to deal with it....

rasbury

and I assume once you through your stern anchor out there to pull back out to set the bow anchor, your dong that with the motor and not the windlass? I assume the windlass should not be used for anything other than raising the anchor when freed and you motor up to where the anchor is set pulling in the slack line as you go and then manually free the anchor and then pull up with the windlass? If the boat I'm looking at goes through, it has a radar on it, not sure how much use that is.....I hope it has a chart plotter but did not ask...I have a 541S Garmin on my boat now which seems to work pretty well although it does not have an anchor function on it!

rasbury

I also had been looking at on overtons a rode called an anchor buddy which looked pretty cool for inshore anchoring where you could pull the boat ashore and then let it "spring" back out....did not trust it for beach side with the waves but in shore looked like it would work pretty well!

rasbury

I looked at your anchor, when the tide spins you around, do you have to reset the anchor or will it kind of do that on it's own? I'm thinking when the boat spins 180 your in position to free the anchor at that point...

TikiHut2

Ok we're way off topic but to wrap it up, don't over think this but don't guess on the ground tackle either. A top tier anchor with enough rode will re-set without worry, and you'd never anchor where the current is ripping anyway. I just can't articulate the nuance of all that goes into finding the right spot and safely anchoring and it's a long ways from the original thread title anyway.

You're welcome to try and catch us for a few hrs on the water when we're out and you can get the basic run down and spend some time on a 270. Send me a PM and we'll swap phone numbers if you'd like to try. In the mean time buy this:
(LINK TO Chapmans seamanship and Piloting)

It's a book that every cruiser should own and one that I wish most weekend warriors would read too. Mike

Black_Diamond

Tiki..a flat Lake Michigan here, a few clouds and 16F this am. lol. Enjoy your warm day in FL!

TikiHut2

84* here today. Oddly warm but I see you guys are suffering so I won't fuss. No boating today. That I'll fuss about.  :-L

jmoen438

Ras, don't bother with the anchor buddy, my brother in law tried it and it was a complete PITA and didn't work well at all. I anchor the same way Tiki does and it works just fine.

rasbury

10-4, I will get it!

rasbury

As soon as I have my boat, and determined that will not be long, would love you meet up and get a better understanding of how everything on the boat works!