First Overnight on the Hook

Willhound

Starting our second season with our 270. The Admiral is a nervous sort and it took me all of last year to ensure she was comfortable enough with everything to spend a night out other than in a marina. Had it lined up for early fall and the weather turned.
Well, finally tomorrow night is the night. New anchor rode and chain, lots of planning, switched all lighting to LED to conserve battery. Finally made her understand how the battery switch isolates the starting battery. The head and shower are working ok. Have a ditch plan discussed and emergency procedures ready.
Truth be told, where we will likely anchor is only a half an hour from our marina and with a shallow sandy bottom that if things go sideways we could literally walk to shore.
Baby steps I guess....

04FV270riverrat

I'm assuming no genny, I'm anxious to hear about battery life on the hook overnight with radio/fridge etc running.

J3ff

I've got two of these batteries (Homedepot 100 bucks) as my house batteries and then a different battery as a starting... 


Have left my fridge on by accident for entire weekends and the thing is still on when I get there. 

1 day and night is not even a problem with these things! I actually never really use the starting battery as these two seem to do fine ! 

Willhound

04FV270riverrat said:

I'm assuming no genny, I'm anxious to hear about battery life on the hook overnight with radio/fridge etc running.

Correct, no genny.
I have two decent Type 31 house batteries wired in parallel as per @j3ff's suggestion. Drinks in a cooler, food in the fridge. I also use a CPAP and have a 12 volt version that runs all night. Replaced all cabin and cockpit lights as well as transom and anchor light with LED's.
I did a test last week where I spent the night at the marina but turned off the shore power/battery charger. About 4 hours of tunes, fridge on, cockpit lights on, CPAP and fridge on all night. When I shut off the charger at around 7 p.m. I was showing 12.8 volts on a digital meter I have plugged into my 12V accessory plug. When I checked at 8 the next morning I was still showing 12.4V.
The only new variable is that I have since installed a new kick a$$ stereo with 1000 Watt amp that will eat more juice than the old stocker, but it won't be blasting.
Depending on how it works out I will be deciding whether to invest in a portable inverter genny or not.

reneechris14

When I had my 270 I would make it about 30ish hours on one battery for an over night. Did a lot of camping pryer to boating so we're used to conserving on lights and water. I would anchor up about noon and be able to start motor in the morning with our changing battery switch.

LaRea

Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life.  Your superior officer will wonder why she was ever apprehensive about it.  

Gregg

@ willhound were are you staying out ? Going your way tomorrow. 

Willhound

Gregg said:

@ willhound were are you staying out ? Going your way tomorrow. 

Trying to keep options open but if the boss has her way, likely between Fox Island and Georgina. Had also thought of over by Beaverton but not as familiar a spot.

jhofmann

Have spent several nights on the hook on my 2000, 242FV using 1 group 27 deepcycle house battery for 12v fridge, tunes and air inflater during the day, 12v fridge, anchor light (non led), fan and cabin light ( non led ) at night with no issue, even able to start the engine on the house battery the next day without switching to group 24 starting battery. I do however crank up the fridge on shore power the nght before to get everything cold as possible on shore power, then back down to around 3 on battery to keep cold. I always carry a charged jump-pak just in case. Cheap insuance that comes in handy elsewhere.

Willhound

Had a great day cruising. A fantastic lunch and now anchored for the night. Admiral was so impressed with conditions that instead of being a few miles from the Marina we are 25 miles across the lake. Tucked in to the lee side for what is forecasted to be a light 3 knot NNE wind switching around to ENE around midnight but no increase in speed. Found a spot off of a Provincial park so no built up areas. Only boat here but that could change as it can be a popular spot. Cheers!

LaRea

Pretty spot!  Hope you guys have a great night.  There's nothing like waking up on the hook.  

rasbury

Cheers!

reneechris14

nothing like being on hook!!

Willhound

Morning has broken. Coffee first. Report later.

jhofmann

NICE!! Just got the same setup to make coffee for this year. Nothing like waking up with water all around you.

Dream_Inn

Very nice!  As LaRea said, it will be the first day of the rest of your life!  Overnighting on the hook is the best!!

Stodge

Now that I'm done with the weekend land trips we'll be back to anchoring out.  It is pretty amazing to wake up to the sun rising on the water.

Willhound

All in all a successful first night out. No issues, except for me waking up about 4 times to go above and check the anchor. The wind shifted around during the night and strengthened to about 8 knots, much higher than the 3 or 4 showing in the forecast. My anchor set was good and we didn't budge. I used the Anchor Watch app on my phone rather than leaving the plotter on all night and it worked great, but **** battery with the phone GPS being on all night, I was down to about 5% battery by morning. After coffee and breakfast we decided to run into the Port of Orillia to look around and have lunch. We didn't realize until we arrived that it was the annual in-water boat and cottage show so we took that in too. Picked up some new dock lines and the Admiral found some new boat shoes she liked.
I installed a new stereo, amp and LED speakers over the past week so we got to try those out. As far as battery usage, my little digital meter was showing 12.8 volts when we anchored at around 5 P.M. and when we weighed anchor in the morning it was down to 12.1 volts. This is with using the stereo for about 4 hours, anchor light on, fridge on, my CPAP running for about 8 hours. I used the house batteries to open the hatch for a morning inspection and to run the blower and things ran a little slow, switching to start battery and the blower picked up and we started without any issues. A few pics startig with my new speakers. 6 colours available and in different combinations. They flash, chase, blink and generally provide a nice cockpit lighting. Sound pretty good too!



Port of Orillia. Great facility, if anyone is ever doing the Trent Severn you have to stop here. Downtown with shopping and restaurants within a short walk.


This is our favourite pub/restaurant in Orillia, about 200 yards from the shore. Had a big fire last January but the re-built it and it was slated to open this coming week.


Some of the booths at the show with my 270 in the background.

Someone even came in by float plane to check things out and then a few shots of a gorgeous Silverton that came in. Loved the name "Eat, Drink and Re-Marry"!

A few more pics of the on-water boat show.


So, a little off topic from the original thread on anchoring out, but part of the trip. The whole run was about 70 miles, we essentially circled Lake Simcoe. Burnt about 25 USG of fuel. We will definitely anchor out again. It was a great experience. We are very social people and enjoy docking at a marina at night where we can meet other boaters and visit the local night spots, but the night out by ourselves was good too and very relaxing. A lot cheaper on the wallet also.