Anchoring at night
I wanted to get some opinions from you all on this topic and how me and my wife spend our summer weekends just to make sure we are not doing anything dumb, dangerous, or different (USAF aircrew saying). We have a baby cruiser with a v-berth that we like to use. Our lake we boat on here in NM is over 2 hours away and we like to sleep on the boat at least one night, sometimes more to get the most out of the weekend. The boat has a windlass with a 15lb delta anchor and 20 feet of chain. We use two favorite coves that are small and keep the winds of NM off of us most nights. I set the anchor usually using a 1:5 or 1:7 ratio and depending where we are through out a stern anchor to keep the swinging to a minimal. Now for the questionable part, I don't usually wake up in the middle of the night to check our position unless the wind is bad, there is virtually never any traffic on the entire lake at night, so none in the coves that we frequent. I do have an automatic float switch for the bilge and am thinking of installing a high water level alarm just for comfort. Anyway I know not having someone on watch during the night when under way is a big no no on open water, but just wanted you guys opinion to see if we need to change our habits up.
I hope everyone has an excellent weekend, remember there is always a service member somewhere in the world away from his or her family on these weekends, please take a moment to think of them.
Joe
Comments
The chances of you getting a leak that your bilge pump won't keep up with are slim and none.
Anything bigger would be caused by something that would wake you up
Personally, I don't like stern anchors. I'd rather swing so the wind is always from the bow and the load is on the primary anchor.
there is an anchor alarm app you can download on your iOS device.
I have GPS with anchor alarm but I am going to set both just in case. we are also on a lake with nice coves to stay protected.
We stay on the hook often and always set a stern anchor. If it's windy I set two stern anchors, one angled out port and the other angled out starboard and set my anchor alarm on my chartplotter. I make sure that the anchor light is on and then we enjoy the night. If you're worried about springing a leak, then you shouldn't own a boat....lol.
Your fine with what your doing, don't worry about it and have fun.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dragqueen-anchor-alarm/id489294173?mt=8
Andy
sail boaters hate stern anchors, I always set one. Swinging is not a problem, but breaking loose and moving while it resets is something I don't like. I like to stay where I want to be.