Anchor Alarm

[lpdsn]

Those that said the anchor alarm on the Garmin 158i GPS were right. I set it on a mooring buoy just for a trial, didn't even hear it when we dropped the buoy and only remembered the next day when I heard it as we left the visitors berth in a marina.

I used to rely on the alarm on the old GPS and now have to think of something new. I've OpenCPN on a tablet, so that's one option. Any descriptions of experience using that would be welcome. Has anyone tried the Watchdog plug-in?

Any other ideas? It's a Windows 10 tablet. Don't have smartphone, so an App on one of those would be no use.

 

[Caer Urfa]

Found anchor alarms unreliable sometimes so I always hit the weigh point button on the GPS as we drop anchor, that way you can see very easy if you are drifting as within
reason even with the wind/ tide you should be over it or closly circle it

 

[sailaboutvic]

Those that said the anchor alarm on the Garmin 158i GPS were right. I set it on a mooring buoy just for a trial, didn't even hear it when we dropped the buoy and only remembered the next day when I heard it as we left the visitors berth in a marina.

I used to rely on the alarm on the old GPS and now have to think of something new. I've OpenCPN on a tablet, so that's one option. Any descriptions of experience using that would be welcome. Has anyone tried the Watchdog plug-in?

Any other ideas? It's a Windows 10 tablet. Don't have smartphone, so an App on one of those would be no use.

Buy a cheap phone with GPS and download an good app you won't go far wrong.
You can find good second hand ones , it better then ending up on the rocks

 

[lpdsn]

Found anchor alarms unreliable sometimes so I always hit the weigh point button on the GPS as we drop anchor, that way you can see very easy if you are drifting as within
reason even with the wind/ tide you should be over it or closly circle it

I can tell very easily with transits when I'm awake but the hope was to get some sleep with an alarm that was good enough to wake me up. The old GPS was grand but the new one has a pretty inaudible alarm.

 

[windrose]

I use 2 hand held pmr radios, one on vox next to the gps. the other on the shelf by my head works a treat.

 

[Seajet]

Why not just use the depth sounder ?

Most modern sets have 2 alarms so one can set ' too shallow we may touch ' and ' too deep we may drag ' - LCD displays don't use much power and the alarms are usually loud.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Why not just use the depth sounder ?

Most modern sets have 2 alarms so one can set ' too shallow we may touch ' and ' too deep we may drag ' - LCD displays don't use much power and the alarms are usually loud.

This works depends on where you anchor , and it won't stop you dragging into another boat near by if the depth is the same .

 

[pathfinder]

I can tell very easily with transits when I'm awake but the hope was to get some sleep with an alarm that was good enough to wake me up. The old GPS was grand but the new one has a pretty inaudible alarm.

I have an old garmin 128 the built in alarm is not very loud but in the wiring harness there is a option for an external buzzer which I fitted remotely and is quite loud. There is a max current limit but the buzzer is well below that. Maybe that might be an option for you.

 

[sailaboutvic]

I can tell very easily with transits when I'm awake but the hope was to get some sleep with an alarm that was good enough to wake me up. The old GPS was grand but the new one has a pretty inaudible alarm.

It doesn't help you if there no transit around or if it pitch darkness .

 

[Seajet]

This works depends on where you anchor , and it won't stop you dragging into another boat near by if the depth is the same .

I have found the only times my boat moved unintentionally in early days - or more often when other boats have clobbered mine - is when the tidal calculations have been wrong; if a GPS position alarm has enough allowance for swinging to an anchor, surely it's going to require remarkable settings or luck to spot the difference between swinging around or dragging onto a neighbouring boat at a busy anchorage ?

 

[AngusMcDoon]

Why not just use the depth sounder ?

Most modern sets have 2 alarms so one can set ' too shallow we may touch ' and ' too deep we may drag ' - LCD displays don't use much power and the alarms are usually loud.

Because the depth instrument is usually in the cockpit & that's not where people sleep. It might work on a 22' boat, but isn't going to on a 40' boat. Anyway, your last rant on this subject you disapproved of using electronics for anchor watching because it wouldn't make you aware of what's happening with other boats in the anchorage. Have you changed your views?

 

[sailaboutvic]

I have found the only times my boat moved unintentionally in early days - or more often when other boats have clobbered mine - is when the tidal calculations have been wrong; if a GPS position alarm has enough allowance for swinging to an anchor, surely it's going to require remarkable settings or luck to spot the difference between swinging around or dragging onto a neighbouring boat at a busy anchorage ?

I wasn't talking about swinging circles , more in the case where a boat drags a distance still in the same depth of water .
It's not the first time we seen boats that are anchored Say in six mts drag forty ,fifty or even sixty mts and still be in the same depth .
As it happen we know of one boat who drag near a quarter of a mile before he woke up after some one chased him .

 

[Seajet]

Because the depth instrument is usually in the cockpit & that's not where people sleep. It might work on a 22' boat, but isn't going to on a 40' boat. Anyway, your last rant on this subject you disapproved of using electronics for anchor watching because it wouldn't make you aware of what's happening with other boats in the anchorage. Have you changed your views?

Oh, it's woken up.

If you ever properly read anything I've ever said about electronics, one instrument I have always been in total favour of is the depthsounder - or fishfinder.

On a 40' boat why wouldn't they be able to manage a repeater by the chart table, it's rather useful for navigating, I'd have thought you would have known that as you reckon to know everything else.

As it happens my boat has 2 separate systems as that was the same price as one and a repeater, so this way I get a spare system if one should pack up for whatever reason; a sounder with a display in the cockpit, and a swing out / in instrument panel with a fishfinder display on it readable from below with the hatch shut.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

As it happens my boat has 2 separate systems as that was the same price as one and a repeater, so this way I get a spare system if one should pack up for whatever reason; a sounder with a display in the cockpit, and a swing out / in instrument panel with a fishfinder display on it readable from below with the hatch shut.

So if you are down below with the hatch shut at anchor monitoring the depth on one of your multiple depth sounder how are you going to know if a nearby boat is dragging onto you or a one paddled dinghy occupant is getting wooshed past & out to sea? I do believe you wrote this only last week...

That's jolly impressive; how does it monitor other boats dragging or clashing with one's own, or other people who could do with a hand

 

[sailaboutvic]

So if you are down below with the hatch shut at anchor monitoring the depth on one of your multiple depth sounder how are you going to know if a nearby boat is dragging onto you or a one paddled dinghy occupant is getting wooshed past & out to sea? I do believe you wrote this only last week...

Now now ladies

 

[RupertW]

Oh, it's woken up.

If you ever properly read anything I've ever said about electronics, one instrument I have always been in total favour of is the depthsounder - or fishfinder.

On a 40' boat why wouldn't they be able to manage a repeater by the chart table, it's rather useful for navigating, I'd have thought you would have known that as you reckon to know everything else.

As it happens my boat has 2 separate systems as that was the same price as one and a repeater, so this way I get a spare system if one should pack up for whatever reason; a sounder with a display in the cockpit, and a swing out / in instrument panel with a fishfinder display on it readable from below with the hatch shut.

42 foot boat - we have a bog standard raymarine depth/speed display in the cockpit and I hear the alarm every time it goes off at night even though we sleep in one of the forecabins. Possibly because I think I sleep with one ear open when at anchor.

In most anchorages the shallow/deep alarm works for us as I can set it to a meter above or below the current depth as there are no tides. There are only a few places where you can move a lot without changing depth at all - but in those we alas usually have a lot of boats around so I would be woken up by hitting them before any GPS alarm would go off as winds tend to go round the clock between dusk and dawn.

 

[Seajet]

So if you are down below with the hatch shut at anchor monitoring the depth on one of your multiple depth sounder how are you going to know if a nearby boat is dragging onto you or a one paddled dinghy occupant is getting wooshed past & out to sea? I do believe you wrote this only last week...

Again you are misquoting me and not reading or quoting the full context of what I said about anchor watches; which was that in a really severe blow I'd keep an anchor WATCH out for the sake of my and other boats, depending on my crew strength.

The context we are dscussing here is anchoring in normal conditions and using monitoring systems; but rest assured I'd still have a look out of the hatch every so often.

-----

Maybe I'm old fashioned but I still think a depthsounder visible from the chart table is a very good idea, it certainly was for the blind pilotage part of my YM exam; I suppose if one normally sails with a crew of more than 3 you could get someone to yell the depth readings to you at the chart table - yes I'm talking about when the plotter fails...

 

[Lucky Duck]

The plotter failing but other electronic kit at the chart table still being ok seems a unusual set of circumstances but not impossible I suppose.

 

[Seajet]

I agree but knowing sod's law and being a firm believer in paper chart backup it seems odd to me not to have a depthsounder by the chart table - if the plotter is a ' head down ' display on a binnacle etc which I'm a bit dubious about; with self descipline it's great but all too easy to become fixated on and not looking out.

Also in rough stuff anyone trying to navigate properly may want to be shut below out of the wind & weather, another reason I have a swing out panel with plotter, radar & fishfinder on it.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

Maybe I'm old fashioned but I still think a depthsounder visible from the chart table is a very good idea, it certainly was for the blind pilotage part of my YM exam; I suppose if one normally sails with a crew of more than 3 you could get someone to yell the depth readings to you at the chart table - yes I'm talking about when the plotter fails...

Must be all of 3' from the chart table to the cockpit on a 22' boat.