Leaving a boat unattended at anchor

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jdc

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I want to leave my boat for ~10 days where there's no port or organised moorings, in order to go hiking. (I did post this on another thread as an aside, but don't want to hijack the OP's interesting thread, hence this is a new one.)

It will be in a reasonably sheltered creek, I expect a gale every few days, there will be katabatic gusts, and if we get back to find the boat gone or wrecked we would have a long, hungry and possibly dangerous hike out. But to remain on board too frightened to explore ashore would be to miss the point of sailing to remote places.

So what would you do?
- Equipment: what does one need in addition to the 2, 3 or even 4 anchor systems one normally carries?
- Method: Tandem anchoring, mooring or 'Hurricane hole' type cobweb of lines ashore and (possibly drying) mud berth?

If I take advice published by Bradney, a permanent mooring for a 42' boat needs only 2 x 35kg mooring anchors (70kg, and I've got >70kg of anchors already) , plus 25mm stud-link chain (so ~200kg) plus a riser which could just be my normal anchor chain. This is do-able, although I'd prefer to carry less heavy ground chain, saving about 100kg (perspective: we carry about 1 tonne of fuel, water and stores).

Anyone done this / got relevant experience?
 
I used to keep my 34 footer permanently on a 3x25kg bruce star-two off shore at at about 130 degrees between and one onshore.
I left them all with tripping lines and little net buoys.
This was at the head of Loch Duich in the northwest highlands where it survived some pretty horrendous gales during 3 years there with no problem plus the funneling effect of the surrounding mountains.
True there was the odd fisherman who kept an eye on things but never had a problem until a shackle dropped a pin and that was something completely different.
Ground chain joining the anchors was 10 mm which will take a snatch load of as I recall about one ton at full stretch-each chain was about 80 foot and it was very unlikely that one chain would take all the load.My riser was primarily one inch multiplait seasteel polyprop.
After three years there was hardly any wear on the riser or the mooring warp which was protected over the bow roller with that clear reinforced plastic tubing.
Great thing about 1 inch seasteel or similar is that it has a breaking strain of about 12 tons so you could hang my ten ton of boat on it.Plus I carry a 300 foot length on board which probably weighs under 20 kg
Useful to have some idea of snatch load your boat can generate-using Earl Hinzs book Anchoring and mooring I estimate mine with quite a high freeboard in twenty foot waves plus hurricane force winds can generate about 1.5 tons.
You might gather from this that I am a total convert to plastic rope as opposed to chain which rusts and has to be of a hell of a size and weight to get the same strength as rope.
Finally this reminds me of a beautiful watercolour circa 1830s of the Erebus and Terror weathering a gale in Hudsons Bay on their first visit to the Arctic-the pic shows one on the boats held on two thick warps in very high seas with the warps at full stretch.
Remember recently seeing a picture of some of the big warps they carried on their final trip with Franklin-preserved on a beach in permafrost where they had been offloaded back in the 1840s.
 
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Sadly, I often feel too insecure to leave SR alone at anchor. Even if just a few hours walk over the dunes, I am always relieved to return & find she's still where I left her.

But then I did once land on an island with the family & notice that she was moving just a little further away with each wave as I watched. I have never rowed an inflatable so fast in my life! But that was just due to anchoring on a steeply shelving beach with too short a scope.
 
ksutton said:
Not sure if this video has been posted on here or not, but it shows the risks expected and involved of leaving a yacht unattended at anchor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6gMDlTTN6A&feature=g-hist
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that; I was very literally on the edge of my seat !

Diabolical boat handling, maybe a clue as to how they ended in such a predicament, though not as to how they reached Pitcairn ! :eek:

Edit; Does anyone know if the boat was saved ?
 
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jdc said:
I want to leave my boat for ~10 days where there's no port or organised moorings, in order to go hiking. (I did post this on another thread as an aside, but don't want to hijack the OP's interesting thread, hence this is a new one.)

It will be in a reasonably sheltered creek, I expect a gale every few days, there will be katabatic gusts, and if we get back to find the boat gone or wrecked we would have a long, hungry and possibly dangerous hike out. But to remain on board too frightened to explore ashore would be to miss the point of sailing to remote places.

So what would you do?
- Equipment: what does one need in addition to the 2, 3 or even 4 anchor systems one normally carries?
- Method: Tandem anchoring, mooring or 'Hurricane hole' type cobweb of lines ashore and (possibly drying) mud berth?

If I take advice published by Bradney, a permanent mooring for a 42' boat needs only 2 x 35kg mooring anchors (70kg, and I've got >70kg of anchors already) , plus 25mm stud-link chain (so ~200kg) plus a riser which could just be my normal anchor chain. This is do-able, although I'd prefer to carry less heavy ground chain, saving about 100kg (perspective: we carry about 1 tonne of fuel, water and stores).

Anyone done this / got relevant experience?
Click to expand...

I have no experience of this, so the following musing's are worthless but sod it:

Cobweb of lines sounds pretty foolproof to me but, failing that, might the water be clearish with a few boulders or even the odd protuding rock? Or even one boulders? If so, big loop of chain over a large boulder and a swivel at some point and you're safe as houses in my view.
 
Every summer for the past few years, I have left our 36ft ketch, for a month in the Outer Hebrides. I choose a well sheltered site, with known (to me) good clean holding.

My everyday anchor is a genuine 20kg Bruce, on 10mm chain. My second anchor is a genuine 20 kg Danforth, with 5mm of 12mm chain, and then 18mm nylon.

Using the above equipment, I arrange a Bahamian Moor, where each anchor has a scope of about 8 x depth minimum. I normally lay the Danforth first, and use the engine to make absolutely sure that it has an immovable grip. I then fasten a temporary extension to its warp, which allows me to get the bow into position to drop the second anchor. Having dropped the Bruce, I then pull back to the centre position, and make sure that the Bruce is also immovable.

I have made up a device which looks a bit like an inverted saucer, which consists of two halves which bolt together. This clamps onto the chain, with the smooth side upwards. The nylon warp can now be attached to a large shackle, placed round the chain, and resting on the saucer. You could just tie the nylon round the chain, but I prefer the saucer. The anchor chain is then lowered until the saucer etc is probably just above the seabed at LW. I sometimes also attach an Angel or "Chum", below the saucer.

This system ensures that the angle of pull on the anchors cannot change appreciably. I should also say that I attach short tripping lines with small buoys to each anchor.

This system, which takes some time to rig, and even longer to recover, gives me the confidence to leave our boat, unattended, in a fairly challenging area, without excessive worry.

So my advice would be to choose a good site, and take the time to do it properly, and go and enjoy.
 
I must be the nervous sort but I am never fully at ease when I leave the boat unattended at anchor. Much as I love getting ashore to explore I always feel that the boat is vulnerable and ideally this is about as far as I like to stray when I leave her
a1068-1.jpg

So I would be happy to stop for lunch in the hills above an anchorage but I definitely would not want to leave her overnight.
I suppose one of my main concerns is human intervention - if there are scroats about they may well notice that a boat is unattended after a few days and then come back to loot her -I suppose it depends on whereabouts you are cruising. There is also the risk that someone else will come in and drop too close to you or with inadequate ground tackle and then drag down onto your boat in the night -:eek: . Another worry is the safety of the dingy on the beach - if vandals or thieves appear you could have a bit of a swim out to the mothership. I would not worry too much about the anchors draging - I think two heavy anchors in a V are probably as secure as many mooring blocks. Chafe would be a concern however and I would not rely on rope on the sea bed - chain for me.

Robin
Pleiades of Birdham
MXWQ5
 
A good rule of thumb. at least 1 Lb of anchor for every foot of boat. 3x depth if all chain in good weather 5 times if bad. for a mix of rope and chain at least 5 x depth. realy depends where you intend to leave boat. and what the holding is like.
 
As regards insurance for anchoring, using two anchors to "moor" is a different operation from simple anchoring. Quite a number of official moorings actually use anchors and chains, especially in very tidal locations. I suppose policies probably use caveats such as "authorised mooring area" and "moorings contractor", or maybe not?

On a practical basis given the right location, holding and gear I don't see why long term mooring shouldn't be OK.
 
Pleiades said:
I must be the nervous sort but I am never fully at ease when I leave the boat unattended at anchor. Much as I love getting ashore to explore I always feel that the boat is vulnerable and ideally this is about as far as I like to stray when I leave her
a1068-1.jpg

So I would be happy to stop for lunch in the hills above an anchorage but I definitely would not want to leave her overnight.
I suppose one of my main concerns is human intervention - if there are scroats about they may well notice that a boat is unattended after a few days and then come back to loot her -I suppose it depends on whereabouts you are cruising. There is also the risk that someone else will come in and drop too close to you or with inadequate ground tackle and then drag down onto your boat in the night -:eek: . Another worry is the safety of the dingy on the beach - if vandals or thieves appear you could have a bit of a swim out to the mothership. I would not worry too much about the anchors draging - I think two heavy anchors in a V are probably as secure as many mooring blocks. Chafe would be a concern however and I would not rely on rope on the sea bed - chain for me.

Robin
Pleiades of Birdham
MXWQ5
Click to expand...

I'm with you all the way Robin; if I leave my boat anchored at say Studland - where swing on the tide turn is minimal - I am forever keeping an eye, and from the garden of the Bankes Arms I'll select a spot with a view of the boat and fidget until I'm on the way back in the tender.

The very idea of leaving a boat unattended at anchor for days on end makes the hairs on my neck stand up...
 
savageseadog said:
As regards insurance for anchoring, using two anchors to "moor" is a different operation from simple anchoring. Quite a number of official moorings actually use anchors and chains, especially in very tidal locations. I suppose policies probably use caveats such as "authorised mooring area" and "moorings contractor", or maybe not?

On a practical basis given the right location, holding and gear I don't see why long term mooring shouldn't be OK.
Click to expand...

Savageseadog,

you and even me might know it's OK, but to insurers I reckon if anything went wrong it would very quickly be 'anchored', as it's not an approved mooring on anyone's harbour chart...
 
Seajet said:
I'm with you all the way Robin; if I leave my boat anchored at say Studland - where swing on the tide turn is minimal - I am forever keeping an eye, and from the garden of the Bankes Arms I'll select a spot with a view of the boat and fidget until I'm on the way back in the tender.

The very idea of leaving a boat unattended at anchor for days on end makes the hairs on my neck stand up...
Click to expand...

Mike Peyton in Ready About agrees with you:-
Man standing on wife's shoulders standing atop a field gate.
Wife says, "You're always the same when we're out of sight of the boat.... is she dragging?....no she isn't....yes she is...... no...."
 
A friend left his boat in Fornell's at anchor for 5 weeks and they had 2 50 knot storms rock through. Was fine just all the anchor chain out and tug in.

10 days easy!
 
Depending on the bottom, I'd be concerned about any rope chafing.
As well as petty theft in a lot of places.
Also in any South Coast anchorage, I'd be worried about other boats anchoring and dragging/swinging into my boat, or snagging the rode etc etc.
 
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