Overnight Anchoring

[Portland Billy]

I'm speaking from experience here !

Using two anchors off the bow in deteriorating weather can be a nightmare if you drag!! The chains will twist together on the seabed and leave you with a terrible mess in a bad situation.

Best use only one and pick it up and steam to weather if things get too bad.

 

[MapisM]

I often use a stern anchor in Med bays, at 90deg to main anchor, to hold bow to swell.

Do you mean perpendicular to the boat, on either port or stbd?
That would hardly be feasible where I'm mostly cruising, because light winds with occasional major shifts are very frequent.
In my previous reply to Nick where I mentioned the troubles with a stern anchor, I assumed that he was trying to use it opposite to the bow anchor. Your solution sounds more feasible, if wind conditions allow to use it.

As an aside, I agree on your comment re. the builders habit of fitting small anchors (and also short chains btw), but that applies strictly to planing boats. The explanation I once got from one of the major Italian builders is that weight affects the performance, which is what customers are more interested in, rather than anchor holding power...

 

[tinkicker0]

Quite an interesting topic.

I am on a river, no tides, but a two knot plus current, tourboats going up and down, channel only maybe 80 feet wide and a requirement to anchor close to the bank.
Often the wind is either from the portside or against the current which blows the boat into the bank or upstream.

Also the possibility of being blown out cross current into the channel during the night does not fill me with happiness.

Tried once, using my main anchor and got blown all over the place, had to abandon the plan and return to the marina, wasting precious drinking time; so got a second one at a boat jumble for the stern.

I have a 7kg Danforth with 5 metres of 8mm chain, then anchor warp as a main anchor and a folding 3kg grapple on 3 metres of 6mm chain and then anchor warp to throw off the stern.

20ft boat.

River close to bank would be around 6 feet deep and the bottom is mud / treeroots/ sunken branches, very smelly stuff.

Never got the courage up to anchor up all night before, providing the breeze is reasonably light, would my setup be enough to prevent the swing?

Don't fancy causing an obstruction and getting yelled and pipestem waved at by Captain Percy Bligh the Intolerant on his Seamaster 27.

 

[AndieMac]

Quite an interesting topic.

I am on a river, no tides, but a two knot plus current, tourboats going up and down, channel only maybe 80 feet wide and a requirement to anchor close to the bank.
Often the wind is either from the portside or against the current which blows the boat into the bank or upstream.

Also the possibility of being blown out cross current into the channel during the night does not fill me with happiness.

Tried once, using my main anchor and got blown all over the place, had to abandon the plan and return to the marina, wasting precious drinking time; so got a second one at a boat jumble for the stern.

I have a 7kg Danforth with 5 metres of 8mm chain, then anchor warp as a main anchor and a folding 3kg grapple on 3 metres of 6mm chain and then anchor warp to throw off the stern.

20ft boat.

River close to bank would be around 6 feet deep and the bottom is mud / treeroots/ sunken branches, very smelly stuff.

Never got the courage up to anchor up all night before, providing the breeze is reasonably light, would my setup be enough to prevent the swing?

Don't fancy causing an obstruction and getting yelled and pipestem waved at by Captain Percy Bligh the Intolerant on his Seamaster 27.

What about a long line ashore to a stake/peg driven into the bank, to hold the boat on a shallow angle to any wind over current effect?

 

[tinkicker0]

What about a long line ashore to a stake/peg driven into the bank, to hold the boat on a shallow angle to any wind over current effect?

these particular riverbanks are not really that accessible, for the most part, shallow edges for maybe 2 - 3 muddy feet and shelving steeply. Also, most places have bushes growing out over the water.

Some peeps have had mooring lines cut in the area and as it is a quiet area, but close to a major city, I don't fancy making it easy for strange, nefarious types to easily have access to the boat during the night.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

I do like the thought of stopping in my little self contained world overnight, but I have to convince SWMBO it's safe to do so first.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Separate point: it is a bit annoying how production boatbuilders fit too-small anchors for proper boating use. Fairline are very guilty of this imho, for starters. Eg 25kg on Sq58, 40kg on Sq78, both too small imho and more to the point in the opinion of the classification societies. Do they really think the buyers of these boats care about £500 extra for the next size up? I think Princess are less guilty of it

This is something that bugs me intensely as well. In fact, pretty much the first thing I do when I buy a boat is upgrade the anchor and chain size. 25kg on the Sq58 is way too small. I would have thought a 40kg anchor would be minimum for that size of boat. To be fair, Fairline aren't the only one. Ferretti fit undersized anchors although there's usually an upgrade option on the pricelist which I think most buyers tick. The worst culprits are or were Sealine. My old F43 had a 10kg anchor and you couldnt upgrade because the 'beak' precluded fitting anything bigger. I think this was the case on other Sealine models. As you say, £500 or whatever is a tiny price to pay for peace of mind.