When at anchor and on board, do you leave instruments on or off

Wow, I am amazed at the result here.
It has always seemed to me that a yacht is pretty vulnerable when at anchor with all of its crew asleep. For this reason I always leave the instruments on with both the shallow depth alarm set and the anchor drag alarm set on the plotter.
Almost a minority of one for this then.
 
mainsail1 said:
It has always seemed to me that a yacht is pretty vulnerable when at anchor with all of its crew asleep.
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Well, maybe. But then again, in a marina it’s vulnerable to some other boat colliding with it (so far only source of significant damage to our boat) and on a mooring it’s potentially vulnerable to some unseen shackle unscrewing or corroding.

Take your pick.

Pete
 
You have all your electronics in action and are fast asleep:
- no alarm from your anchor alarm
- no alarm from your depth gauge
- no wind alarm

What can possibly go wrong ... or maybe it would be better to have an occasional personal look outside.

Yes, this situation was totally under control.

iceberg.jpg
 
prv said:
Well, maybe. But then again, in a marina it’s vulnerable to some other boat colliding with it (so far only source of significant damage to our boat) and on a mooring it’s potentially vulnerable to some unseen shackle unscrewing or corroding.

Take your pick.

Pete
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But you don't drag anchor on a pontoon or on a mooring. At anchor seems to me to be a more vulnerable situation with regard to the boat moving of it's own accord.
 
PHN said:
You have all your electronics in action and are fast asleep:
- no alarm from your anchor alarm
- no alarm from your depth gauge
- no wind alarm

What can possibly go wrong ... or maybe it would be better to have an occasional personal look outside.

Yes, this situation was totally under control.

iceberg.jpg
Click to expand...

I am not sure I understand what your point is.
 
mainsail1 said:
I am not sure I understand what your point is.
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That big white thing in front of the boat will not be detected by most electronics and will wake you up if it collides with the ship ... when it is too late. This is just one example of a potentially hazardous situation that can only be detected by looking around in person.
 
mainsail1 said:
But you don't drag anchor on a pontoon or on a mooring. At anchor seems to me to be a more vulnerable situation with regard to the boat moving of it's own accord.
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Shouldn't be vulnerable with regard to your boat not being where you left it with a decent big enough hook.

Can be vulnerable to others bouncing off you though. Risky bit shouldn't be you, it's others.
 
mainsail1 said:
But you don't drag anchor on a pontoon or on a mooring. At anchor seems to me to be a more vulnerable situation with regard to the boat moving of it's own accord.
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I haven’t counted but I would guess that, away from home berth, I spend more nights at anchor than in a marina. So far I have never dragged anchor, but I have been hit and suffered damage from one boatload of incompetent brummies and one careless and uncaring Frenchman in marinas. 2 - nil to anchoring so far.

Not yet suffered damage on a mooring, though my most sleepless night lately was on a buoy at Alderney in a strong blow - those moorings have been known to shift and some are too close together, and I was concerned we were going to hit the yacht astern of us. Knowing the wind was forecast I had originally intended to anchor in the bay in plenty of space; I mostly opted for the mooring just for a shorter and more sheltered (hence drier) dinghy trip in the expected chop. In retrospect I’d have slept better on the hook with nothing else nearby.

I do get back-of-the-mind worries sometimes about the state of a mooring I’m using - how do I know when it was last checked, and whether there’s something down there that’s almost rusted through or almost unscrewed? Assuming that a mooring is automatically more secure than the anchor whose shiny tight shackle you just saw on your own foredeck is simply a lack of imagination. Of course an anchor might temporarily hook round something so it feels set when I apply full reverse to it, and then later unhook - but at that point I still have an anchor sitting on the seabed and unless I was daft enough to try to anchor on a sheet of rock it’s going to have dug itself in again before I’ve gone more than a metre or two. Snap the rusty swivel lurking under that ad-hoc visitor mooring and you have no such second chance.

As I said earlier in the thread, I occasionally worry at anchor that I’ve misjudged my swinging circle in relation to a rock or a shoal, or cut it too close on tidal height because I wanted to be near the beach, but I do not worry about dragging. Hearing my windlass strain and groan to recover the anchor in the morning reassures me every time :)

(I have also been hit on the home marina berth, severe enough to need professional out-of-the-water hull repair, but that’s not counted above since the boat spends the majority of its time at the home berth so obviously the risk of something happening there is highest.)

Pete
 
john_morris_uk said:
So if you’re anchor in relatively benign conditions in set fair weather you still leave everything on?
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Assumptions is the mother of al f***ups, however you cannot prevent everything.

External hazards like drunk skippers and whales to name a few are unrelated to conditions and weather. So make an assessment of the situation and act upon that.
 
mainsail1 said:
Wow, I am amazed at the result here.
It has always seemed to me that a yacht is pretty vulnerable when at anchor with all of its crew asleep. For this reason I always leave the instruments on with both the shallow depth alarm set and the anchor drag alarm set on the plotter.
Almost a minority of one for this then.
Click to expand...

I was also amazed but for the opposite reason. In the hundreds of nights I have spent at anchor I rarely leave the instruments on. On 3 or 4 occasions when it was blowing a hooley I did do an anchor watch, but leaving the instruments on all the time while at anchor overnight seems to be taking risk assessment to the extreme and or perhaps a lack of faith in their anchor or anchoring method
Mind you I have also met people who never go out of site of their boat when it is at anchor, I guess everyone is different
 
PHN said:
Assumptions is the mother of al f***ups, however you cannot prevent everything.

External hazards like drunk skippers and whales to name a few are unrelated to conditions and weather. So make an assessment of the situation and act upon that.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what point you’re making. Your first statement is certainly true, but the instruments being on won’t make any difference to the latter.

jordanbasset said:
I was also amazed but for the opposite reason. In the hundreds of nights I have spent at anchor I rarely leave the instruments on. On 3 or 4 occasions when it was blowing a hooley I did do an anchor watch, but leaving the instruments on all the time while at anchor overnight seems to be taking risk assessment to the extreme and or perhaps a lack of faith in their anchor or anchoring method
Mind you I have also met people who never go out of site of their boat when it is at anchor, I guess everyone is different
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I must lack imagination as we are just like you. Once the anchor is in and set we will happily go off for the day and leave the boat on the hook. A good anchor with plenty of chain and choose your anchorage well makes for carefree anchoring.

PS. Those who apply full power astern to check the set must have small engines and propellers. You couldn’t do that in most power boats and that’s not necessarily a reflection of the size of their anchor...
 
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