doug748
Well-Known Member
Same here.
I have to say, with no great pride, that I very often sail without switching any instruments on as well.
When at anchor and on board, do you leave instruments on or off
- Thread starter tudorsailor
- Start date
Same here.
I have to say, with no great pride, that I very often sail without switching any instruments on as well.
michael_w
Well-Known Member
All off except:
GPS (for anchor alarm)
Navtex
GPS (for anchor alarm)
Navtex
johnalison
Well-Known Member
Nosiness comes into it, as well as a desire for education. My external speaker goes off as I enter a marina, since the sound of another boat's VHF blaring as it sweeps past is an unnecessary irritation. In harbour, I have to remember to turn the radio off if I slip ashore or I could findmy boat surrounded by irate neighbours while the DSC alarms blasts away.
[70521]
Well-Known Member
I turned my radar on last October to give it, its annual test. If I am anchoring in greater than 5 meters of water (CD) I turn everything off, if less I keep the depth sounder on.
Seashoreman
Well-Known Member
Great minds think alike, as the saying goes.
STATUE
Well-Known Member
Once anchored in Mupe Bay for the night, I turned off my depth sounder whilst sitting in the cockpit with a pre-dinner whisky. - out of the gloom I heard heavy breathing - a large dolphin came right alongside and stayed with me for 10mins. Doing all the tricks
Stemar
Well-Known Member
Everything off. My plotter is my phone, which takes a few minutes to fire up, everything else is on one switch and pretty much instant. I'm not so adventurous that I'm likely to find myself in with a difficult exit that I don't know and, with twin keels, touching bottom is something I frequently do deliberately so I have a corner to myself, unbothered by deep draft charter boats who don't know how to anchor.
RupertW
Well-Known Member
Ah, the advantage of tides. In a calm muddy anchorage in the Med fin keeled boats like ours might leave less than a foot under their keel sometimes.
Stemar
Well-Known Member
Yes, but I'll bet that when I've got a foot of water under my keeps, you wouldn't be able to ram me if you wanted to
Of course, a tubby little twin keeler has disadvantages, but that's what the engine's for...[3889]
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A few minutes? Just started Navionics on my phone to test this...8 seconds for a GPS position on the chart.
Everything off on the boat for me though I sleep with headtorch, charged phone and (optional) shorts within arms reach. My batteries would not allow multiple nights at anchor, otherwise, though even if they did it would make no difference.
Agree with JM regarding preplanned exits using bearings and transits, much easier in the small hours than staring at a screen.
Stemar
Well-Known Member
I have a cheap phone. I just timed it - 45 seconds, including the 15 seconds to unlock the screen - I suppose it only seems like a few minutes when you're waiting and desperate for it! (Actually, it's hours then, and it'll want to do a bunch of updates, plus offer options to "improve your user experience") My torch lives in a couple of clips near the companionway and, overnight, my phone would probably be on charge within easy reach of a panicked exit from the saloon.
KellysEye
Well-Known Member
We always turned the instruments off, if the wind was 35 knots+ then we would take turns to stay in the cockpit to keep an eye on anchor movement even though we would have two out.
GHA
Well-Known Member
So anyone do a passage plan to run away quick if something nasty does actually happen?
Might have done one once, usually it's obvious anyway, head for the red to the east or whatever.
Might have done one once, usually it's obvious anyway, head for the red to the east or whatever.
RupertW
Well-Known Member
I'm struggling to think of a time when it would be tortuous to get out, but not sheltered in all directions. So I can think of a few places like Planitis in the Sporades where it would be difficult to get out at night but because of that single narrow winding passage there is no way you would ever want to leave it in a blow as it's fully sheltered. Then there are the majority of anchorages we use which are wide open to one direction so occasionally we have upped sticks at short notice (never becuase the anchor has dragged but because of rolling or pitching after an unexpectedly strong wind change), and the wide open ones are simple to leave provided you miss the other anchored boats - and instruments don't help with that.
dom
Well-Known Member
Lulworth Cove?
D
Deleted member 36384
Guest
It depends on the whisk(e)y count by bed time.
RupertW
Well-Known Member
Not tortuous but certainly unlit - I’ve only ever stopped there for a lunch and a swim so would consider the 10 seconds to get Navionics app going
dom
Well-Known Member
Not wishing to overplay the 10 seconds bit, but last year I was leaving Lulworth in the early hours as an inshore LB from Weymouth and was trying to refloat a Mobo which had dragged ashore. In the entrance I met an Offshore LB whirling around the corner and I think we both got a bit of a shock. I guess that mobo wld have been better with a depth alarm and for those not wishing to drive-by-screen night vision goggles or the kind of search light the LB had. I have an MFD at the chart table and in a tricky anchorage I like to see the wind, depth, how the boat is lying to its anchor, etc. Prob just preference. If I have to go I kind of like the instant view to orientate myself and allow the 10s+ for the old brain to do its processing
dunedin
Well-Known Member
Not generally, but yes if a tricky rocky place. Paid off the one time we did drag in a rocky Swedish bay, in pitch dark with no navigation marks or lights.
Followed inbound track exactly when heading out, then followed pre-entered route into a safe harbour we had seen when walking earlier, but this involved passing through 30m wide gap where had to go the correct side between a rock and a hard place, which was well to the side of what looked like the obvious entrance.
Heckler
Well-Known Member
Interesting at buoy 21 and here at ferragudo, all off except the plotter on low for first 12 hrs to check not dragging. Batteries have stayed up all the time with solar panels deployedexcept whe n we had a cloudy day. Have seen 12 amps going in regularly. Watched two hours of Breaking Bad every night with tele and dvd on inverter.Either you never stay on the hook for long, or your batteries really hate you
Must be very few boats that will ever get back to even close to full charge on the hook leaving radar & all instruments on 24/7, simply not an option for most of us.
