New Anchor Alarm.

[auditdata]

Hi monte
"if you want to go ashore with another phone to recieve the txt/mail"
I've downloaded Anchor Watch and it sends emails and starts a phone call on alarm. However I cannot see the "send text option"? Any ideas or am i missing something?

[monte]

ah I havn't used the feature, perhaps I was mistaken, but I assume a phone call from your untended phone would be just as good as a txt. Probably better because you will hear it ring?

[Snore]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Which program do you use? Whats the name of it?

Thanks,

Mark

On the 4-5 trips I've done in the last year, I have learned to love Drag Queen... Aside from the pithy name, you can set the maximum distance you allow the boat to move and a delay. There is also a loss of GPS accuracy alarm. This ensures that if your GPS looses position you get an alarm. The alarm is thoroughly obnoxious and is sure to wake anyone.

Note..... My iPhone needs an external power supply to serve as an anchor alarm all night.

THE HUGE downside is that if your iPhone battery dies, there is no alarm....

[boatman61]

I know I take the mickey out of 'Drag Alarms'... I shouldn't really as I have my own alarm... at anchor I sleep in the V-berth... and being someone with a firm belief in all chain rode with a short snubber...
The sound transmitted by dragging is the best alarm in the world

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I know I take the mickey out of 'Drag Alarms'... I shouldn't really as I have my own alarm... at anchor I sleep in the V-berth... and being someone with a firm belief in all chain rode with a short snubber...
The sound transmitted by dragging is the best alarm in the world

+1 that characteristic jangle has also brought me out of deep slumber in seconds!

[poiu]

How could that Deep Blue Marine alarm possibly work? If the anchor is sliding through soft mud it will make very little noise/vibration if any, whereas if it is hooked around a coral head the anchor and the chain will be making a lot of noise and vibration but going nowhere. If Raymarine for example sold it I might, just might trust the claims made, but not at this price anyway.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by poiu

How could that Deep Blue Marine alarm possibly work? If the anchor is sliding through soft mud it will make very little noise/vibration if any, whereas if it is hooked around a coral head the anchor and the chain will be making a lot of noise and vibration but going nowhere. If Raymarine for example sold it I might, just might trust the claims made, but not at this price anyway.

Its not very clear from their brochure.
I presume it works like the sonic burglar alarms sending out a sound pulse from the anchor at the sea bottom and listening for a change in echo. A change in the echo pattern indicates distances from fixed objects has altered, but this is purely a guess.

Does anyone know?

The demonstration video will not work on my browser. This is the PDF brochure:
http://www.deepbluemarineusa.com/Pro...oralert_en.pdf

They point out it is not dependent on the GPS system and also claim to able to detect dragging as small as a foot.

Its obviously very different to the conventional GPS alarms.

[gbanker]

Wondering how the anchor alarm on the Iphone would work away from cell coverage. Is there a GPS in Iphones?

[monte]

I wish the #$@% next to me had one ! Anchored in 5m of water I noticed him slowly dragging toward me from 100m away. As he approcahed my anchor buoy 20m away I yelled out to him to let him know he was dragging. I pointed at my bouy so he could see it sliding past him at about 1m/30 seconds. He responded by telling me to let out more chain. I said, but mate, you are dragging, maybe you should get your #$%^ together and reset your anchor. Then he says he has 70m ! of chain out because its windy and I should do the same. Strange, I have 25m out and held fast and he has 70 and an upside down anchor dragging along the mud and he thinks I should adjust my anchor. 1m from colliding he finaly gets his engine going and motors forward a bit. I expected him to reset his aanchor but no, he just sat stationary long enough for me to up anchor (he was directly over my anchor!) I moved a couple of hundred meters away and he's still dragging slowly across the bay.wasmf.

and yes Gb, iphines have gps, they work great as long as they power.

[gbanker]

Thanks Monte, guess I could have done a quick google search about the GPS feature.

And some people, even sailors!, are jerks. However most of us realize that none of us are good enough to anchor directly upwind of another boat. And dragging not being the only reason not to do so.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by gbanker

However most of us realize that none of us are good enough to anchor directly upwind of another boat. And dragging not being the only reason not to do so.

A nice thought, but not unfortunately not practical in the busier anchorages of the world.

This photo was from the same anchorage as the dragging boat (a few days ago.)

I was there first , but it shows boats can anchor very close without problems, although this was a bit too close. (I could reach them with the boat hook)

[noelex 77]

This was another boat at the same time on the port side.

These were a bit close, especially when there was lots of room in the anchorage, but some of the anchoring "rules" expressed on CF regarding boat spacing are sometimes a bit conservative.

[monte]

where are you now Noelex? and yes upwind is no problem, we all swing around, sometimes we are closer than we like, but really theres no excuse about dragging and endangering others and not doing anything about it, or even swinging and realizing you are too close and not doing something about it (especially if you were last one there)

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by monte

where are you now Noelex? and yes upwind is no problem, we all swing around, sometimes we are closer than we like, but really theres no excuse about dragging and endangering others and not doing anything about it, or even swinging and realizing you are too close and not doing something about it (especially if you were last one there)

In the eastern Med.

Other boats dragging a certainly a common hazard we face. Boats swinging into each other from anchoring too close is surprisingly rare. When it does occur it tends to a low speed collision with little damage.

However a dragging boat can develop a reasonable speed in high wind conditions and do significant damage. If the rodes become tangled the anchor of the innocent boat is often dislodged and the whole thing becomes a mess.

That's part of the reason I wold like to see more boats using good anchors and setting an anchor alarm.
I might be on the receiving end

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I know I take the mickey out of 'Drag Alarms'... I shouldn't really as I have my own alarm... at anchor I sleep in the V-berth... and being someone with a firm belief in all chain rode with a short snubber...
The sound transmitted by dragging is the best alarm in the world

I follow Boatman's plan, but I don't get much transmitted sound, especially anchored in that "pumpkin pie filling" that covers much of the East US Coast. My transmitted sound comes from my anchor alarm,- a dinghy anchor over the bow with a small line led through the head vent on deck and tied to a sauce pan on the floor. When the sauce pan hits the ceiling, I'm dragging!