Using an anchor marker

[Shrew]

1) In a tight anchorage, with a wind or tide shift, a neighboring boat could swing the anchor marker and potentially foul their running gear, possibly pulling my anchor.

2) In a period of 'confusion' in the anchorage (slack wind and tide) boats can start to wander. I could foul my own running gear possibly pulling my own anchor.

3) There is no reason to take up so much space in tight anchorages.

4) An inattentive boater navigating through the anchorage might not see the marker (particularly in night or early morning hours) and foul the float line in their running gear pulling m anchor.

[Privleoplag]

Originally Posted by s/v Moondancer

In any crowded anchorage there is a lot of cooperative give and take between the cruisers. If you try and take a bigger space than necessary you will be very unpopular.

When someone anchors too close to our boat we put out fenders in case we touch and I tell them to pass me a beer if we do touch.

If someone swings over our anchor and might make it harder to leave we go over and explain when we are leaving. The last time it was a 100+ ft boat with a pro crew. The skipper said that we should wake him if necessary!

As to the OP's marker it could easily foul someone's prop, in our case our line cutter would just spit it out and leave the anchor on the bottom.

In almost 2,000 nights at anchor we have only met two selfish and uncooperative cruisers! Which is not a good way to be as we have helped to tow 5 boat in and out anchorages.

Sounds just like me.. I've done and experienced a lot of the same. I had a concern about someone snagging my marker but from all the use of similar fish trap markers in the area, hoped that as people came towards the anchorage they would have their eyes open for any floats or other obstacles. I know I do.
In fact, several boats during the day went around the quite visible marker, power taxi boats mainly and one monohull came close by at night and the gal on the bow relayed to the captain that there was a float ahead just off their port bow.. Came by close enough for me to easily hear them communicating.

[Lepke]

One technique for keeping a marker over the anchor is have a light line run to a block on the anchor and back to the bow. The line can be taken in or let out in tide conditions and retrieved as the anchor is pulled in. If necessary, a light buoy can be pulled down to the anchor before retrieving.
I almost never anchor in places with more than a couple of other boats, so never run into people overlaying my chain.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Privleoplag

Hello Stu, the bother is because my anchor comes down between the hulls, not from the forward crossvbeam. Its common for the chain to get under a hull. With two persons, one can direct me at the helm where the chain is.. Single handed, at night, I used the float for that direction.

In that situation, you would be better off using something like the "Anchor Alert" app on a smartphone to see where the anchor is in relation to your boat.

[Vasco]

Buoying an anchor is a really dumb idea unless you anchor in an area with known snags, such as off the ICW in cuts where the trees were cut down and flooded.

In busy anchorages it just creates unlighted hazards for dinks returning to their boat in the dark. Do not buoy your anchor. If you do and it ends up wrapped around your prop or jammed between your rudder and skeg, it serves you right.

[Privleoplag]

I think the best option in my case , since single handing, for keeping the chain from grinding on the hulls is going to be to place a camera up front and a screen at the helm to show me where the chain is..

I wonder if my gopro Wi-Fi'd to my phone would do the job, I'll have to try that as that is an expense I've already incurred. Plus, I wouldn't have to guess when the anchor is getting close or even have to go up front until it is almost all the way up.

[JPA Cate]

Priveloplag,

Our boat can sometimes get the chain under the hull, mostly in wind-against-the-tide situations, and I surely see how you want to avoid that.

However, what I don't understand is why the boat doesn't just go to above where the anchor is, by itself, from your using the windlass to pull it slowly forward?

We sometimes leave somewhere in the middle of the night to get somewhere else at the time we want, but there's never a retrieval problem. The boat just follows where the tug of the chain is, usually in a curve following how the chain lay on the ground. There's no harm in using your windlass gently that way.

I think Mike's method and Lepke's method would work, and keep it all together.

We have buoyed our anchor once, as the first boat into a cyclone hole when an out of season cyclone was predicted, so people could avoid our anchor. We received favorable feedback on having done that. I think it's prudent to buoy it when anchoring in rivers that flood, but I also agree it would take up more than your fair share of space in an already crowded anchorage..

Ann

[Privleoplag]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Priveloplag,

However, what I don't understand is why the boat doesn't just go to above where the anchor is, by itself, from your using the windlass to pull it slowly forward?

We sometimes leave somewhere in the middle of the night to get somewhere else at the time we want, but there's never a retrieval problem. The boat just follows where the tug of the chain is, usually in a curve following how the chain lay on the ground. There's no harm in using your windlass gently that way.

Ann

Hello Ann, I do exactly that all the time. Especially easy in a protected anchorage like I'm in now, but like I said in my 1st post, conditions were not good. Very windy, very wavey and rough. As you know, the boat can put a lot of force on that chain when it ends up sideways and under the hull in those conditions. I needed to be able to direct the boat towards the chain from the helm.

Does your chain come off the forward beam? Also would make things much easier.

Fred

[sparrowhawk1]

What is not being discussed here Is the proper way to pick up your float. The trick is to get upwind of it and have it come along the side of your boat and pick it up from the stern using reverse if necessary to slow down. This is also the best way to pick up a mooring ball. take a line that's long enough to go from the bow cleat to the stern, attach a karabiner to The Bitter End. just clip on to the mooring ball from the stern. your boat will then swing around and you can haul in the line and add your normal Bridal.

[Kerry1]

I use a trip line to raise the anchor when anchoring over foul ground and only anchor in such areas for fishing/day trips not overnighters. I have a dedicated line stored in the anchor well that clips on the head of the anchor and feeds out as we back up. I use the rope drum on the windlass to bring the anchor in with the trip line to just under the surface and then put the chain rode back on the gypsy to retrieve the anchor fully pulling in the slack trip line as I go. This same line I snap onto a kellet for peace of mind when anchoring for overnight stops. The kellett then is lowered down the rode until it is about a metre off the bottom at low tide (approximately) The 30lb kellett is generally retrieved first (or together) as it is free to slide up the anchor rode. I never buoy the trip line but feed out enough slack so as not to pull anchor out when swinging. That takes a little time as I have to be careful not to foul it on anything if the slack is too much. Only once has someone anchored over me which wasn't too much trouble to sort out. The trip line floats so would definitely foul a prop if someone ventured over it, but since I don't use it at night except for the kellet under which circumstances the line is under tension and almost directly under the bow in most conditions it is not an issue. It takes longer to set/retrieve the anchor but the peace of mind thing is worth it.

[Old Swampy]

Well, down Maine we got some rocks, ledges, n stuff on the bottom, but mostly rocks. A body could lose ground tackle! So I drilled a 3/8" hole in the back of my Danfth, put a shackle init, n attached 'bout 30 feet of 3/8th good line with a float. 'Should be longer with 9 foot tides. When I'm ready to drop the lot, I throw over the little line first, then the muscle hook. With any air, I can start paying out rode. 'Float line will stream towards the mother ship. 'Retrieving (anchor not stuck) I take in enof rode so I can pick up the float line first. If the hook pulls free I try to get the hook pronto.

[wrwakefield]

We mark our anchor location using GPS coordinates on the chart plotter... [Usually more than one anchor alarm app in reality.]

[I didn't read all responses, and perhaps someone else has already mentioned the following method...]

If we are concerned with the anchor fouling, we attach a floating trip line [not a line with a float; e.g., poly or even a non-floating line with fish net floats on it...] to the correct connection point on the anchor in question, and then to the chain at a point where the trip line will come over the bow at high tide... [e.g., if anchoring in 50 ft (at high tide) maybe 60 ft of line for the trip will be used, loose enough so it can float a few feet above the chain on the bottom...]

This is easy to handle [even ignore in an emergency; just let it feed into the chain locker with the chain...] and not above the surface to snag props, etc., but still floats above the bottom to avoid snagging and reveals itself as you come over the anchor.

In case this is helpful.

Cheers! Bill

[Moontide]

Try one of the anchor watch apps. several have a map presentation the you can use to drive right up in your anchor.

Another option is to drop a,way point on a chart plotter when let let go the anchor. Easy, provided you remember to hit the button when dropping.

Bill

[baycruiser]

You better stay in the marina but please for the rest of us never use an anchor marker again , Coming into an anchorage and getting caught up in some idiots discarded lines is criminal please learn qiuck or stay home

[patprice]

I have never used an anchor buoy though maybe on a couple of occasions one might have been useful with a stuck anchor. In a crowded anchorage they just take up too much room.
The worst I have seen is a boat with an anchor line and a stern anchor. That combination takes control of a lot of real estate!