Leaving your boat on anchor

[boblamb]

  I've been considering putting my boat in the water in the Pamlico area. I am about 2 hours from Pamlico/Nuese Rivers. I want to leave it in the water so I don't have to do the setup/launch/retrieve/takedown every time I want to go sailing.   I am not able financially to afford a slip. 
  Need some advice pro/con to doing this. 

Bob
CP23d

[Cmdr Pete]

I think you would suffer some great anxiety.

Adjacent homeowners can also be vindictive. I've heard stories of boats being set adrift around here. There may even be local ordinances preventing it.

Might want to post a message on craigslist to see if you can get a spot at a dock behind somebody's house for a reasonable price.

[Captain Smollett]

As I am looking to do something similar, I might suggest you find an established anchorage and anchor the boat there.  Unless it is a municipally run anchorage specifically for transient anchoring, there should be no problem.  Keep in mind some basic theft prevention (ie, remove from the decks that which could be easily stolen). Note that someone COULD always collide with your boat, a pump could quit working and rough weather WILL cause some anxiety.  It will be worth your peace of mind to hire someone local (that you can trust) to keep an eye on her for you.  This will generally be cheaper than a slip fee.

There is some debate about whether a boat is 'safer' at anchor than in a marina.  Personally, I think in some ways she might be.  Lin and Larry have a great chapter on this in The Cost Conscious Cruiser.  I recommend getting your hands on this book for their in-depth discussion of the advantages, disadvantages and strategies to accomplish it.

If you want to anchor, rather than sinking a mooring, the three anchor method is recommended.  This is outlined in the L&L book, but also Chapman's has a section about doing this as well.  Basically, you lay three (heavy) anchors in a large Y pattern and the chain leading to the boat joins at the connection of all three legs (with a swivel). So you have 3 lengths of chain lying on the bottom with one rising to the boat.  L&L claim to have left their boat for 6 months at a time this way, and in Chapman's it is stated that in one northeastern anchorage, a storm dislodged all but two moorings; the two secure boats where thus moored.

If I were to do this (as opposed to sinking a concrete mooring anchor), I would buoy the anchor system for day and short sails - I would not retrieve the whole shooting match every time I took my boat out.  But, it is more "portable" than sinking a true mooring anchor in that you can recover (and inspect!!) all gear should you choose to move the boat to another location.

I recall that Florida has been trying to legislate anchorages (and many towns elsewhere probably do), so you'll want to research this as carefully as you can, but if you are in an "established" anchorage and not "living" on board full time, what can they say?  Time limit of x days?  Take the boat out every x days and say you left and are returning, etc.

Fair Winds.

[Ol' Coot]

I would not suggest leaving your boat at anchor for long periods when you will not be aboard.

However, renting a mooring is a possibility.  Check with marinas or yacht clubs in your target area to see if any have mooring fields.  Its a common service, and much less expensive than slip rental in many areas.  You will also need to determine how you will get from shore to your boat (does the facility provide launch service, or do you need to acquire a dinghy to transport yourself, supplies, etc.)

Security suggestions by Capt. Smollet apply.

Good luck!

[Captain Smollett]

This thread on leaving a boat at anchor led me to wonder, just how long have the SailFar members left their boats unattended at anchor?

I was VERY apprehensive the first time I left my boat unattended overnight.  Did I set the anchors good enough?  Was my understanding of the tidal range and currents correct?  Would I arrive the next day to find the boat gone, damaged or aground on the rocks?

It worked out okay.  I left her for two days before I got back.  I think it was a lesson worth learning: it IS okay to leave the boat!!

Interestingly, I've read that some folks won't do this at all; if she's lying to an anchor, they stay aboard or at least within sight.

[AdriftAtSea]

I think a lot of it has to do with the location and how protected it is.  Tarpaulin Cove, where I've anchored for a couple of days, is not one place I'd leave a boat unattended at anchor.  The cove is open to the SouthEast IIRC, and if the wind shifts, it can get very bad there.   The cove my marina is in, I would leave the boat unattended, as it is very sheltered in almost all directions. 

[CharlieJ]

I once kept watch over a friends trimaran while they were in Canada one entire winter. Lying to two anchors in a Bahama moor. I checked her once a week.

We have decided that should we have to hide from another hurricane, we'll be anchoring Tehani out, rather than leaving her in a marina. We feel she'll be much safer on her own anchors well away from other boats, than cramped into a marina.

And If I felt nervous about leaving the boat on her anchors, I sure as the devil wouldn't SLEEP aboard, on those same anchors.

If you cannot trust the anchors on your boat, then you need different anchors- bigger, more chain, different type- whatever- that ground tackle is your boats VERY BEST insurance.

[Godot]

Since I really haven't had a chance to just take off for more than a week, I have so far pretty much just remained in the area of the boat.  I've only once left a boat of my own unattended at anchor overnight.  I was getting ready to take off for a week in my homebuilt Stevenson Weekender (a small boat to spend a week on; but I never felt unreasonably uncomfortable).  I had to borrow a truck from a friend to launch the boat and needed to return it that night so he could go to work the next morning.  Because of the low tide, the dark night, and the limited rowing ability of my Coleman toy boat, I didn't return to the boat until early the next morning.  I didn't sleep well that night.

In retrospect, now that I have a little more experience with anchoring, I think it is fair to say that the boat was fairly well secured with a fortress anchor sized more appropriately to my (much larger) current boat well dug into thick muck, and I really didn't need to worry too much.  Still, it does seem a little unnatural to me to leave a boat to her own devices, no matter how well set the anchor.  Maybe as I gain experience I will relax a little.

[Frank]

.

And If I felt nervous about leaving the boat on her anchors, I sure as the devil wouldn't SLEEP aboard, on those same anchors.

If you cannot trust the anchors on your boat, then you need different anchors- bigger, more chain, different type- whatever- that ground tackle is your boats VERY BEST insurance.

Very good point...grog

[Lynx]

A boat takes more wear and tear at anchor/docked than on the trailer. It would be safer to put the boat in a mast up storage and just splash it when needed.

Also, check with your insurance co.

[Fortis]

I own a Parks mooring, have had the boat in a good marina and have also used the mast-on dolly and crane method of boat storage. I would have to say, that for a balance of boat safety and cost consiousness, I would have to agree with the above. The boat lasted and ate less money when stored on the dolly. Security was vastly improved over EITHER of the alternative methods and I never needed to worry (The cradle parking area at the place we used was quiet nifty. It had allocated spaces and big pivoting clamp thingies that were dina-bolted to the concrete. Anything less then an 80knot wind would not even rock the boats let alone tip the cradles).

Launching took about 12 minutes if you trust the central hoist point, or about 25 minutes if you went with the twin slings. Retrieval could be around double that. Only an annoyance if you sail in at 3am and are bone tired. Fortunatly for us, we just parked it at the guest jetty and came back in the morning to hoist and store it.


Alex.

[Captain Smollett]

Anchoring seems to be a hot topic right now.  :)

I saw this thread on the Cruisers Forum and thought there was some useful info; Virginia is about as close as it gets to Pamlico, but note the number of replies that say "no, or virtually no, restrictions."

[Captain Smollett]

Bob, here's some more on the topic of anchoring vs. keeping her in a slip.  (PDF warning)

In Help Your Boat Survive a Major Storm from Practical Sailor, it is stated  that she may be safer at anchor than at a dock.  This article recommends anchoring out (if you trust your ground tackle) rather than tying up alongside.

Food for thought, as they say.

[Ol' Coot]

I made some negative comments about leaving a boat on the hook for long periods a few posts back...  I need to clarify a bit.

I'm not adverse to using the anchor to secure the boat, and all common sense thoughts about anchor size and rigging are much appreciated.  I totally agree that if you don't trust the size and type of anchor that you have on your boat, you better be headed for the chandlery to buy better gear. 

My concerns are more in the area of simply finding a nice looking cove and dropping anchor for a while leaving the boat un-attended.  Or anchoring in an accepted anchorage and leaving without having any idea who or what may be watching to see which boats have people coming and going (and which are easy targets for theft or vandalism.)

Maybe its paranoia, maybe its the by product of living in the area that I live in.  I would no sooner drop anchor and leave my boat for a couple of weeks un-watched, than I would park my car at the local 7-11 and walk away for a couple of weeks. 

I think that at least in a mooring field, run by the local authorities, a marina owner, or a yacht club, the boat would be less obvious, and less attractive to local miscreants.  Yeah, I know, nothing in this world is totally secure.  I've had an outboard motor stolen off the back of a boat while it was slipped in a marina.

Still, I think that being in a place where you know some of the other owners, a place where the majority of boats are not transients, a place where some "authority" is occasionally riding through taking a look at the general conditions would make me feel a lot more comfortable about rowing away at the end of a sail.

Just my two cents...

Kevin

[skylark]

I anchored out all summer a few years ago.  The holding ground was sticky clay, very good holding.  I used a 35lb CQR on chain with a big danforth on chain about 50 feet behind the CQR in a train (the danforth chain was attached to the CQR).  The chain had a buoy float with two mooring lines. I just let loose the mooring lines when I went sailing.  I treated it like a summer mooring.

I thought it was a great way to go, although some work barges apparently objected to my being there and they anchored down within my swing one time.  I just picked up and moved.  I was at the boat quite a bit, maybe once a week or more. 

I had a sloar panel and an led anchor light with a dusk on dawn off automatic switch, so the lights were legal.  I also checked the regulations and as long as you don't leave the mooring down permanently, it is considered an anchor, not a mooring and no permit is needed.

I would do it again.

[AdriftAtSea]

Skylark-

Good info but would help if you said where you did this, as the laws there may not be the same as other locations.  :D

[skylark]

this was in Michigan

[AdriftAtSea]

Did you also have a ball dayshape up in the rigging?  I believe you'd also need one of those for the boat to be USCG legal during the daylight hours. 

[Captain Smollett]

Did you also have a ball dayshape up in the rigging?  I believe you'd also need one of those for the boat to be USCG legal during the daylight hours. 

Not in an established anchorage, right?

And maybe it's a nitpick, but a boat is not "USCG legal;" it either complies with the law or it doesn't.  In this case, Michigan, it would be Title 33 of the Federal Code.

[skylark]

Did you also have a ball dayshape up in the rigging?  I believe you'd also need one of those for the boat to be USCG legal during the daylight hours. 

I conveniently forgot about that law.