Anchoring alone?

[DianneB]

I have just finished my first season of boating (since the 1960's!) with my 24 cabin cruiser and I am planning the changes and upgrades for next year.

I usually travel alone - well, with my hound, but she isn't much of a deck hand - and like island camping on a sandy shore. I have been beaching bow first but would prefer to anchor stern-in just a few feet off the beach (enough the stern drive doesn't bottom) with an anchor out and the stern secured to a tree on the beach but since there always seems to be an unfavourable breeze, I haven't figured out how to do this single-handedly.

I was going to buy an anchor winch for the bow until I saw the price of them

Does anybody do this? How do you do it when you are alone?

 

[airdvr1227]

Re: Anchoring alone?

I remember someone posting one on here that was like a spring loaded setup for the stern attachment. Set it first then set your bow anchor. Either way I think ya gotta get wet to do it alone.

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Anchoring alone?

I've heard good things about the "anchor buddy" although I have not used one myself.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Anchoring alone?

Minn Kota used to make a decent windlass - I don't think Canadian Tire sells them anymore in ON, but they used to .
You have a PM.

 

[sasto]

Re: Anchoring alone?

Maybe.... stern in.......toss anchor to shore attach to stern, loose......motor fwd.....drop bow anchor.....tie off appropriate rode....return to stern....take a swim, retrieve your anchor and set in desired position....All depends on Mother Nature of course.

 

[Solittle]

Re: Anchoring alone?

With plenty of anchor line I would drop the anchor of shore and not secure it. Then back up to the shore, toss the stern anchor out, then pull on the bow line until you get out the desired distance and then secure both bow & stern. I'm not sure that is what you are looking to do but it could work.

Years back I had an express cruiser. To deal with two anchors from the helm I tied a seperate line to the bow anchor line so that I could pull it back to the helm. I kept both anchors aft when not in the water. You could do much the same.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Anchoring alone?

When it's cold out and I can't get wet here's what I do. (This is backwards of what you will be doing as I am anchoring bow-in in protected coves.)

- Run the anchor line through the anchor's ring so it can slip, one end is tied to the stern and the other end is temporarily tied to the bow, soon to be tied to a tree.
- Dump the anchor 100yds from shore and pay the doubled line out until you get to shore.
- Once on shore, secure the bow line (loose end of doubled line) to a tree.
- Another line from the bow gets tied to the tree with about 10-20' of slack.
- Leave the doubled over line tied to the tree, pull on the doubled over line (which will pull the stern out) and take the slack out of the bow line. This will pull the boat out into deeper water, so it's free floating, can ride through waves and not bottom out.
- Tie the doubled over line to the tree. (you have the doubled over line tied to the tree twice now)

When you need to get into the boat all you have to do is untie the doubled over line (second knot) and pull on the bow line to retrieve the boat. I do this all the time by myself and the only gotcha is keeping the doubled over line straight and untangled while playing it out.

I should add one thing. When I do this, I clip 10' of 3/8" chain onto the anchor, then a big split link onto the end of the chain.The doubled over line runs through the big split link at the chain's end.

It's kind of a PITA, but works and keeps me out of the water in the middle of winter,,,lakes don't freeze around here.

I've also heard of using a really long heavy duty bungee cord (20' or so ?) to pull the boat out into deep water. The bungee gets tied along side a slack anchor line and the bungee is stretched out to pull the boat ashore. When the the shore line is released, the bungee pulls the boat out into open water, when the shore line is pulled the bungee stretches. Only thing I have reservations about this is if big waves could overcome the strength of the bungee and allow the boat to drift back into shore...

 

[DBreskin]

Re: Anchoring alone?

I use the anchor buddy. It works well, as advertised, but I haven't tried using it in anything but mild weather. In severe weather, on a large enough boat, the wind and waves may overcome the tension in the anchor buddy and allow your boat to be pushed closer to shore than you'd like.

 

[Gromulin]

Re: Anchoring alone?

RE: Anchor Buddy: I've tried one on my 23' and they work fine as long as there are no waves / big wakes. I have a lot of freeboard, and wind and wakes push her around pretty well for a 4000 pound boat. Big wakes dislodge the rear anchor and you creep towards shore by morning.

I'm going to move to two anchor buddies next season, at 10 and 2 off the stern, and am pretty sure that will solve my problem. With a long enough shore anchor rode, and a good shore anchor, you can buoy all the ropes together once you have it set. Just snag the buoy with a hook, set the rear bungee's, and pull yourself to shore. Release and tie off, and you are good to go. Let out on exit, tie to buoy, and away you go. I usually like to camp for at least 5 days at a time, so it's nice to have your own private mooring set up.

 

[rbh]

Re: Anchoring alone?

What you are doing is perfectly fine.
The only real issue is setting the anchor and by yourself it is going to be a pain in the you know what.
Setting an anchor is like setting a hook in the mouth of a fish, except there is a bite every time.
First I would Start backing and where there is a drop off or far enough out that you still will have some rode left if you hit land, DROP the anchor continue to back up for a bit, then pull on the rode and hope fully it sets, if not rinse and repeat
(wear your life jacket as this is always OHHH sOO much fun)