Another crazy anchoring idea

[airshot]

Another post on here got me to thinking about my anchoring problem on my own boat. I have a 22' Islander which I love but getting the anchor out front has become an unpleasant chore at my age. The hatch is to akward at my age and walking around the cuddy on a choppy day is also foolish so......I prefer dropping the anchor over the side for convenience but getting the line into the front chock is a pain, I am currently using a dock hook to do that feat. I have an idea and wondered if anyone out here has tried this method and would care to share their experience. I would like to pass the anchor line thru the bow eye and back to the side deck where I have a cleat to tie off on. I could then drop the anchor over the side and reverse the engine to set the anchor. I would have another line attached to the anchor line about 25-30 ft out that would tie to another cleat, this line would be used to retrieve the anchor & line to the side of the boat where I could continue pulling it up to retrieve the anchor. This would allow the anchor to pull from the bow, but I could cast off and retrieve from the side without going forward onto the front deck. If this all makes sense to anybody please feel free to chime in, I have been thinking about this method over this winter and trying to think about any draw backs it may have. I am hoping others may have used this method and give their pros and cons, thanks in advance for your feedback.

Airshot

 

[Craigballard.cb]

Sound like it will work fine to me and to get it back up just tie of to the cleat on the side and drive toward to get it unstuck then pull it up

 

[smokeonthewater]

last year we had a lengthy thread on this very topic with several suggestions..... try searching... ya might dig it up

 

[GA_Boater]

Airshot - Look at DozerII's Holiday re-do starting at this post - http://forums.iboats.com/forum/owne...-holiday-18-mercruiser-120/page68#post6884188 You might be able to do something similar that will work your Islander.

Inside

Outside

 

[Chris1956]

Your plan will work, but is not the best way to go. Install one of those Self-launching bow rollers on the bow, and a cleat on the gunwale near your pilot station. You will need to find a convenient place for the anchor line, near the gunwale cleat. Run the anchor line from the anchor to the gunwale-mounted cleat.

Now nose up to the anchor point, loosen the anchor line from the cleat and the anchor falls from the bow roller. Back off and cleat it. Now set the anchor.

 

[64osby]

Dozer's anchor set up sweet. Might look to copy that for my Lone Star.

On my Mariner I have an anchor line tied to the front cleat. There is also about a 10' line that is tied to my bow rail near the console, the other end has a D ring that is clipped over the anchor line. When I pull in the 10' line the anchor line is pulled back to me where I can pull it in the boat and not have to be at the bow

 

[airshot]

At my age remembering yesterday is hard enough but posts from last year.......boy that s a tuff one..LOL Yes I do remember some of those now that you mentioned it but if my very poor memory serves me as it usually doesn't, I believe the anchor ball was the topic and I chose to not go that way. I do appreciate the feedback given so far and I enjoy reading everyones thoughts and opinions. I am trying not to add more hardware to the boat but trying to make life easier and more safer for me to be able to still get out fishing. My thought was having a direct pull from the bow eye would make the boat more stable at anchor yet allow me to retrieve it without getting out of my comfort zone. Just thought someone may have tried it and be able to say whether it worked or was it to much trouble. Thanks again to all.

 

[airshot]

64osby....that is just the thing I was thinking about, but I do have a question for you.....does the D ring slide up toward the cleat and make it difficult to pull the anchor line in? That was going thru my mind so the thought of tying it directly to the anchor line was my thought. I guess I was wondering id the auxiliary line sliding up to the cleat would cause a leverage problem.......sound like it does not. For all of the other ideas many thanks......that is a cool anchoring system shown here, but I would prefer to not add additional hardware to my boat unless it becomes necessary. I am one of those guys that like to figure things out and keep it simple if at all possible. For all the rest of you good folks, please keep any ideas you have coming as it does make for interesting reading and exercises the mind while waiting for boating weather to arrive.

 

[64osby]

airshot, if the wind is stiff the D ring can slide up to the anchor line (to the bow) and it can be a little tough to get the hull moving forward enough to get slack in the anchor line.

If you start the motor and idle forward it will create the slack needed. As the D ring slides down the anchor line towards you it gets easier to pull it in.

I have 50' of anchor line running off the cleat. At times I still need to shorten it for shallow anchoring. So climbing up front is still needed at times. I also keep an additional 100 ft of line that can be added on for deep anchoring

 

[IllesheimVet]

I guess the designers at Starcraft figured anchoring wasn't necessary for those boats since they had zero provisions for it. I bought an 84 Islander new and experienced the same problem. I eventually traded it in on a more user-friendly boat.

 

[airshot]

Yes I was thinking the same thing as I normally motor toward the anchor to help straighten the pull to make it easier to get free. I like the idea of the heavier D ring sliding down as you move the boat closer to add to your leverage. Now you have me thinking that if I were to thread the anchor line thru the bow eye then back to my gunwale cleat, it would allow me to adjust the length of the rode and the sliding D ring would always be between the anchor and the bow eye so as to be able to do the retrieve. After retrieving the anchor, just drop it inside until I need to deploy it again. Hmmmmm....thanks for the ideas
As far as the Islander not being anchor friendly...well I suppose it could be if I were a contortionist and able to bend myself to get thru that hatch but at my age just getting into the cuddy can be a chore. I do like my Islander and of all the boats I have ever owned ( about 12-14) this has been my favorite. With all the other benefits of this boat, resolving the anchoring issue doesn't seem that bad, especially with all the good help and suggestions from this forum!!

 

[64osby]

I was sitting in my boat thinking about making the line adjustable today also. ^^^ Sounds like something that could work. I would need another cleat also.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Actually the thread I was referring to had several suggestions involving various ways to do exactly what you are asking about... including a couple suggestions by me

 

[airshot]

Well, see once again how good my memory isn't. I did do a search on anchoring problems and anchoring ideas but nothing worthwhile showed up. Must be using the wrong secret words in my search. Thanks

 

[smokeonthewater]

well it appears the POSSIBLY MY MEMORY is the problem here.... I think maybe I was jumbling the thread you remember AND another one in my head..... anyhow here is, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story.
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/gene...35-question-about-term-for-boat-and-anchoring

 

[airshot]

Thanks for the link as it has even more links and does talk about what I ask. With all the reading I have done on this forum I can't believe I have not run into that before.