Anchoring question
- Thread starter LP Magic
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fstop
Active Member
I won't claim to be an expert, but this is how our family and friends anchor our Sea Rays. We like to anchor with the bow out towards the water. This makes people clean their feet before they board. I own a 260 and our friends have a 320. I use a 22lb Plow anchor, while our friends use a 30lb Plow anchor. I have about 20 feet of chain (I believe it's 5/16 inch chain) attached to the anchor and we use three strand nylon rope. Three strand nylon works well with our windless and it seems to be resistant to tears. I believe the ratio of the line you let out is something like 5-1 at the least and 7-1 as the best ratio. So, depending on how deep you are anchoring that will determine how much line you set out. Say you are anchoring in 10 ft of water, and your bow is 3 feet above the water and you want a ratio of 5-1 at the least so 10+3 x 5= 65 feet of rope at the minimum. BUT I prefer the 7-1 ratio of 10ft (water depth)+3 (bow height) x 7=91 feet of rope out. I also tend to put a little extra line out. We then anchor the back corners either to rocks or I have sand anchors that seem to work pretty well. But I prefer big rocks as they don't move. Here's a picture I took last year in Cedar Canyon. We both withstood 40-50 MPH gusts the day before and didn't have an issue. You'll note we also put out another extra line on the side of the boats that were getting the most wind. I also carry a Fortress aluminum anchor as a spare in case I feel I need an extra line out the front. I've used the extra anchor a few times, just so I can sleep better if I know there's some wind forecasted for the evening. This storm that blew through last August was one of the crazier we've experienced in 50 years of going to Powell. It dropped a lot of rain in a short period, the wind was rocking us pretty good, but we had some exceptional waterfalls to view that day!
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Ryan
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
Nice spot you have there @fstop
curious how much rode you usually have to let out? It seems rare to find a spot where you drop anchor and are only in 10’ of water.
For my much smaller sterndrive I had in the past I used a box anchor. Its claim to fame is you don’t need any chain and claim to need less rode. With a windless it likely doesn’t matter.
curious how much rode you usually have to let out? It seems rare to find a spot where you drop anchor and are only in 10’ of water.
For my much smaller sterndrive I had in the past I used a box anchor. Its claim to fame is you don’t need any chain and claim to need less rode. With a windless it likely doesn’t matter.
VikingRanch
Well-Known Member
We have a 240. I tried anchoring nose out, and was never happy with it. So I bury an anchor (or log or whatever) on the beach, then drop my box anchor out behind the boat. In big wind I add long diagonals from the stern to either side like you see on houseboats. We have a heavy duty keel guard, so as long as it’s sand not rock I feel fine about dragging it up onto the beech a little.
fstop
Active Member
I just used 10ft so it was easy to calculate. I would guess we normally anchor in 20-30 feet of water. I carry 250' of nylon rope and about 20 ft of chain attached to that. So, in 20 feet depth I would let out about 175-200' and at thirty I would let it all out and just leave a little at the bow for adjustments. That's not to say we haven't broken lose during the night. We have! But for the most part, we haven't had any issues. Here's the storm I mentioned on the above beach.
KMartin
Active Member
We no longer have our SeaRay 260, but we always anchored bow-in (Keel Guard is a must). Two fortress type anchors to the sides and we dug in the bow anchor if needed. Like Phillbo, we loved finding areas with big rocks. The attached picture shows spot where we didn't have to deploy the bow-to-beach steps.
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KMartin
Active Member
I believe FX-11s. That is one step up from the FX-7s recommended by Fortress for boat lengths up to 27'. We figured with the wind and the sand, it might be better to do a bit of overkill. Even with the 11s, we did break loose once during a heck of a storm. Probably operator error.....
Is the following anchoring technique in the video a viable anchoring option at Powell? This would keep the boat away from the shore protecting the hull from abrasion. My concern is that there is only one anchor and if it didn't hold the boat would only be held by the sand anchor.
Trix
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
For decades our fleet (about 8 friends) of express cruisers, 24 to 35 feet, have anchored bow out, usually with two shore sand stakes. Even though we almost always found protected beaches (Face, Friendship, Dungeon, Oak Bay), we often got hammered by LP micro bursts. Only very rarely did a plow or fluke anchor fail to hold. Drag some in frontal gusts, yes, but then they are pushed toward shore. We slept aboard of course, so when big one’s hit we would be up checking lines and/or doing the canvas/window drill when we didn’t zip up before hitting the sack. Can’t remember a sand stake pulling out in off shore wind. Most used slide anchor stakes; a little pricey but worth it.
KBJ
Active Member
Used a thick piece of rope, tied to the railings formed a perfect step,So, all you bow in folks swim to the stern to get in the boat?!
That’s why God created step stools and crates for the bow entry.
This method will work well at Powell, but only on certain beaches. Anchoring bow-into-wind/waves reduces the wind/wave pressure to approximately 1/6th the pressure you'd have with them hitting the side of your boat. You'll want to give a good tug on the anchor to make sure it's in either sand or mud. Unfortunately, there are a great many beaches at Powell where the sand doesn't extend out far enough for this type of anchoring.