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Old 07-24-2018, 06:29 AM   #1
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Anchor drag alarm in Bedroom

Good day all, just some food for thought. I drug anchor this weekend and the alarm was buzzing away but I couldn't hear it over the generator and ac noise. I will be mounting a remote buzzer in the bedroom which wires easily to the gps that I use. The electronics shop gave me the buzzer, and its loud. Hope this might help someone else do the same because it could have been real bad!
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Old 07-24-2018, 07:42 AM   #2
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Quote:
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Good day all, just some food for thought. I drug anchor this weekend and the alarm was buzzing away but I couldn't hear it over the generator and ac noise. I will be mounting a remote buzzer in the bedroom which wires easily to the gps that I use. The electronics shop gave me the buzzer, and its loud. Hope this might help someone else do the same because it could have been real bad!
I agree with your assessment and solution.
Others will say, "I have an app that alarms when I have anchor drag." SHURG
That is their solution.

There is always at least solutions to a single problem.

My high water alarm is a 3 inch fire bell. If I dont respond to that alarm, I have drown.

It's not that I hate a 30 amp boat (I had a 50 amp boat before) but I sure would like a amp meter in the galley as a quick reminder, "You are getting close the edge of darkness, again."
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Old 07-24-2018, 08:00 AM   #3
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Along those same lines, I was always abit unerved during overnight passages with someone on watch. Trying to sleep below in my cabin was tough, so I would sleep on the saloon sofa. I always thought that having a radar display (no controls) in my cabin would be helpful. Take a quick glimpse and feel more secure.

But for an anchor alarm... if you can't hear it then what good is it. So wiring up a buzzer in your cabin is a great idea.
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Old 07-24-2018, 08:24 AM   #4
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I'm a paranoid anchorer as well. One of the first things I did when we got our old Hatteras is install a little Furuno RD 30 repeater next to our bed. Besides giving me depth and position at a glance, I could set anchor and depth alarms. And I could take the NMEA feed off it and feed it to the laptop's chartplotter, but I didn't like leaving the laptop open all night. It all worked out really well. I also have a little antique box compass a friend gave us as a bob voyage gift I put bedside, at a glance I could see the boat's heading and see we had clocked around with the current.
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Old 07-24-2018, 09:56 AM   #5
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I installed a Garmin GMI 20 next to my bed. The unit runs off the nmea 2000 network including DC power. Anything running across the network can be displayed on GMI 20. Mine scrolls through depth, wind speed & direction, boat heading by compass, position, time of day, and has a built in anchor drag alarm. The display has alarms for some of the items such as shallow water and high wind speed.

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Old 07-24-2018, 10:10 AM   #6
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I use my iPad running SeaIQ with its anchor alarm, set on a shelf above my head in the forward berth and plugged into a cigarette lighter socket. The alarm will definitely wake me up since it is only a few feet from my head.


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Old 07-24-2018, 11:09 AM   #7
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I use the drag queen app on my phone.

When I first downloaded it my wife really wondered what I was getting into.
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Old 07-24-2018, 11:12 AM   #8
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We use Anchor Pro on our Android cell phone. It uses the phone's GPS so no need for a cell connection. I put it next to me at night. And it is loud when it goes off.
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Old 07-24-2018, 11:32 AM   #9
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I use the drag queen app on my phone.

When I first downloaded it my wife really wondered what I was getting into.
The last time I looked for the Drag Queen app for the iPhone or iPad, it was no longer available.
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Old 07-24-2018, 11:32 AM   #10
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Quote:
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i use the drag queen app on my phone.

When i first downloaded it my wife really wondered what i was getting into.
lol.
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Old 07-24-2018, 02:16 PM   #11
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You could always get an anchor that doesn't drag.
Your boat is big enough to carry one.
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Old 07-24-2018, 02:38 PM   #12
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You could always get an anchor that doesn't drag.
Your boat is big enough to carry one.
Tell us, which is the best kind of anchor?

Lots of solutions, everyone has their favorite. I personally like the low power draw of a cell phone, which I usually leave plugged in and charging overnight, anyway. I could also remote to my Vesper or Garmin, but I'd need them, plus the NMEA bus, powered up all night.

At any rate, I totally agree with the idea of having handy access to heading data (e.g.; a compass) near the berth.

I'd consider a small multi-function display like the Garmin GMI 20, if it weren't for the obscene price (around $600 for the Garmin, but there are others in the same ballpark.) Seems there's a market out there for someone to create a small, reasonably priced device to display NMEA data. There are similar devices on Amazon and eBay to display CANBus data, which is almost the same thing.
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Old 07-24-2018, 02:43 PM   #13
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Tell us, which is the best kind of anchor?
The one that doesn't drag.
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Old 07-24-2018, 02:49 PM   #14
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When we first bought Irish Lady, I used Drag Queen. But I quickly found the gps position in my phone every 20 minutes or so would jump out about 4000 ft long enough to trip the alarm. My large Garmin chart plotter eats 38 Watts just to drive the anchor alarm. Unsat. So I picked up used Garmin 540 and mounted it at the lower helm. Only uses 8 Watts on anchor watch and serves as a backup GPS. It has an internal antenna for easy installation. I set the alarm distance to 150 ft. So far so good. Only one false alarm. Having a Rocna helps too.
Another thing that helps is that I can leave the G540 in North Up mode all the time. If I pop out of bed at 2am I can instantly see if and what direction that I’m drifting. In course up mode, it takes too much thought to figure out what’s happening.
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Old 07-24-2018, 02:49 PM   #15
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We went with the Vesper 8000 series AIS because it connects to our ipad (or phones) via wifi,which we take to the stateroom with us. It stays on charge all night so we can see where we are in the anchor zone with the anchor watch app, alarms if we go out of the zone plus shows other ais vessels in the area.
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Old 07-24-2018, 03:49 PM   #16
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I use Drag Queen on my Android phone right next to the bed. Simple and works for me. And we tend to anchor out a LOT, as in months at a time. As to the anchor itself, we used a 55lb Spade with 200 feet of 3/8 chain. Boat weighs in at 16,000lbs. We have drug once in 4 years. Knock on wood.
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Old 07-24-2018, 04:36 PM   #17
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I was told that Drag Queen doesn’t work any longer. I use Anchor on the iPhone plus we have a remote Garmin alarm in our bed room.We have a Spade also, 120lb on an 80000 pound boat. In the Bahamas this summer we found two places wher we could not get it to set.
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Old 07-24-2018, 04:53 PM   #18
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Drag Queen does not work anymore on the latest Apple IOS for the IPhone. It may still work on older versions or Android phones. I have no means to check that.
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Old 07-24-2018, 05:27 PM   #19
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Jeffery told me he was going to improve it so it would work but then left Garmin. I liked that app but the new one I have works just as well.
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Old 07-24-2018, 05:41 PM   #20
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I just checked Drag Queen out in the front yard. It still works on an Android Note 8..maybe just Apple with the new updates it's a problem...
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