Anchor buoy

I would like to put a buoy on my anchor so others will know where mine is and not set on it. I'm thinking of using an anchor buddy line that stretches from 14' to 50' with a buoy on the end of it.anyone use this or have a better idea..thanks

Someone posted here a few years back they stopped using one because inexperienced boaters tried using it as a mooring in crowded anchorages. One person succeeded in attaching to it and set them adrift as it was their trip line.

Active Captain's deal of the week is for just such an item. Sorry, Can't find the link but someone on the forum must have it. I was going to order it but decided not to for the reason above.

I have anchored at least 500 times during the several years I cruised full time. I only saw an anchor buoy used once.


David

dreamer,
Are the anchorages that crowded down there?
I'd look for a less popular anchorage.
The waters are so protected down there one could anchor just about anywhere except the middle of a channel. Probably mostly soft bottoms too. I was going to go down there this spring but have'nt made it yet.
Another thought is to set your anchor hard and shorten up close unless wind is in the forecast. But if the guy on either side of you is at 8-1 scope .......

David,
Yes I used one 3 times in Alaska. Marin was a big fan of anchor bouys. He was also a fan of absolute.

not crowed at all.I would like to know where my anchor is and if anything ever happened I would be able to find and retrieve my anchor

Every time I'm reading about good seamanship and it comes to anchorage there is advised to use an anchor buoy.
However they are very seldom to be seen here in the Baltics. We used once one of our ball fenders in a crowded anchorage. At the end someone drove over it during the night. Fender jammed between rudder and prop while the trip line ...
Hence we never used an anchor buoy again.



best regards / med venlig hilsen
Wadden

In most cases I consider them to be a hazard. When entering an anchorage at night it would be very easy to have one foul your prop. Unless you are anchored in an area with a foul bottom where the float may help in retrieval.


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Mystic, I have been considering the same thing.

We cruise full time here on the Atlantic coast. Those buoys are in my mind JV. in crowded anchorages it is normal that you swing over another's anchor. They are just an unnecessary hazard in an anchorage. The one exception might be in an anchorage where you are concerned that the anchor might get snagged. Again, after hundreds and hundreds of anchorages, I have never had that issue or concern. If the anchor does get fouled you can slide a 4 foot loop of chain around your rode and use it to lift the anchor. In the past 5 years I can only recall seeing two people use them. In Solomons last summer someone had one out and another boat fouled it. In GA last fall anchoring in a lot of current. someone anchored close to us with one of those. he knew he was too close. He went to raise his anchor but in the current, he got turned around and he caught it in his own propeller. Please don't use one of those.

Very good perspective Tadhana, thanks.

I normally mark my anchor drop point on the plotter. That way I can set up an anchor watch circle or square with the anchor right in the middle. A buoy seems less useful IMHO and as mentioned may well be hazard.

For over 30 years and a couple of thousand nights at anchor I have always used an anchor float. I want to know where it is all the time. As you swing around in the tide or wind, the anchor can be under you or 100' behind you. I want to be able to tell someone " Hey ! you're about to drop your hook on mine" ... that's happened many times between Ontario and the Bahamas.

My anchor line is just that ... it's not a trip line. My line consists of a plastic milk jug and a very light, cheap dollar store string. I have never fouled the line in my prop and if it did, well it's just a piece of string and won't hurt anything.

For a trip line I have a heavy stainless steel carabiner on four feet of chain and 50' of 1/2" nylon that I clip on my rode and slide down to the anchor.

mysticdreamer said:

not crowed at all.I would like to know where my anchor is and if anything ever happened I would be able to find and retrieve my anchor

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Isn't that a bit 'glass half empty' type thinking. I'm with the others. Where my anchor is, is always pretty obvious, because I use a chain counter and know exactly how much I put out, and I'm that far downstream/wind of it. I'd be more worried about someone fouling my anchor by their prop catching up the anchor float, if I used one. As to losing the anchor...not likely...I have Super Sarca. Google it.

I had a couple of those of different lengths courtesy of a friend who gave them to me when he quit cruising. Used one of them once in hundreds of nights on the hook and never again. We were in a variety of crowded anchorages and saw more potential hazard than good and it was a small PITA to deploy and retrieve. For one thing it restricts the movement of boats through the anchorage. If another boat anchored over ours when we were unaware, we never had an issue getting them to pull forward a bit when we we needed them to.

We use one 90+% of the time.

A 3/8 line is tied to the anchor crown and threaded thru an 8 inch red ball , ending in a sounding lead.

When the anchor is let go it drags the line, ball and weight into the water.

In modest depths the setup keeps the ball directly over the set anchor .

Once in 50 years had a sport fish pick up the ball, and anchor all night .

Didn't bother him a bit that his stern was about 7 ft from our bow.

ANCHOR TRIP LINE painted on the ball will help most cruisers if not drunken Sports..

Peter B said:

because I use a chain counter and know exactly how much I put out, and I'm that far downstream/wind of it. I'd be more worried about someone fouling my anchor by their prop catching up the anchor float, if I used one. As to losing the anchor...not likely...I have Super Sarca. Google it.

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In a tidal area my boat can rotate 360 degrees while revolving 360 degrees within it's entire scope. My chain counter cannot possibly tell me where the anchor is within that scope and the little piece of string on my milk jug is unlikely to pull out even a CQR or Sarca

How can anyone coming in to the anchorage even guess how much scope I have out or where my anchor is without a float ?

These photos of my milk jug 150' behind me and right at my side (with tidal stream clearly visible) make my point.

I am with the "twins...galley down" group.

boatpoker said:

How can anyone coming in to the anchorage even guess how much scope I have out or where my anchor is without a float ?

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Apparently it must not be to difficult. Since 90% or more of the vessels anchoring out don't use a float and rarely do boats ever seem to get their anchors tangled up together or have another vessel swing into them.

Poker wrote;
"How can anyone coming in to the anchorage even guess how much scope I have out or where my anchor is without a float ?"

Lots of ways one can guess w a fair degree of accuracy.
1. One can see where all the other boats are oriented and observe the wind. The anchors will be somewhere upwind.
2. Look at the rodes attached to the bows of the other boats and observe that they are chain or line. With a chain rode and light wind the anchor won't be far upwind or even right in front of the boat but w white nylon line the anchor could (or likely will be) quite a distance upwind.

There are other tell tales but if there's no wind and other boats are oriented every which way you do have a point but one definitely should be able to draw some fairly correct conclusions.

Bill wrote;
"Apparently it must not be to difficult. Since 90% or more of the vessels anchoring out don't use a float and rarely do boats ever seem to get their anchors tangled up together or have another vessel swing into them"
In the shallow waters on the east coast that is probably more true but it's amazing how few troubles occur. Good point.

"Since 90% or more of the vessels anchoring out don't use a float and rarely do boats ever seem to get their anchors tangled up together or have another vessel swing into them."

That's fine in a wide open anchorage , but in the Bahamas many anchorages are tight , some basically on the side of a tiny river.

In the North East same problem not every anchorage is grand , and the few that are will have town moorings or locals with a dozen trying to make a business.

Letting other folk know just where your anchor is set seems to help more than it hurts.

And of course the ability to tug it out if fouled PRICELESS , even tho its free.

FF said:

"Since 90% or more of the vessels anchoring out don't use a float and rarely do boats ever seem to get their anchors tangled up together or have another vessel swing into them."

That's fine in a wide open anchorage , but in the Bahamas many anchorages are tight , some basically on the side of a tiny river.

In the North East same problem not every anchorage is grand , and the few that are will have town moorings or locals with a dozen trying to make a business.

Letting other folk know just where your anchor is set seems to help more than it hurts.

And of course the ability to tug it out if fouled PRICELESS , even tho its free.

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And you still almost never see a anchor buoy in those areas and people rarely tangle.

Capt.Bill11 said:

And you still almost never see a anchor buoy in those areas and people rarely tangle.

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I rarely see a buoy in my area either. Personally I could care less if someone is sitting over my anchor as long as they have a lot of scope so when the wind changes direction I have someplace to swing. If I swing onto their buoy they are going to lose that marker because I am not going to sit at anchor crippled.
They do more harm than good in my opinion. That's why they are rarely used around here.

Nomad Willy said:

Poker wrote;
"How can anyone coming in to the anchorage even guess how much scope I have out or where my anchor is without a float ?"

Lots of ways one can guess w a fair degree of accuracy.
1. One can see where all the other boats are oriented and observe the wind. The anchors will be somewhere upwind.

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Quite simply not true. Didn't you look at my photos ?

It seems as if the East Coast folks definitely don't like them. But then they also seem to have more defined "anchorages" than what I am used to out here.

jleonard said:

They do more harm than good in my opinion. That's why they are rarely used around here.

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Somewhere around 2000 nights at anchor has convinced me otherwise and my light string and milk jug have never harmed anyone but to each his own.

I see both sides and have flip flopped back and forth several times in my boating life.

I do agree though that in anchorages where you don't have all long distance cruisers anchoring...and even then...you have no idea of what scope is out or in what direction from the boat if the conditions are benign.

With all the different kinds of boats and ground tackle and skipper experience out there, it really is a guessing game.

But the good news like some have said..usually it works itself out except in tight areas and/or people arrive after dark. Then it's a roll of the dice if weather brews up.

Geez...just in my own post I may have changed my mind....

Poker re post #17,
The upper pic shows your float way out there. That computes.

The 2nd pic shows the float right alongside. That dos'nt compute. Your anchor can't be right alongside your boat in that current. Surely the line on the float is much shorter than the rode.

Sorry I don't see your point.
Sorry if I was wrong but I don't know what about.

Re the topic I'd go over where another's anchor may be or even probably is if chain was hang'in off the bow. May not with line on the bow.

I've used a trip line several times in Alaska mostly because of the logging. And it was for anchor retrival not marking the location of my anchor. In Alaska we anchored most of the time alone or w a boat or two .. way over there. But down here I'm going to need to pull up short so my anchor will be near the boat.

Nomad Willy said:

The 2nd pic shows the float right alongside. That dos'nt compute. Your anchor can't be right alongside your boat in that current. Surely the line on the float is much shorter than the rode.

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Riding on 150' of chain, the current or wind has to pick up considerably to straighten the rode. I'm in 15' of water with a 15' piece of string between my float and anchor. Seems pretty simple to me, I don't understand what does not compute.

Wind against tide can make all kinds of designs lay to their anchors all over the place.

Mix a houseboat, a trawler, a cat sailer, and a deep draft sailboat in an anchorage with a half knot to knot of current opposing 10 knots to 15 knots of wind and see what you get.

Been there done that...last tight, confused anchorage was Georgetown, SC. All 4 lying differently. Whether boat type or ground tackle...doesn't matter....you just never know till a current or wind lays em all out straight...but something small can change that pronto.