Stern anchoring

quote:
Originally posted by Gregory S

Can't anchoring from the stern be a risky prposition?
Click to expand...


Yes. Boats are constructed with the anchoring aparatus at the "pointy end" (bow) for a reason. The bow has the least resistance to water flow. The bow divides the water, part of it moves past each side.

Anchor from the "square end" (stern) and you have constructed a dam. Water flow will want to pile up against the transom instead of flowing around the sides. You will have a lot more strain on your ground tackle (not that there's a pulpit, windlass, roller, anchor locker, etc.) at the stern anyway. You're more likely to drag anchor, the water could come over the transom (on some boats), and as mentioned above, be forced into the engine's exhaust.

Boats have been anchored from the bow for thousands of years. There's a good reason.
 
The dinghy tied to the bow may be your best idea yet. Try it just on her side flush against the boat.
But that gave me another idea.
So an inflatable boom shaped like the bow.
You inflate it and drop it in the water around the bow, water hits it but it has 2 chambers, one outside and one inside so the sound deadens and does not reverberate thru.

Ok, I smell patent!
 
This issue was probably at the top of the list of things I wanted in my next boat - an aft cabin. Have not even slept in it yet!, so can't report in improved sleep quality. Damn flooding. That and the fixer upper I bought isn't even ready to launch yet.
If you bought it right, maybe something to think about.
 
Folieadeux:

rawidman has it right.

I have been working on the assumption that there is a reason why the pointy end of the power boatsail boat is most often seen to be leading the way.

Anchoring from the stern only would seem to defeat the purpose of the pointy end pointing into the wind andor current. If the windcurrent causing leetle tiny wavelets to slap on the forward part of the hull is going to cause someone to lose sleep on the boat, in a forward cabin, I would guess that a 35 knot gale pounding on the blunt ended stern would strike terror into the heart of the would be sleeper.

A hard-chined pleasure boat is subject to that annoying chine slap, and I have taken my best friend for a romantic, flashlight aided, midnight row around the vessel to observe the little half-inch wavelets that are causing all the noise at the bow end of our newly purchased boat. That removed the fear. After we were tucked back under the sheets, however, she started whining about the noise again. Go figure.

That lead me to invent the No-Noise-at-Night-Necklace.

Anchor from the bow in your normal fashion.

You will need a poly line long enough to reach around the waterline of the front one-third to one-half of the boat and to be fastened from a mid-ship cleat on either side. You will need a couple of dozen Styrofoam floats, of the kind used to mark a gill-net line, with a central longitudinal hole to accept the line. Thread the line though all the floats, tying a knot between the individual floats, to prevent (or, at least, lessen) their lateral movement. Secure the first and last floats in position with a knot as well. Tie one end of the necklace to a mid-ship cleat, and string the line forward, around the bow at the waterline, and secure it to the mid-ship cleat on the other side. Adjust the line for tension so that all the floats are in the water. You could attach a small weight to the line to hold the outside floats in place, if needed.

Wally! You have constructed and installed the famous No-Noise-at-Night-Necklace.

Stow the whole thing in a plastic garbage bag between uses.

Y’r welcome.

Old_Sleeps_like_a_Baby … (except for the pee breaks)

P.S.

Le’mme know if this works …
I will make myself available as a character witness, on your behalf, at your divorce proceedings if this attempt is rejected by She-Who-is-Never_Wrong. Hold out for retention of the boat ... she probably won't want it anyway.
 
"No-Noise-at-Night-Necklace" - Oh, it goes on the bow of the boat! My bad, I put it around the admiral's neck!
LOL!
 
quote:
Originally posted by Old_Salt

Folieadeux:

rawidman has it right.

I have been working on the assumption that there is a reason why the pointy end of the power boatsail boat is most often seen to be leading the way.

Anchoring from the stern only would seem to defeat the purpose of the pointy end pointing into the wind andor current. If the windcurrent causing leetle tiny wavelets to slap on the forward part of the hull is going to cause someone to lose sleep on the boat, in a forward cabin, I would guess that a 35 knot gale pounding on the blunt ended stern would strike terror into the heart of the would be sleeper.

A hard-chined pleasure boat is subject to that annoying chine slap, and I have taken my best friend for a romantic, flashlight aided, midnight row around the vessel to observe the little half-inch wavelets that are causing all the noise at the bow end of our newly purchased boat. That removed the fear. After we were tucked back under the sheets, however, she started whining about the noise again. Go figure.

That lead me to invent the No-Noise-at-Night-Necklace.

Anchor from the bow in your normal fashion.

You will need a poly line long enough to reach around the waterline of the front one-third to one-half of the boat and to be fastened from a mid-ship cleat on either side. You will need a couple of dozen Styrofoam floats, of the kind used to mark a gill-net line, with a central longitudinal hole to accept the line. Thread the line though all the floats, tying a knot between the individual floats, to prevent (or, at least, lessen) their lateral movement. Secure the first and last floats in position with a knot as well. Tie one end of the necklace to a mid-ship cleat, and string the line forward, around the bow at the waterline, and secure it to the mid-ship cleat on the other side. Adjust the line for tension so that all the floats are in the water. You could attach a small weight to the line to hold the outside floats in place, if needed.

Wally! You have constructed and installed the famous No-Noise-at-Night-Necklace.

Stow the whole thing in a plastic garbage bag between uses.

Y’r welcome.

Old_Sleeps_like_a_Baby … (except for the pee breaks)

P.S.

Le’mme know if this works …
I will make myself available as a character witness, on your behalf, at your divorce proceedings if this attempt is rejected by She-Who-is-Never_Wrong. Hold out for retention of the boat ... she probably won't want it anyway.

Click to expand...


Boy-I knew when I posted this thread that somehow the weird and zany comments would pour out.

Actually, we always carry about 6-8 foam "noodles" for using when the gang is swimming off the platform, I also feed out a 50' poly floating line off the platform with a throwable float attached to it, the line is so no swimmer gets taken away by the currents, they know to not get too far away from the line or to grab the float if they get to the end of the floating line. I could easily thread the poly rope thru the swim noodles and wrap that around the bow or "pointy end" and tie the ends to a mid-ship cleat.

Believe it or not....I plan to try that, I got nothing to lose but a GRUMPY ADMIRAL !!
 
I have used a stern anchor on a hot quiet day in a nearly empty cove for a couple of hours. I don't have a genny, and have no problem with water coming in the exhaust.
I like it because I can take advantage of the breeze while sitting in the cockpit. I never had a problem with it.
That being said:
The boat does tend to swing around a lot more with the stern anchor out and I wouldn't trust it if I were sleeping. I also wouldn't do it around other boats, or in the path of approaching boats who may not realize that you have the anchor off the stern and might run over the line.
 
Use more than "6-8 noodles". What you are trying to do is to break up the wavelets before they strike the boat's surface, and to prevent the larger waves getting under the forward surface when the "wavelets" become waves. You will need to protect the forward surfaces with as close as we can get to a "solid" surface of "noodles" that prevents the waves striking the boat.

OS
 
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Neal, you know who to call!! A nice big aft cabin and expensive aft cabin would solve this issue very quickly! ;)
The noodle idea is worth a shot- it may work. Some boats have a bigger issue with hull slap than others- depends on the hull design. My silverton was moderate- not too bad but more than my old Cruisers 3372 express. The forward berth in the Monk is shockingly 100% dead quiet no matter what even though it doesn't bother the kids and it's obviously quiet in the aft berth.

And yes...ear plugs would be the easiest way to solve the hull slap problem and your snoring would no longer wake her up either. ;)

Other issue I'd have with stern anchoring beyond what others have already said is that if some weather or something did kick up in the night and you had to release the anchor....there would be tension on the line, you'd be up at the helm, wife down at the anchor line...you'd either have to cut the line OR back the boat up in reverse to get the tension off the line and in doing so perhaps accidentally get the props caught up in the line in the midst of a storm, etc. etc. Not a fun thought.
 
My wife and I have both just gotten used to the sound of water slapping on the hull. It's a lot more relaxing than the airplanes and police sirens at home!

What's really annoying is when some piece of vegetation gets stuck on the boat and keeps slapping at the hull. I saw a post once where someone had problems with the sound of fish eating the growth off his hull at night.
 
Tony- After she has stayed with me for 40 years, I do not think I will be selling The Admiral any time soon ;-) I agree that a stern line would be a PITA if you had to make a dash in the middle of the night.

It will be much cheaper to try the NOODLE trick, earplugs are already a standard part of sleeping attire.
 
"It will be much cheaper to try the NOODLE trick..."

If you should do that, I think we should consider renaming it the
"No-Noise-at-Night-Noodle-Necklace".

OS
 
quote:
Originally posted by Woodsong

Other issue I'd have with stern anchoring beyond what others have already said is that if some weather or something did kick up in the night and you had to release the anchor....
Click to expand...


That is why I recommend a float secured to the bitter end...just release the line from the cleat and let go.

I often anchored out by myself. It took longer to bring up the bow anchor via windless then to bring in the stern line. If I had to let it go in an emergency, I could just return to pick up the float with my boat hook.
 
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