bizzard
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OK, this might be a silly question, but if you do have a good length of chain and rope, what are the chances of the anchor, even if it works perfectly, not stopping you before you get to the weir?
Fend off the weir with your pole,shout for help or abandon ship.
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We had a 25kG plough anchor on our last narrowboat, which, as an experiment in mooring on the Thames, we tied to the bow line and dropped it in.
I'd estimate the water was about 6 to 8ft feet deep and the bow line about 40ft long, and the current was gentle. The anchor almost held the boat but after half an hour we were 100yds downstream of where we started the experiment.
We concluded we probably needed a length of weighty chain to make the anchor work properly so we concluded that anchor-mooring on the Thames was more trouble that it's worth.
I also concuded that due to anchor drag and the lifting effect on the chain as the line tightens, the snatch when an anchor bites when used in an emergency on the Thames is likely to very mild and not worth worrying about.
Thats it,ideally all chain,A Danforth anchor would be better than an CQR plough type anchor.
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If you worry that your choosen attatchment point - viz a T-stud - is not strong enough to take the strain, should you be using that point at all?
And where do river dwellers store the dingy?
Use an Elsan or a big Wok as a lifeboat. bizzard.
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Likewise, matching sets are so naff. We have one loop of fat rope fished out of the cut, and two 'bonglers' - very tatty old salvaged plastic cruiser fenders donated by Dave and Izzy on Bath, who inherited them from someone who has amassed a large collection from outside his lock cottage. (I wonder why...) Izzy also donated the term bongler which I think is excellent.
All my fenders have been fished out for free too. They seem to come mostly off boats with them fixed on those eyes low down on the hull,they can't roll along walls and clear easily,they get caught and snap their rope fixings.Some folk are less accurate with their steering than others. bizzard
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The only time you would really have to use an anchor would be on a tideway with engine or propulsion trouble or on a river in flood and the boats being taken by the current,wind or both towards danger, a weir for example again with propulsion trouble or engine not powerful enough,or rudder broken, to stem it.
Of course you would know roughly how deep the water is that your sailing on,so you would have several times that amount of cable'chain ready.ideally in an emergency dump it fast and the weight and length of it will not cause much of a snatch.If you don't think that your T stud or bollard is very strong take one turn with the your end of the cable around it and pay it out by feel. But if you have time lower it all hand over hand. You'd have to extract it like that anyway unless you have a winch.
My term 'cable'means rope,chain,wire whatever your using.
Practice deploying an anchor and cable beforehand if going on tidal or fast flowing rivers. bizzard.
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Out of interest how does your average flat bottomed narrowboat lie in open water in relation to the wind?
Most keel boats lie stern too as the bows overhang the underwater keel causing the boats hull to act like a flag in the wind.
Mostly stern to to,especially cruiser stern boats the flag effect.bizzard
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Not much, in current but, as long as you are not wasting time running through the boat, which requires some concentration, you are aware of what is happening to your boat and its position, on the water, enabling you to concentrate on deploying the anchor safely.
If the boat turns, because there is no power, and the anchor then needs to be deployed from the stern, there are only 2 quick and safe ways to achieve this: Have an anchor at either end, fore and aft, or have the bitter end secured at the bow and the anchor within reach of the helmsman.
A bundle of engineering bricks,the ones with holes in, all threaded on a rope make good drags, slower upperers or mud weights.
Not much, in current but, as long as you are not wasting time running through the boat, which requires some concentration, you are aware of what is happening to your boat and its position, on the water, enabling you to concentrate on deploying the anchor safely.
If the boat turns, because there is no power, and the anchor then needs to be deployed from the stern, there are only 2 quick and safe ways to achieve this: Have an anchor at either end, fore and aft, or have the bitter end secured at the bow and the anchor within reach of the helmsman.
A bundle of engineering bricks,the ones with holes in, all threaded on a rope make good drags, slower upperers or mud weights.
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until the coalman's cat runs away.
I meant implant in the coalman.
Dress him as a cat and take him to the vets.
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A pet cats transmitter implant could be the answer. bizzard.
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Is true but I'd still rather be on the deck rather than inside the boat. Forgive me if I'm being totally ignorant (truly) but wouldn't the tiller still make a bit of difference even if the engine wasn't working?
If the boat was drifting with a current none whatsoever.But if the boat is being blown along it might make a slight difference if waggled from side to side,as indeed a sailing boats rudder responds to the forward motion of the boat through the water only, driven by its sails. A motorboats rudder relies soley on forward motion provided by the engines propeller thrust wash. bizzard.
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Yep I can see your logic there Alan - we've never used a torch to navigate the towpath because our eyes quickly adjust as long as there is some moon in the sky. I'm just a bit of a worrier - if I haven't done it before I dream up loads of possible consequences!
One day we will have a night cruise - I really do like the idea.
You'll love it ,but get a wide angle beam headlamp as you need to be seeing just ahead and to the sides,you don't need to see terribly far ahead at 3mph or so. bizzard
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and the last thing you need to be doing is running through the boat leaving the tiller and controls unattended!
If the engine has packed up,being at the controls won't make a scrap of difference,the boats totally at the mercy of the elements until you get that anchor down. bizzard.
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a single hander looping ropes round them selves and the falling in has a distinct possibility of ending up in the prop.
Unless my cat Satchidanander jumps onto the gear lever and knocks it into gear it wouldn't be turning. But i do like mincemeat and onion pie. biz.
a single hander looping ropes round them selves and the falling in has a distinct possibility of ending up in the prop.
Unless my cat Satchidanander jumps onto the gear lever and knocks it into gear it wouldn't be turning. But i do like mincemeat and onion pie. biz.
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Fair point, but less risky than it getting caught on something on the top? Assuming we're talking about a narrowboat, so flat bottom and no keel.
I'd say so yes.But there's always the chance that a rope can be cut in half by the jagged edge of the bottom plate as once the anchor taken hold the whole weight of the boat will be rolling along the rope,one of the reasons i always say Chain chain and more chain. bizzard.
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I was assuming that the anchor is attached to the front for the reasons you give, but with the rope run back and the anchor kept at the back where it is ready to deploy quickly. As you say, the boat will then swing round so that the front is facing the current. My point is that which side you drop it from makes no difference to this process.
Okay yes. Its best to drop it over the weather side,the side the winds blowing on,as the boat is already being blown away from it and will so align itself up with the anchor more quickly and take effect.
But only on the other side if for any reason it can't be dropped on the windward side as the boat will blow over the cable and have to slide along beneath the keel or bottom plate and so could get caught up on an anode or other projection. bizzard.
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sorry Bizzard,
this is the first time I disagree.
you should never loop a line round yourself anywhere, especially as a single hander,
as when something goes wrong(which it does), you will end up injured or in the cut.
I can't see what can go wrong,unless that persons some kind of an accident prone imbecile..
You can save yourself on your own rope,a lifeline,as used on seagoing boats especially yachts in bad weather.
The crew are pretty glad they're attached to a rope.
I think the safety of using it outweighs any dangers of using it. bizzard.
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Ideally from the bow of course as the bows present least resistance to current,therefor the anchor has more chance of holding.As most inland type boats are wind rode ie more air draught than water draught,unless the tide or current is stronger will swing bows into wind or into the current if thats stronger. However there's nothing wrong in chucking the anchor out from anywhere in an emergency as Chertsey says as long as there's nothing for the rope or i hope chain to catch on.Whichever end of the boat its attached to the boat will swing automatically into wind or current. bizzard.
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Tried a similar method and it didn't work - using the hot calorifier water to heat a second coil that wasn't being used and send that coolant around the central heating system. There's a thread on it somewhere. Calorifier coils are designed to heat standing water in the tank. They're not designed to transfer heat from hot water in the tank back to a cold coil. Perhaps the 12v pump was too fast or too slow. Anyway, it didn't work. With your system wouldn't the cold water tank eventually get hot? When it's up to temperature that's the end of the cooling system isn't it?
I also tried using 4 x 2000 btu rads which are inside the boat via a heat exchanger from the engine. The rads get nicely hot but the additional engine cooling is marginal at best. I never figured out why this method doesn't work. That heat from the rads must be coming from the engine, but it doesn't cool the engine very much.
I don't regret the radiator system as it utilised 4 unused rads inside the boat (previously connected to now defunct eberspacher), but I've now spent about 200 quid trying to do these workarounds and I think it's time to do the job properly.
Of course it would eventually heat up the water tanks water.But how long do you expect to be going against the tide.
AS you may remember on cars.In the event of overheating during the summer if you turned the heater on to hot it could cool the engine down quite often enough to get home or off a motorway. Also the boat engine takes quite a bit longer to reach normal running temp whilst heating the calorifier water as opposed to it being turned off out of circuit. I'm sure you are doing the correct thing by adding another skin tank,hope all goes well. bizzard.
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This is a bit of an eye opener,for some reason I'd got it into my head you wern't suppose to move before 7.30 or after dark.I admit I've done both but thought I was being a bit outlaw.I realized after a few boats had woken me up at various times that there didn't seem to be any rules.This summer a "party boat" passed at 1.30 with plenty of noise,have to say I thought they were mad but turned over and went back to sleep,with the lovely thought I was on my boat.Boats passing anytime is lovely so long as it's slow.Incedently my favourite boat noise is the rain on the roof (like now) followed by the crackle of the fire in the stove and the ticking of the clock which reminds me of my Nan and Grandads,when times were simpler.
I believe that only applies to hire boats,which are mostly only insured to travel during daylight hours. bizzard
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Another possibility would be to reverse the role of the calorifier,run a return cold water pipe to your water storage tank and with a matter of a valve or two and the use of the domestic water pump or a dedicated one to constantly circulate cold water through the calorifier and so cool the engines heating coil inside it.You only seem to need a bit of extra cooling when punching against tides so would be enough and a novel method too. bizzard.
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Cut the chlorestrol and use Cumberland sausages. bizzard.
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Even the angle grinder back scrubber?First class bizzard, excellent idea.
I can honestly say, I've implemented all of your ideas, with great success (except the gimballed chair & that was my own fault)
Keep em coming...
I agree the fully gimbled rocking chair was over the top,but with just two leaf springs in the normal position,makes a tolerable swivelling rocking chair.Of course any chair can be made to rock even a 4 seater sofa.or even a bed.Ah that reminds me.my micro-wave bed,mmm.
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This is not new i shouldn't think,but i've not seen anyone using the idea.
Aimed mainly at solo boaters.
Splice or whip a loop onto the ends of your centre rope. For when climbing up and down lock ladders.
Just slip the loop over an arm and so freeing that hand to help hold on,as you've probably got your windlass in tother,unless of course you happen to be blessed with three hands and arms. bizzard
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There is no way I could drag my fat carcase up onto the roof and run forward to deploy the anchor on the foredeck without :-
a) Falling in
Having a heart attackc) Chickening out because I do not like heights.
It would be far quicker, easier and safer to go through the boat interior, for me anyway.
I'm inclined to agree,because of all the stuff eg flower pots,bloody mushroom vents and things on the roof that many folk have.One is more likely to trip over something up there in the panic and go overboard than reach the other end safely,leading to drowning and destruction all round. bizzard.
Having a heart attack
anchor
in General Boating
Posted
And of course wind speed and direction has a huge influence as to whether or not your anchor holds despite the current or tide.
It can either help or hinder your efforts to remain stationary whilst anchored, and are fiddling frantically trying to fix whatever's busted and caused all the trouble.The predicament may even be caused by premature ''Up spirits''.helmsperson not in proper control,Double vision ect,trying to lasso swans so as to tow you out of danger.In ihat case bash him on the bonse with a mallet and take charge.