Boat drifted in Shallow Water

[AZBoatDreamer]

Ok here was my my issue last Weekend boating. While anchored about 50 ft from the shore we ended up drifting into shallow water about 10 ft from shore. The anchor didn't take hold. The outdrive was up at the time and it was too shallow to drop it and start up the motor to back out. It think we were in 3ft of water at that time so I had to push it out until I was deep enough to drop the drive and start up the motor.

So I thought It would be nice to have a trolling motor for situations like this. The issue is I do not want to spend alot of money mounting a bow trolling motor. What size trolling motor would I need for my boat "See Sig" and how would I Temporarily mount it. Is there a way to mount it on back of my Swim Platform.

One other question. How do you properly deploy an Anchor? I think Im doing it wrong.

Thanks. YOu all are the best.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

Do you have a length of chain/rode at the end of the anchor line?

That helps the claws dig in when you drop it off the bow, and then idle in reverse to pull the line and set the anchor.

 

[AZBoatDreamer]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

Do you have a length of chain/rode at the end of the anchor line?

That helps the claws dig in when you drop it off the bow, and then idle in reverse to pull the line and set the anchor.

It just has a 100 FT rope attached to the end of a claw anchor. No Chain to speak of. My procedure is to slowly drift in and drop the anchor and Tie it off. Maybe I should drag it a little for it to take hold. In reverse like you suggested.

Thanks for the Quick reply.

 

[blifsey]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

Instead of expense of a trolling motor, batteries, etc., get a couple telescoping boat hooks. They can be used to pole boat into water deep enough to use outdrive. I will make boat swing so stern is in deepest water and back out as needed.

This write-up explains anchoring technique pretty good...
How to anchor a boat

 

[AZBoatDreamer]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

Thanks for the Help and Reply Blifsey. The Link helps. I do have oars but not long enough to Push or paddle us out further. The incomming waves would allow to paddle out. I will have to search Iboat store for telescoping hooks.

 

[JCMINIS]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

You need to add some chain IMO, when I bought my boat it came with an anchor, but was just rope and didnt have any chain.It was a pain to get set, if I even could, I added 4 feet of chain.Works like a charm most of the time, but my anchoring skills need some work....

 

[blifsey]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

Another question...where are you attaching anchor to boat? The 2002 Glastron we had did not have a cleat on very front of bow so I originally tied anchor to a cleat directly in front of windshield. That would make boat turn sideways in wind/current making it more likely to drag the anchor. I finally got a 3' or 5' piece of rope, tied bowlines on each end and attache a caribener (sp???) to each bowline. One end would get snapped to my bow eye. I would then tie a loop (trucker's knot or butterfly hitch) in anchor rode where needed and attach to the other end.

 

[Andy'sDelight]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

This is what you need:

http://www.iboats.com/Telescoping-B...40917951--**********.818587674--view_id.70653


For the anchor, you need to put chain at the end of the anchor line. Not sure of your conditions, but I would imagine 8' of chain would do the trick, then let out about 3 times the depth of the water in rode. If conditions are harsh, bump it up to 5-6 times. I have a 23' Wellcraft with about 8' of chain and anchor, usually in sandy/muddy bottom letting out about 5 times depth while sitting in 4-6 foot rollers with 20 knot winds and I stay put. Also might want to make sure your anchor is big enough to hold you.

 

[AZBoatDreamer]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

Where does the chain attach to the Anchor. Is it just a chain dangling from the anchor.

My boat doesn't have a front Cleat. I was attaching it to the Site Cleat on top side in the Picture.

 

[BTMCB]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

Plenty of anchoring advice out there, so I won't go there. But, one piece of advice I offer is......once you are anchored....check a couple of landmarks, keep an eye out and if you start to drift / drag anchor, pull it, move and re-set before you drift too far and get into the situation you did. Good luck.

 

[AZBoatDreamer]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

This is what you need:

http://www.iboats.com/Telescoping-B...40917951--**********.818587674--view_id.70653


For the anchor, you need to put chain at the end of the anchor line. Not sure of your conditions, but I would imagine 8' of chain would do the trick, then let out about 3 times the depth of the water in rode. If conditions are harsh, bump it up to 5-6 times. I have a 23' Wellcraft with about 8' of chain and anchor, usually in sandy/muddy bottom letting out about 5 times depth while sitting in 4-6 foot rollers with 20 knot winds and I stay put. Also might want to make sure your anchor is big enough to hold you.

Thank you for the link and info.

Ok Im going to toss out the Idea of a trolling motor. If I just have the proper setup for an Anchor and procedures for deploying it, I shouldnt run into problems.

 

[AZBoatDreamer]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

Plenty of anchoring advice out there, so I won't go there. But, one piece of advice I offer is......once you are anchored....check a couple of landmarks, keep an eye out and if you start to drift / drag anchor, pull it, move and re-set before you drift too far and get into the situation you did. Good luck.

Brian this isn't the first time I ran into situations like this. You know I get busy playing with the Kids and wife and all of a sudden I have drifted to shore without noticing.
I do not know how people sleep on anchored boats and not be worried about drift.

 

[Andy'sDelight]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

Do you have a GPS? If so, it most likely has a drift alarm. I wouldn't sleep on a boat without it.

 

[AZBoatDreamer]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

No GPS except the Portable one for my cars. My boat is not really equip to be a over nighter like yours Andy.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

Boat hooks make poor shove poles; they bend and collapse. A telescoping shove pole is better. A sturdy oar is next best, then a paddle, although a paddle will be of minimal utilty for your boat.

There is a combo unit of boat hook, shove pole and paddle; you change out the head.

Where I boat, the shove pole/oar is the second most important piece of equipment on the boat. The first is the anchor, properly rigged.

When stuck, you can throw the anchor out, pull yuorself up to it, and repeat. total pain and about impossible against a strong wind, but that's what you have to do, sometimes, especially if you don't have a shove pole.

 

[AZBoatDreamer]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

I have two oars. Wind and waves was preventing me and my wife to push and paddle our way out. I had to jump into the drink and push the boat out by the bow.

Thanks for all the replies. You all are the best.

 

[brhodes]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

Other anchor advice I learned in my boating course was to add a swivel to the base of the chain at the anchor to avoid any twisting, and always tie off to the bow if only using one anchor point (kinda common sense). Great advice by others, good luck.

 

[Pez Vela]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

Where does the chain attach to the Anchor. Is it just a chain dangling from the anchor.

My boat doesn't have a front Cleat. I was attaching it to the Site Cleat on top side in the Picture.

I suggest you purchase an anchor package like this ... http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...toreNum=10105&subdeptNum=10401&classNum=10402 ... or learn how to rig your existing gear in similar fashion. Once you have your anchor rode set up properly with plenty of chain, you MUST tie it off to the bow of your boat. I'm sure you have a bow eye ring which would suffice. Otherwise, I would add a cleat.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

the chain goes between the rope and the anchor.... also an example of what was stated above,,,, on a windy day you might need the whole 100 ft of rope you have to anchor in 20' of water.... in 30' you might need 150' of rope

also, while you aren't "supposed" to, I wouldn't hesitate to fire up the engine in 3' of water with it tilted way up and idle out till I could put it down..... I've done it MANY times but of course anything you do that is contrary to your owners manual is "at your own risk"'

 

[Navigator_Victory]

Re: Boat drifted in Shallow Water

Let out enough rope.....then let out some more