Anchored out for the first time over New Years weekend. Lessons learned.

[MV Wanderlust]

We're still learning a lot about owning and operating a larger boat. For the most part, it has been a blast. What follows will probably cause many of you old salts to roll your eyes but it was new and exciting to us.



New Year's Eve, we motored down the Intercoastal Waterway and anchored in a little bay to the west of Sarasota. This would be my first time anchoring overnight or even during a tidal change.

Our plan was to drop the 10.5' Avon dinghy down and putter into town for our dinner reservations. We tied up at a small bridge and climbed up. My wife did surprisingly well considering the dress she was wearing. (she's pretty amazing)

We picked up a long hasp Master lock and used it to secure a 3/8" thick Kyptonite security cable to the dock cleat. The rest of the cable was locked to an eyebolt in the forward part of the RIB hull, through the gas tank handle, through a u-bolt on the transom, and through the cable lock securing the motor. That worked well. If someone really wanted it, they could have still stolen it but it made us feel better.

Dinner was good but it was well after dark when we returned to the dink. I had installed navigation lights ahead of time and we had a very powerful flashlight to help us get back. Driving the dinghy in the dark was another first but it went off without a hitch.

We tied the dinghy to the swim platform and went to bed. About 3:30 in the morning, a breeze popped up and caused some small waves. Didn't matter to the mother ship but we could hear this loud popping and banging outside. After three trips outside in the dark, we finally figured out that it was the waves hitting the 16" round, hollow tubes on the dinghy as it bobbed along behind us. Wifey came up with the idea to re-secure it in the snap davits (really dislike the Weaver system but it's what the boat came with) and then tie the painter around the snap davits to keep them from rattling. That worked well and we were finally back to sleep.

The next morning, we went for a ride around the little collection of keys to see what was what. After some experimentation, we discovered we can reliably get up on plane in reasonably calm water with our little 6 hp, two-stroke outboard at about 3/4 throttle when the bow lifts up and my wife holds onto the painter and stands up in the front of the boat. Yeehaw, we were cooking at what seemed like about 25 mph! Safe? Probably not. Fun? Certainly! Sure wish I had gotten a photo of that.

I confess to a little concern about it but the anchor held great during all tidal changes and wind shifts.

The Xantrex charger/inverter had different plans for the weekend. The charger/inverter is a Freedom Marine 3000 and the control pad is a Link 1000. When we arrived at the boat, the charger was not on. It had been charging and inverting (not simultaneously, of course) when I left the previous week. A call to a friend revealed that this particular model is prone to basically locking up and needing to be reset. By killing the A/C current, killing the 12 volt power to the control pad, then turning both back on, it reset everything and we were back in business. Quirky, but we can live with it for now and avoid the $3000 for a new Magnum system.

We also discovered if we shut off the shower while soaping up and only turn it back on to rinse off, we can stretch a 20 gal hot water tank for two people and can easily stretch the 170 gallon fresh water tank for three days, probably more.

Overall, a great holiday weekend and a good experience anchoring out for the first time. We're already planning our next outing.