Having Your Own Anchor Ball, Buoy ?

[pablothesailor]

If you intend to stay in the same area for more than a week is it worth having your own ¨permanent¨ Anchor Ball, Bouy? I was reading on line yesterday about a couple who had stayed in Key West for a month and had somehow set up their own Anchor ball to save dropping Anchor everytime they came back from a days sailing! It seems they purchased the Ball, Bouy on line for around $175 and somehow weighed it down and just connected to it when they returned! I would have thought other boats would have tied up to it while they were away, not sure if they ¨labeled it¨? Also, I did wonder if you were allowed to do such a thing and if it was pratical and safe? Would they be able to take the Bouy with them when they eventualy moved on?

[Cotemar]

Harbor master has jurisdiction over moorings in the harbor.
The Harbor master would either have to approve it or he could confiscate it and fine the boater.

Mark

[GordMay]

It’s not really practical (& mostly not permitted) for transients to install a semi-permanent mooring.
Often, cruisers will leave a set anchor with buoy/ball, when they are temporarily moving the boat from a semi-permanent location, to another (say when going day-tripping or fishing).

[noelex 77]

I have seen it done, but there are disadvantages.
The anchor is important for safety to sail without the primary anchor would require a good back up ready to deploy.
Someone could anchor close to the buoy assuming its a mooring. The swinging room of a boat at anchor is not the same.
Theft of the anchor and chain.

In short is hard to image its worth the trouble, but perhaps in a deep anchorage with a well set anchor, when their is no powered windlass it could be considered, but you would need to be prepared to move if other boats had anchored close. You cannot “reserve” an anchor spot.

[Unicorn Dreams]

As mentioned above, it's a great way to lose your ground tackle. Could be hard to prove it's yours later.

[djmarchand]

Often in Newport, RI and once in Key West I saw boats who had installed three point anchors to create a semi-permanent mooring for the season. I hated them because they don't let a boat swing like a single anchor does and therefore take up more scarce anchoring real estate.

And these three point anchors don't hold any better than a single big anchor. In the mid 80s hurricane Gloria came through Connecticut and tore up our club's mooring field. ALL of the three point systems drug and some of the mushroom moorings. None of the big single anchors drug.

So if you want to have a semi-permanent mooring, drop a big anchor with sufficient all chain rode and tie a small float to it when you leave.

David

[Ram]

I did this 8-10 years ago for 3-4 years with no trouble, in the Lake Worth area, I see people who have done this for many years in this area and seemly without any problems- no one ever touched the boat or came aboard that I know of- I would use this boats on weekends mostly