New Anchor Alarm.

[Snore]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

I follow Boatman's plan, but I don't get much transmitted sound, especially anchored in that "pumpkin pie filling" that covers much of the East US Coast. My transmitted sound comes from my anchor alarm,- a dinghy anchor over the bow with a small line led through the head vent on deck and tied to a sauce pan on the floor. When the sauce pan hits the ceiling, I'm dragging!

If you are not pulling our leg.....

That is one FANTASTIC anchor alarm!

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Snore

If you are not pulling our leg.....

That is one FANTASTIC anchor alarm!

'definitely not "pulling your leg"; however, there are concerns. You must leave enough slack on the dinghy achor line to allow for some swing. You must make sure that the line to the dinghy anchor runs free,- any snag will void the alarm. Very importantly, you must snatch up the dinghy anchor when you attempt to recover from your drag so the little line doesn't get involved with your prop or your ground tackle. Otherwise, it's the best no cost, low tech alarm!

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

'definitely not "pulling your leg"; however, there are concerns. You must leave enough slack on the dinghy achor line to allow for some swing. You must make sure that the line to the dinghy anchor runs free,- any snag will void the alarm. Very importantly, you must snatch up the dinghy anchor when you attempt to recover from your drag so the little line doesn't get involved with your prop or your ground tackle. Otherwise, it's the best no cost, low tech alarm!

I used to use this system in the days before GPS and when the GPS system had SA imposed (which made it too inaccurate for a reasonable anchor alarm).

However, I never found it very satisfactory.the main problems were allowing enough slack to cope with changes in the wind direction, getting the rope tangled, and the worry that a boat coming into the anchorage would pick up the alarm rope in their prop. It seemed to work better in very shallow anchorages and was less satisfactory when anchoring normally over say 20 feet deep.

I am very happy with a gps anchor alarm, but backups techniques are always useful. Can you describe how you set up the alarm? Is it feasible to drop the dinghy/alarm anchor near the main anchor so wind shifts don't set it off ?
Does it work in deeper anchorages?

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

................... I never found it very satisfactory.the main problems were allowing enough slack to cope with changes in the wind direction, getting the rope tangled, and the worry that a boat coming into the anchorage would pick up the alarm rope in their prop. It seemed to work better in very shallow anchorages and was less satisfactory when anchoring normally over say 20 feet deep..............

I'm also very pleased with the GPS anchor alarm and I only use the "sauce pan" alarm infrequently now. Like so many choices, what works best depends upon where and how you cruise. As an East US Coast gunkholer I am often anchoring in less than ten feet and very rarely over twenty feet. This means that I usually have about fifty feet of rode out and my dinghy anchor tied to the sauce pan is on about 30 feet of line. This configuaration at these depths never allows for the problem of prop fouling that you would be concerned about in a deep anchorage. I do have the sauce pan hit the ceiling when the tidal current shifts, but this is desired and allows me to check the new set of my ground tackle after the turn. I'm well atuned to the manner in which I cruise and often anchoring with only one or two feet beneath my keel at low tide. It's wise of you to point out that those in deep water would have other concerns.

[goboatingnow]

Ive used DraqQueen recently ( The source code is available) , funnily on by iphone5 the alarm on/off switch is disabled, or not functional ??

Dave

[DavefromNZ]

I have spent a lot of time trying every anchor alarm/ watch app I could find. I do think that "Anchor Watch" is the best all round app for iPhone/ipad (with GPS). It just works and if you have an Internet connection it shows the google earth view of where you are in the bay and how close to land your protection circle is.

If you want to monitor your yacht remotely when ashore then the best is "Boat Mon R". However you need an Internet connection (3G) where you are anchored and a spare iPhone/ipad (with GPS) to leave on the yacht. You only need a phone signal to your iPhone ashore to receive a drift text. However if you have an Internet connection to your iphone ashore you can monitor the exact location of your yacht in real time.

[Capt.Don]

Originally Posted by monte

its this one
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/anch...389011510?mt=8
and its worth the 99 c !....

That's the one I like too....

As others have said, Drag Queen is free and does the job too.

Note, you will need to plug-in your iPhone/iPad. I've found that these GPS apps drain your battery very quickly.

As much as I like the idea of an anchor watch app, I've gone back to using my hand-held Garmin GPS w/alarm.

Don

[a64pilot]

I gave up on using my Iphone, it seems for whatever reason it's location will travel a couple of miles, for a few seconds and then return. It took an app that showed tracks for me to see what was happening, I have no idea why it does this, but it wakes you up thinking your dragging of course when it does>


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[robert sailor]

I think its the quality of the GPS which in our Nexus 7 is a bit spotty from time to time as we have the false alerts as well.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I gave up on using my Iphone, it seems for whatever reason it's location will travel a couple of miles, for a few seconds and then return. It took an app that showed tracks for me to see what was happening, I have no idea why it does this, but it wakes you up thinking your dragging of course when it does>

It could be the location of the phone in relation to the positions of the satellites at certain times. I have never noticed any tracking problems on our iPad, but I don't use it for more than a couple of hours at a time. If you have your phone deep in a hull, it may not be seeing some of the satellites.

Frankly, I don't see the use of anchor alarms. We are never anchored anywhere that has the freedom of dragging more than a short distance before coming to grief. Right now, for instance, the reef is <100' from our stern. It isn't a matter of how we anchored - anywhere in this small lagoon would put us 100' from the reef. These are typical types of anchorages for us.

We would need to set the alarm so close as to be up all night with false alerts. Even if we nailed the alarm, if it did go off, we wouldn't have enough time to do anything anyhow.

Instead, we rely on our anchoring and related gear. We wouldn't be anchored here if we were not 100% positive we would hold (it has been blowing 25kts for 3 days now). When we know there is more marginal holding for us, we don't pick as tight of spots and we simply wake up and check if the weather goes rough or changes. That is going to happen whether an anchor alarm goes off or not, so the alarm is superfluous.

BTW, we rarely see anyone "drag" anchor. Almost always they are sitting still, then they are off like a shot. Pretty much in these situations, an anchor alarm is not going to alert you in time to avoid trouble unless you have a long distance behind you.

Mark