New poster from Middle River, MD

[truant]

Thanks for hosting an informative and inclusive site. We're retired educators, and have a 2004 Hunter 41 that we enjoy sailing around the Chesapeake. We worked our way up from a Seafarer 22, Catalina 27, and Gulfstar 36. We hope to sail farther afield on the East Coast, from New England to Bahamas, and your site has much usefull info. In reviewing some posts, and not to start off on the wrong foot, one of the best additions was to make the Delta anchor our backup and purchase a Manson Supreme as primary. We sleep much better now and never drag, but don't want to start another pissing match. We also added a Nextgen 5.5, and have it running well now. The installer didn't put in a checkvalve in the fuel line, and it wouldn't start if left alone for a week or more.

Some topics of interest are:

• radar - pole or mast mounted?
• cell phone antennas - do they work and best placement
• use of the laptop for backup navigation
• props - currently have a 3 bladed fixed
• the ICW

Regards to all,

Pete and Janet Terry
s/v Kava Kava

[AnchorageGuy]

Welcome aboard and oh please don't start another anchor thread Just kidding...I think. You will get lots of opinions on your inquiries so keep that in mind. The ultimate decision on equipment and placement will be a matter of preference and vessel design. If you are looking for good info and up to date on the ICW, look at Claiborne Young's site at Cruisers' Net - Home and I also recommend his cruising guides. Radar mounts will vary from pole mounts to mast and mizzen mounts to backstay mounts. We prefer to get the scanner up high for better performance over longer distances. For the US East Coast we have never needed a cell phone antenna. We have used a laptop for years and the benefits are too numerous to mention here. We prefer fix blade props to folding because it is very unlikely to jam or fail just when we need it. Now, these are just our opinions. BTW, spent a lot of years cruising Middle River and the north end of the Bay.

[Ex-Calif]

Welcome aboard Cruisers Forum Truant! Plenty of knowledgeable folks around here.

It sound like your boating career has been on a steady growth plan - well done!

You might post your questions in the Monohull forum or the nav forum and propulsion forum. Not all our members visit meets & greets regularly.

Enjoy the forum!

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Pete and Janet,
Welcome aboard! Yes, we can have another anchoring thread - Whoopee! You've found our discussions and isn't weird that everyone has a little bit different way of doing it and a bit different anchor. I think it only goes to show that we are anchoring in a lot of different areas and we all have different personalities.
kind regards,
JohnL