Anchoring in shallow water advise

[CCool]

So I’ve got a lake camp trip planned this weekend at Lake Comanche in NorCal and I have non-boater friends telling me that at the spot we’re camping (on water) the water is nice and shallow and folks leave their boats on the water overnight.

I’d prefer not to beach the boat to avoid scratches in the gel. I’ve got a box anchor with a 15’ anchor buddy line that I’m planning to use but I’m curious for those that have done this what you’d recommend for anchoring. Im thinking if I just have the bow anchored then wind and wakes could push my boat around quite a bit and so my thought is that I should use another anchor off the stern to keep the boat in place but I dunno if that’s a bad idea for some reason I hadn’t considered.

I could put the boat up on its trailer every night but that just seems like a pain that is avoidable in this case. Thoughts?




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[MTRBTR]

I always
sleep better if the boat is on the trailer....

[HS]

For day stops at a beach I used an “Anchor Buddy” and river anchor off the bow eye, and a medium size sand spike that comes with about 20’ of line clipped to the stern. Parked the boat bow facing out, to ride better on any passing wakes. You can use this “shore tie” method facing either direction, really; in case it’s real shallow and you want the running gear out in the deeper water.

[CCool]

For day stops at a beach I used an “Anchor Buddy” and river anchor off the bow eye, and a medium size sand spike that comes with about 20’ of line clipped to the stern. Parked the boat bow facing out, to ride better on any passing wakes. You can use this “shore tie” method facing either direction, really; in case it’s real shallow and you want the running gear out in the deeper water.

Thank you!


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[CCool]

I always
sleep better if the boat is on the trailer....

I hear ya...just looking to minimize the load/unload time


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[Bevostein]

Box anchor off the bow with the bow pointed away from shore into incoming waves and wake and then a shore spike to secure the stern.

https://www.slideanchor.com/all-products/shore-spike

[lucky7t]

Not sure how far shore will be from your boat but if we ever leave boat overnight we tie anchor on and then tie rope from front eye to a tree


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[homer12]

I do like lucky7t once a year we do a weekend camping trip. Boat always does fine even in some winds. The anchor buddy gives it some give and helps keep the anchor “dug” in. Like others have said, you could face the boat in whatever direction makes most sense but I always put mine bow out because our spot is plenty deep enough


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[ScooterMcgavin]

I agree with above
Get yourself an anchor buddy they are fantastic. Point bow out towards lake and use a sand spike if there isn't a tree to tie the back of boat off too.

[Phil8uga]

Good excuse to sleep in your boat!


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[migs]

Anchor + buddy in the water, Line to the ground/stake. port & starboard lines to the ground as well to prevent swaying is how I do it.

[CCool]

Thanks for all the tips! Sleeping in my boat doesn’t sound half bad...now that I think about it...just the early morning dip in the water to get out that I would prefer to avoid!


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[markj]

I don’t have any advice other than to warn it’s gonna be windy there this weekend.

[cedarcreek216]

Something I have done to make transitions easier is clip a fender to the top end of the anchor line so you can leave the anchor in place like a mooring buoy. Unclip when you leave and let the fender float in the water and simply pull in and clip back up and tie the stern line up and good to go. This works assuming the area won’t have a ton of boat traffic to get wrapped up in the lines.


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[homer12]

Something I have done to make transitions easier is clip a fender to the top end of the anchor line so you can leave the anchor in place like a mooring buoy. Unclip when you leave and let the fender float in the water and simply pull in and clip back up and tie the stern line up and good to go. This works assuming the area wonÂ’t have a ton of boat traffic to get wrapped up in the lines.


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I do this exact same thing. Then one year some jack a$$ came along and took my fender and dropped the anchor buddy in the water in about 20Â’ of water. I saw him do it from a distance. Not a good day! Now I have a fender with DO NOT TOUCH sharpied on it


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