Anchoring near shore

KevinP

New Member
Dec 5, 2019
16
Lake Lanier, GA
Boat Info
2001 310 Sundancer
Engines
5.7 Merc w/Bravo III
You guys have been super helpful with a couple other newbie questions, so I appreciate your thoughts on one more.

I live on a pretty deep fresh water lake, which has fairly steep slopes from shore. With my current 20 foot bow rider, when anchoring just off shore, I drop about 20' of line in 10' of water. Work great.

But now that I'm considering a 31' Sundancer, and see the "rule" is 5:1 in calm water, I'm a bit concerned how to continue to anchor near shore. Since the water depth increases at probably 2:1, if I were actually to use the 5:1 rule, the anchor would likely have to be 300' off shore, in 60' of water; clearly unworkable.

And while it was no big deal if my 20 footer broke loose, and drifted to shore, I certainly don't want that to happen with a 12,000 lb boat. I assume I could get away with substantially less than 5:1, but appreciate your thoughts.
 
On Lake Lanier here in GA (similar steep sided fresh water lake I assume), I drop the anchor in about 1-2 boat length in the front with 50' of chain and probably another 50'-60' of line out, then and back in to where the props are in about 10' of water, and tie another line to the shore essentially suspending the boat between the two points. Works well in most conditions, but I run for a marina if heavy weather approaches.

While not technically the right scope, the coves we frequent are not large enough to allow more scope and are generally protected . Additionally, on Lake Lanier, you do not want to drop anchor in over 30' of water. When they built the lake, they only cleared the trees to 30'. There are people making a good living on the lake retrieving anchors caught on the bottom around here.
 
On Lake Lanier here in GA (similar steep sided fresh water lake I assume), I drop the anchor in about 1-2 boat length in the front with 50' of chain and probably another 50'-60' of line out, then and back in to where the props are in about 10' of water, and tie another line to the shore essentially suspending the boat between the two points. Works well in most conditions, but I run for a marina if heavy weather approaches.

While not technically the right scope, the coves we frequent are not large enough to allow more scope and are generally protected . Additionally, on Lake Lanier, you do not want to drop anchor in over 30' of water. When they built the lake, they only cleared the trees to 30'. There are people making a good living on the lake retrieving anchors caught on the bottom around here.
Thanks dtfeld - I'm on Lanier as well, and the few places we occasionally beach have pretty steep drop offs - hence the question. I assumed it would be OK, but wanted to check for sure.
 
Depends on the wind or current you expect. 2:1 probably wont hold in a strong wind or storm.
 
I anchor on the Ohio River usually closer to shore but it's about 15' deep and I put out 50-60' of line (10' chain) and have no problems. I end up about 40-50' off shore
 
Here on Lanier, we anchor in a lot of protected coves. In 15-20’ of water, I will let out 35-40’ of chain, back down on the anchor and done. Never had an issue. On the main lake, in 30’ of water, I will let out 50-60’ of chain and again, back down to set the anchor. Again, never had an issue. I think the big thing is to make sure the hook is set good.

Bennett
 
A lot of this depends on your ground tackle (chain/anchor size/type) and the bottom. But 5:1 is overkill for calm conditions - especially since it sounds like this is just for lunch (you'll be there). 5:1 is for something more like choppy, windy conditions - approaching heavy conditions. Going by the numbers, though, 3:1 is MORE than enough. Heck, if it's real calm, there's been times where I'm essentially 1:1 - I dropped more, but the rode ends up dropping straight down with just the weight of the chain holding it in place. I probably could've tied a piece of rope to a rock and tossed that overboard and have been just fine.

Keep in mind that there is no hard and fast rule regarding scope. There's just too many variables for that. They are general guidelines, only.
 

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