You don’t want strong winds to drift your boat away from your boat dock. You’ll have to drag your boat to your boat and anchor it down. What if the problem occurs again and you find your boat floating away again? You can avoid this problem by anchoring it properly.
The last thing you want is a mini panic attack, thinking someone stole your boat when, in fact, it has gone further away from your waterfront property. You need to learn the different anchoring methods to ensure your boat stays put during extremely windy conditions. Here’s how to anchor your boat securely:
Tight Anchorage
You need to determine the degrees of tightness. If your boat has space to swing around without colliding into anything, use a two anchor V. The angle between them is from 140 degrees to 180 degrees. If you’re leaning towards 180 degrees to restrict movement, you need to get larger anchors. The stern can swing, but the bow cannot.
If you don’t have room to turn the boat around, create a V anchor at the boat’s front and back. This ensures the boat doesn’t move at all. You can place the V anchors at the boat’s stern with one anchor at its front if the gust is coming from its stern.
Tide Lifted Anchor
You can ensure your boat stays in place during high and low tides by adding 20 to 30 feet of the anchor. If you’re anchoring your boat at high tide, you need to determine the depth at low tide. You don’t want to anchor your boat in water that’s too shallow because if you do, you may find yourself stuck.
Extreme Windy Conditions
Windy conditions can drag the anchor and your boat with it. If the wind changes direction, it can cause the anchor to dislodge. You can prevent the wind from dragging your boat from the boat dock by using two anchors. Set the two anchors in the shape of a V and place them at the boat’s front. If one anchor drags, the other will hold your boat in place. You need to use three anchors, setting them in the same shape with an additional line in the front, during stormy weather conditions.
Fishing
Even though you don’t need to anchor your boat while you’re fishing, as you’re there onboard to ensure your boat stays in place, you can anchor your boat to remain in the ideal fishing spot.
If you want to buy an anchor to secure your boat, you need to anchor it with at least two anchors and create a V shape to ensure your boat doesn’t float away in the middle of the night. When you’re looking for anchors to buy, ensure you buy one that suits the lake’s condition. You need to buy a good quality anchor for your boat.
EZ Dock Texas can recommend the type of anchor you need to buy for your boat. If you want to install a boat dock, we can do that too. Call us at 800-654-8168 for a quote if you reside in Texas, Oklahoma, or New Mexico.