"Bryan" wrote in message
et...
When anchoring near shore for boat in lake camping or beach picnicking,
what are the pro's and con's of anchoring stern to or bow to the shore?

Stern to seems to offer the advantage of ladder and swim platform access
with the disadvantage of a more difficult backward maneuver, but the
advantage of not having a line to tangle in the prop.

Bow to offers the advantage of a less difficult forward maneuver with the
disadvantage of climbing onto the bow or swimming around to the stern.

I'm new at this so I'm probably overthinking the scenario, but I have to
teach my wife how to drive the boat (don't ask) and anchor it for her
upcoming camping trip. Our little 18 footer bowrider has an anchor buddy
that I bought for the occasion and 100 feet of rode attached to 6 feet of
chain and a danforth anchor and 30 feet of line for tieing to land.

Shoreline is gravelly with near shore submerged rocks.

Insomnia, the source of imaginary problems and fanciful solutions.




Always anchor with the stern to the shoreline. If waves start to kick up
you don't want your stern facing into them.

Approach the beach area until you are in about 5 feet of water. Raise the
outdrive somewhat. Turn the boat, drop anchor and back into beach until you
are in 2 1/2 to 3 feet of water. Turn off the engine, raise the outdrive to
the trailering position and attach a stern anchor (while doing so pull on it
hard to make sure the bow anchor is set).

Now enjoy the day If you plan to keep the boat anchored overnight make sure
you have as close to a 7:1 scope on your bow anchor line that you can get
and the anchor is firmly set. You will also need to keep your anchor light
on. This will drain the battery so consider a separate, detachable battery
powered ("AA" cell) one similar to this: http://tinyurl.com/ljtkw