Middle of big lake.

CapnGL

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Sep 22, 2016
146
MacGregor 26D COUR D ALENE
Is it safe to drop sails and spend the nite in the middle of a big lake where you can't anchor?.... If so how?
Cheers
Greg
 
May 20, 2016
3,014
Catalina 36 MK1 94 Everett, WA
I have spent many nights drifting in the big lake they call the pacific

Les
 
Nov 26, 2012
1,653
Hunter 34 Berkeley
No, not really. Just drifting in the dark? The biggest danger, of course, is that someone will run into you. Even if you have a light on all night it is hard to tell on a lake how far away a light in the dark is. I once almost ran some over at night because I thought their mast light was a light on a distant shore. If fact, it was about 50 yards in front of me. If they had not yelled out I would have hit them.
 

Sumner

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Jan 31, 2009
5,254
Macgregor & Endeavour 26S and 37 Utah's Canyon Country
Even if the lake is big it probably isn't big enough to do that for another reason. You could easily be drifting in one direction or another at 1 knot and in 6-8 hours you could move a long ways.



One nice thing about your boat is you can easily beach it. We've done that...



.... numerous times when the water just off the shore is too deep to anchor in....



...on the Lake Powell trip and the Flaming Gorge trip. Looking back we could of done that at Priest Lake in ID and on Kootenay in B.C.,

Sumner
==================================================================
1300 miles to The Bahamas and Back in the Mac...
Endeavour 37 Mods...

MacGregor 26-S Mods...http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/endeavour-main/endeavour-index.html
Mac Trips to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Canada, Florida, Bahamas
 

CapnGL

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Sep 22, 2016
146
MacGregor 26D COUR D ALENE
I notice you have two anchor lines out....I only have one anchor.... Do I need another?
 
Jun 11, 2011
1,243
Hunter 41 Lewes
I never leave the boat unattended when not made fast. If you are not made fast to a dock or the bottom then you are considered under way even if not making way. The first rule is to keep a watch when under way and drifting and going to sleep is breaking the cardinal rule. Throw out the anchor and all the rode in theory it should snag something as you get close to shore, put on the anchor light and turn on a water proof LED a little above deck height to illuminate the deck, which is ligit per the COLREGs. The boat should be easier to spot with this lighting but I'm still not a fan of drifting.
 
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CapnGL

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Sep 22, 2016
146
MacGregor 26D COUR D ALENE
I only have one anchor and I can attach it at different places wherever needed..
 

Sumner

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Jan 31, 2009
5,254
Macgregor & Endeavour 26S and 37 Utah's Canyon Country

RussC

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Sep 11, 2015
1,578
Merit 22- Oregon lakes
We don't leave the boat "beached" at night, due to noise and wear/tear on the hull. pick a spot on the shore where the slope into the water is shallow enough to allow getting off the boat, but steep enough to float the boat right up to the shoreline (raise the keel first ;) ). when you're a couple hundred feet out, toss the stern anchor. when the bow makes shore, get out and tie off the end of your bow line to a stump, bush, etc. then you can pull yourself back out fifty feet or so off shore with the stern anchor line, and secure the bow line. this way, when you feel like going ashore to stretch your legs, you simply pull yourself in with the bow line etc. best of both worlds and very secure. plus you only have to carry one anchor ;) .

P1040090.jpg
 
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Sumner

.
Jan 31, 2009
5,254
Macgregor & Endeavour 26S and 37 Utah's Canyon Country
Don't leave the boat "beached" at night, due to noise and wear/tear on the hull.....
So far I've had no problems with either of those but have beached the boat on sand or course sand beaches and not on rocks (and wouldn't). With the stern lines...



... going off to the sides and usually slightly behind the boat the boat quickly makes a little "V-shaped" trough at the bow and the boat just rides in the water in it. I have ablative paint on the boat and it hasn't even wore through.



At times I'll just let it ride back a few feet from shore and get off in the shallow water or pull it to the shore with the bow line and then get off.

Sometimes we are beached just for the convenience but a lot of times it is because the water depth just off-shore deepens too quickly and we can't set enough scope and still keep the boat far enough off shore in case the wind shifts and wants the boat to shift towards or into the shore.



I have anchor/shore tied like Russ has mentioned before but now only do it if there is for sure not going to be a wind shift with heavy wind involved. If the wind clocks 90 degrees to the anchor line and shore line it can put a tremendous load on both and then you also don't have a straight pull on the anchor so it wants to swing and hopefully reset. If the wind clocks 180 the anchor had better be good and have enough scope out for it to hold the boat away from the shore.

I also came up with a bridal ...



.... that allowed me to trip the shore line and bridal and bring them back to the boat so I wouldn't have to go ashore...

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor/rigging-5.html

I anchor or beach the boat every night and love the challenge of doing it as conditions are never the same, so what works will often be different,

Sumner
====================================================
1300 miles to The Bahamas and Back in the Mac...
Endeavour 37 Mods...

MacGregor 26-S Mods...http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/endeavour-main/endeavour-index.html
Mac Trips to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Canada, Florida, Bahamas
 

RussC

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Sep 11, 2015
1,578
Merit 22- Oregon lakes
As you said, "conditions are never the same". We have very few "beaches" around here that don't have at least some rocks in them. most have quite a few rocks (see my photo above). We always still sleep better with the boat floating free. kind of like sleeping naked versus wearing a wet suit ;) . The stern anchor is also nice if the wind happens to be on-shore in the morning, as it makes it easy to pull the boat out further from shore to get away.
Interesting idea with the bridal. we wouldn't use it often, but it might be nice to have one made up "just in case" . thanks for the tip.
 
Jun 6, 2006
6,990
currently boatless wishing Harrington Harbor North, MD
If you know you are going to be out overnight and not close to shore it probably is a good idea to develop a crew sleep schedule so you can continue to sail and reach your destination.
 

walt

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Jun 1, 2007
3,511
Macgregor 26S Hobie TI Ridgway Colorado
We don't leave the boat "beached" at night, due to noise and wear/tear on the hull. pick a spot on the shore where the slope into the water is shallow enough to allow getting off the boat, but steep enough to float the boat right up to the shoreline (raise the keel first ;) ). when you're a couple hundred feet out, toss the stern anchor. when the bow makes shore, get out and tie off the end of your bow line to a stump, bush, etc. then you can pull yourself back out fifty feet or so off shore with the stern anchor line, and secure the bow line. this way, when you feel like going ashore to stretch your legs, you simply pull yourself in with the bow line etc. best of both worlds and very secure. plus you only have to carry one anchor ;) .
I do pretty close to what Russ does - you only need one anchor. I think a lot of the Mac line does this but on the 26 classics you can raise the centerboard/daggerboard, rudder and outboard also allowing you to beach with the aft end at the beach and a single anchor off the bow. The boat is suspended just off the beach and you can easily use the ladder to get to the beach. Works well if the wind is directly on shore or off shore and its OK with a side wind - it works with all wind directions. But.. the main reason this is nice is if you have dogs with you - very easy to get them on and off the boat.

This winter we were beached this way and the water level dropped at least 1 inch overnight. It left the boat just a hair stuck on the beach but not so stuck that I wasnt able to push it off. But.. I could have easilly pulled out either a manual or 12 volt air pump and dumped some ballast and just floated off.

beaching_2.JPG
 
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CapnGL

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Sep 22, 2016
146
MacGregor 26D COUR D ALENE
I would like some more info on this dumping of ballast. Using an air pump..... How is this done and are their mods needed to do this..?
 

walt

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Jun 1, 2007
3,511
Macgregor 26S Hobie TI Ridgway Colorado
Real simple.. works well. You need some sort of fitting over the vent hole that allows pressure from the air pump. Then just open the drain valve and push it down at the top end to seal the drain hole from the top.

The air pump is the low pressure high volume type used for blowing up air mattress. 1 to 1.5 PSI works fine, you dont want to go much over 1.5 PSI if any at all. Also, when you turn the pump on, make sure the valve is OPEN so that the water is forced out of the bottom of the tank instead of pressure building up in the tank. Once I left the valve closed and it didnt seem to damage anything but it had built up some pressure in the tank.

This pump uses about 8 amps at 12 volts and will completely empty the tank in about 10 minutes. I use this fairly often when I put the boat back on the trailer. You can tell the ballast tank is empty because you will see air bubbles coming up from under the boat.
'
I have also used a manual air mattress pump to dump the ballast.

FYI, JB epoxy and PVC fittings for the vent hole mod have held up just fine for many years now.

 
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CapnGL

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Sep 22, 2016
146
MacGregor 26D COUR D ALENE
Thanks Walt! Perfect info I needed to do this mod.... And pump specs......!!.
I'll be taking my boat out of storage this week and can get started on this and other projects....
 
Jul 29, 2010
1,392
Macgregor 76 V-25 #928 Lake Mead, Nevada
On Lake Mead, (soon to be pond) we anchor like walt as shown in pic. Set bow anchor, tie up to shore a few feet off beach and there ya go.