We close on our boat next week (August 8) and plan to sail all over the Chesapeake Bay in the coming year. We have chartered a 40 Beneteau and owned a Hunter 30', but neither had a generator and only the charter had air conditioning or heat. This boat has both and I realized I now have the choice between a transient slip or anchoring out. If we are going cruising for a week we could save $600-700 in slip fees. Our Panda genset is in a quiet box and doesn't make much noise though I suspect that those who anchor near us would dislike any noise other than their own. There is also the weather and boat traffic to consider, diesel fuel costs, and wear and tear to consider. How would you decide? Any thoughts?
Anchor out or pay for transient slip?
- Thread starter bernmeister
- Start date
- Status
Anchor Out
I cruise a lot in west coast Florida and only get a slip if have no choice or some times if good price a mooring but only get a slip if we need water or fuel.
I have found most times my 4200 panda exhaust is the same as running the motor and just try not to run it early morning.
Nick
I cruise a lot in west coast Florida and only get a slip if have no choice or some times if good price a mooring but only get a slip if we need water or fuel.
I have found most times my 4200 panda exhaust is the same as running the motor and just try not to run it early morning.
Nick
We just spent about $2k putting 420 watts of solar panels on our boat. Very happy with results. No noise, no fuel smell. Living at fully charged,not 50%. But anchoring vs slip is a complex decision involving the Admiral as well as the Captain.
We love anchoring
In 14 years of spending 25+ nights aboard on Lake Erie, and often 7 aboard a charter, we have never felt the need for AC while anchored out, while we have sometimes wished for one at the dock. We think this is because:
- Our scoop on the forward hatch almost always seems to catch some air.
- We sleep under the scoop in the V-berth.
- Air on the water is always cooler than the air on or near land.
Peace, quiet, nature, and open skies are great advantages of anchoring. We just returned after a cruise that featured nights at our two favorite anchorages: Long Point, and Presque Isle State Park.
I don't know the Chesapeake that well. I suspect the water warms up more than Lake Erie (although Erie is shallow, and its water often reaches mid 70's in late summer.) but give anchoring a try with a scoop and other ventilation aides.
When running your generator, please just be considerate of the time and how near the next boat is. Sound travels very well on the water, and if your neighbor is ventilating like us, they are very sensitive to the noise, and the exhaust fumes!
Enjoy cruising! We sure do.
In 14 years of spending 25+ nights aboard on Lake Erie, and often 7 aboard a charter, we have never felt the need for AC while anchored out, while we have sometimes wished for one at the dock. We think this is because:
- Our scoop on the forward hatch almost always seems to catch some air.
- We sleep under the scoop in the V-berth.
- Air on the water is always cooler than the air on or near land.
Peace, quiet, nature, and open skies are great advantages of anchoring. We just returned after a cruise that featured nights at our two favorite anchorages: Long Point, and Presque Isle State Park.
I don't know the Chesapeake that well. I suspect the water warms up more than Lake Erie (although Erie is shallow, and its water often reaches mid 70's in late summer.) but give anchoring a try with a scoop and other ventilation aides.
When running your generator, please just be considerate of the time and how near the next boat is. Sound travels very well on the water, and if your neighbor is ventilating like us, they are very sensitive to the noise, and the exhaust fumes!
Enjoy cruising! We sure do.
We love to anchor out. In the past 5 years, we've been in a slip only a handful of times. It's always cooler to be at anchor. We have no air conditioning and it's only been a problem a few nights in 5 years - and that's spending summers in Florida and the Bahamas, too. It's also more peaceful. We tend to think of marinas as being like apartments... too many neighbors. Yes, you need good ground tackle, but then you should have it anyway.
Good luck and hope to see you out there,
Mary
Good luck and hope to see you out there,
Mary
Anchor out.... slips can drain the money faster than a thunderstorm moving across the bay.
We went to the Bahamas from Chesapeake Bay this last year. From the Bay to South Florida we were in a slip once. In the Bahamas we were in slip 3 times, only because it was such a good deal.
Trust you have a dingy so you can go ashore?
Chesapeake can be a real stinker for weather, HOT HOT no wind or more wind than you need
We went to the Bahamas from Chesapeake Bay this last year. From the Bay to South Florida we were in a slip once. In the Bahamas we were in slip 3 times, only because it was such a good deal.
Trust you have a dingy so you can go ashore?
Chesapeake can be a real stinker for weather, HOT HOT no wind or more wind than you need
It boils down to preference. Activity in a slip or quiet on the hook. Your pocket book has a large say in it, along with the reason you got into boating in the first place.
Just as some sailboats are made to sail fast while others have amenities coming out of the portals.
Just as some sailboats are made to sail fast while others have amenities coming out of the portals.
We have AC/Heat and a generator and never run them at anchor. The breeze and some 12v fans are enough to keep us cool and we hate the heat. We also swim at night to cool off if needed. We do use our 12v powered diesel furnace in May, Oct and Nov but always anchor away from the limited number of boats out during that time.
The fumes from a genset drifting down on us on a hot windless night is the worst part. Noise is not noticeable once in for the night except for some older large powerboats.
A Breeze Booster or Windscoop are necessary additions to your cruising inventory.
The fumes from a genset drifting down on us on a hot windless night is the worst part. Noise is not noticeable once in for the night except for some older large powerboats.
A Breeze Booster or Windscoop are necessary additions to your cruising inventory.
Both have their advantages..
My cruising area is SE Asia between Singapore and Thailand.. Water temp here is typically 85.. believe it or not.
Have a generator and if real hot with no wind we use it on anchor.. but only takes a slight breeze and we can turn it off. Recently fitted super quite fans everywhere.. may sound weird but I find it hard to sleep with fan noise than generator hum. That will give you 5-8 degree F of apparent temperature reduction. At anchor you get to take sunsets and sunrise with million dollar views.
We take a slip if its a good one. Out here the marinas aren't too expensive yet. Right now we are berthed at my favourite in Penang , Malaysia : Straits Quay. Very small , built into a shopping mall . Has a Starbucks , Irish pub, German pub and great Italian restaurant. All within staggering distance of the berth. A little hard to leave this one.
My cruising area is SE Asia between Singapore and Thailand.. Water temp here is typically 85.. believe it or not.
Have a generator and if real hot with no wind we use it on anchor.. but only takes a slight breeze and we can turn it off. Recently fitted super quite fans everywhere.. may sound weird but I find it hard to sleep with fan noise than generator hum. That will give you 5-8 degree F of apparent temperature reduction. At anchor you get to take sunsets and sunrise with million dollar views.
We take a slip if its a good one. Out here the marinas aren't too expensive yet. Right now we are berthed at my favourite in Penang , Malaysia : Straits Quay. Very small , built into a shopping mall . Has a Starbucks , Irish pub, German pub and great Italian restaurant. All within staggering distance of the berth. A little hard to leave this one.
What a great cruise and congrats on your new vessel. We cruised the Chesapeake for two summers, and while it can definitely be hot (one night we spent on the York River, I seem to recall, may have been the hottest I've ever been in my life!), I think you'll be fine without running the generator for AC very much or at all. We have those great, quiet Caframo fans that you can clip on to anything and move ar0und the cabin. They are lifesavers. The bugs can get intense near shore, so that's another reason to try to anchor out far away from that problem.
In the last two years we have been to a dock about seven times and only for the time it takes to fuel up.
We are on our anchor 11 months a year and return to our mooring in Honeymoon, in the VI for the other one.
Unlike most, we do not squeeze our way in close to the beach, but prefer a bit farther out for the breeze and fewer bugs. This also facilitates sailing on and off the anchor.
I believe even were a slip free, you wouldn't find us in one.
We are on our anchor 11 months a year and return to our mooring in Honeymoon, in the VI for the other one.
Unlike most, we do not squeeze our way in close to the beach, but prefer a bit farther out for the breeze and fewer bugs. This also facilitates sailing on and off the anchor.
I believe even were a slip free, you wouldn't find us in one.
Anchor Out
We have been sailing the Chesapeake for about 28 years and we prefer to anchor out. The pocket book appreciates it and we have discovered many remote gems of restaurants that we would not have found if we had taken a slip. We have a 40 foot Catalina and no generator. It has been hot a few nights but we have plenty of fans and a good breeze booster to help get air down below, so far only a few nights have been uncomfortable. We have quite a few friends with gen sets and they all seem to be problematic failing at the most inopportune times and costing a lot of $$$ to keep repaired. I hope this helps in your decision process.
We have been sailing the Chesapeake for about 28 years and we prefer to anchor out. The pocket book appreciates it and we have discovered many remote gems of restaurants that we would not have found if we had taken a slip. We have a 40 foot Catalina and no generator. It has been hot a few nights but we have plenty of fans and a good breeze booster to help get air down below, so far only a few nights have been uncomfortable. We have quite a few friends with gen sets and they all seem to be problematic failing at the most inopportune times and costing a lot of $$$ to keep repaired. I hope this helps in your decision process.
Anchoring out in the Chesapeake is not like the other areas responding to you. The Chesapeake can be very hot, very humid, and very buggy in the summer. You have to pick your spots and times carefully. We have always chosen anchoring, mooring or slips based upon the aforementioned conditions and the duration of the cruise (it's always good to washdown, water-up, fuel-up, rest-up and get a shore strech every four or five days, especially for the first mate). As far as the generator goes, the Panada is pretty quiet. I wouldn't be too concerned up running it and disturbing others. However, my practice is never to run the generator through the night, unless its attended (i.e watch out for the CO).
Even on 100 degree days in Kansas it is always dream sleeping without AC at anchor...
We do use the AC at the sliip, but so does nearly everyone....to me, anchoring out is
pure solitude which means a great dinner and perhaps a cocktail or two and enjoying the lanterns w/ good music. Sorry, I enjoy the energy of sailing hard, but love the solitude at anchor. I think I may be a romantic....we did stay rafted to another boat one night at anchor and awoke the next morning to find that the winds had continuously shifted during the late night and we were tied up in a know with our neighbors...that was
not romantic. Patrick
We do use the AC at the sliip, but so does nearly everyone....to me, anchoring out is
pure solitude which means a great dinner and perhaps a cocktail or two and enjoying the lanterns w/ good music. Sorry, I enjoy the energy of sailing hard, but love the solitude at anchor. I think I may be a romantic....we did stay rafted to another boat one night at anchor and awoke the next morning to find that the winds had continuously shifted during the late night and we were tied up in a know with our neighbors...that was
not romantic. Patrick
We've been cruising around the bay since 2004. I had a genset (Northern Lights) installed in our Hunter 41 a few years ago because we're live-aboards and I've always had concerns about power outages during storms. We prefer to be at anchor and rarely use marinas unless we have to pick up supplies (wine). We rarely use the generator when at anchor and prefer to hang a wind scoop over the forward hatch. When we have used the genset, it was usually for A/C during some very hot and humid days but we absolutely never run it overnight (even though we have three CO detectors on board)... it's just not safe to do that. We typically try to anchor away from others if we can, but that has always been our preference. I choose my vacation time for mid-Sept to mid-Nov and if you can do that, it's the best time of year to be on the bay. The air is less humid, nights are cooler, leaves are changing color but the water is still warm (but, not nettle free unless you go to the Sassafras river). Enjoy...
More concerned about the fumes than the noise of someone running their genset through the night. Just two summers ago a gentlemen went to sleep on his boat at Lake Lanier and never woke up due to fumes coming from the boat next to him. We can run our AC on our boat with our generator and will use it to cool down the cabin and watch a little TV after dark if we are at anchor by ourselves. After a few hours we turn it off and use the wind scoop. We never sleep with the generator running. If there are other boats near us, we do not use it.
We sail in the Stockholm Archipelago where you can moor on practically any island you want for no charge, 30,000 islands... but really only about 200 of them good for mooring. And guest harbors give you a slip for a modest fee.
Wether you run a generator or not it is a good practice to install a CO detector in your boat. Please read Recess post on this thread.
- Status