Anchoring in storms?

[Michael]

A buddy of mine and I like to tie our boats up together, but the other night we were out and knew a bad thunderstorm was coming. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to get back to the docks so I thought it would be best if we separated and he dropped off a little bit and then anchored up. I was afraid of the boats banging if the wind and waves got high. It is best to stay together and both anchor at 45 degrees or separate until the storm passes?

 

[s sauer]

Raft-Ups In Storms

I've always dropped off a raft whenever there was a chance of even moderate winds. The boats moe unevenly against each other even in moderate waves, with posible damage gunnel to gunnel or even from the masts and spreaders interacting if your spring lines stretch under load. Additionally, if one anchor is holding several boats, you are all at risk for it dragging when under the extreme windage load of many boats - Why risk it! You will only risk trying to break off the raft in much worse conditions once a storm is upon you.

 

[Landsend]

Generally one anchor is sized for one boat...

Putting the weight of two boats and the windage of two boats is too much. Dropping two hooks is always better in a storm.

 

[Tom H]

2 anchors

If you chose to raft up and there is a chance the weather may cause things to go bump in the night you may find that anchoring both boats far anough apart and then easing them together to raft will give you the option of simply losing the lines keeping the boats together and getting some room to swing on the anchor. Allow enough extra rode, the longer the rode the farther the boats can seperate. You will already have an anchor set for each boat ahead of time

 

[Dave D 94 H26]

2¢ from me

Michael, I'm not sure where you are in NC, but 'round here the storms we've been having have been pretty nasty. With the down-bursts and wind shifts, there's no way I'd stay rafted. Even if you didn't beat each other's boats to death or lose the anchor set and play Jr. Hurricane Explorer, my bet is, you'd be lucky to get 1 wink of sleep. To raft in "normal weather" you need anchor holding power for both boats on one boat, I have no idea how many anchors you'd need for two boats in a storm. Pull off far enough to compensate for the length of your anchor lines and raft back up tomorrow.

 

[Michael]

Thanks

I want to say thank you for your responses to my anchoring/rafting question. Happy boating to all.