Congrats! When I first started watching your channel I told you that you would 'go viral'! Now you are close to 40k subscribers; congratulations! (but I'm not surprised).... #fortress
Thank you! Sorry to hear about the lower unit issues :/ Yes, 40K is just around the corner! Maybe we can get a silver play button this year :) It's all been thanks to all of you for your loyal support and help! Thank you for all of your support and we look forward to continuing with you into the future! :)
@@BornAgainBoating Thanks to you, and following your advice I was able to fix the lower unit issue... I cannot thank you enough for all the advice and information you are willing to share. I know it a lot of work for you, but it is very much appreciated....
Bare boat charted a California 55'. Cruised up to Princes Louisa Inlet (BC, Canada) and anchored in front of Chatter Box Falls - wondering why no one else was in this spectacular spot. Woke up early the next morning with the anchor up on shore and six inches of water under the keel Got lucky and learned a lesson.
Great video! The only suggestion I would have with the Fortress anchors attached to a 5/6ft steel chain would be to lower the anchor slowly as opposed to tossing it. Those anchors are so light that the chain drops faster then the anchor and I've seen the chain get wound up to a point where the anchor won't set flat and grab.
One important thing to add here is check your current and wind. Before I pull into my final spot at my local island or sand bar, I drift for about a minute a couple hundred feet away to check which way the current and wind will push me. That way I know which side to set my rear anchor on. If I have a port to starboard drift I tie up on the port side, and vice versa. This way the boat will stay where you want it and not be pushed too close or into someone else’s boat. I know most people will say “well that’s common sense,” but living in Florida I’ve seen way too many novice boaters with their first boat make this mistake.
When I started boating, I definitely did a lot wrong when anchoring but I anchored away from everyone until I got the hang of it. Once I got more comfortable, I started anchoring out in the line with other boats. The biggest difference was getting a proper length of chain onto the the anchor line. The boat came with a correctly sized anchor but only about 3 ft of chain for a 28ft boat so it did not hold in anything but calmest of days without letting out a ton of line. These types of videos are fantastic for anyone just getting into boating and I still watch them to learn new tricks. #fortress
a second anchor story- My nephew and I set out to the axel carlson reef system off NJ to dive a sunken tug. My wife was on board to watch the boat. It was a bit rough and when I thought I was close I had her drop the danforth hook we had at the bow. I then dropped a small mushroom from the rear as a descent line at my nephews insistence as he didn't want to go off the bow. We went down for over 35 mins but couldn't locate the wreck. When we tried to pull the anchor it wouldn't budge. Finally after a long time trying to get un hooked my wife wanted to cut my newer line I had installed. I adamantly refused. I grabbed my bc and jumped in following the line to the anchor. As I approached the hull of the tug came into view through the haze in the water. The anchor landed square on the deck and was wedged into a scupper on the side. Wish we descended the anchor line! #Fortress
Always fun at the sand bar with "that guy" that comes in hot, too close and the swings everywhere because he's not aware of the tips and tricks in your video. We always offer help if the family seems to be struggling to anchor the boat. Most people are very happy for the assist, especially on a busy day at the sand bar!! #Fortress
We anchored out in 20 feet of water in Lake Michigan with our sailboat overnight, was the most sleepless night ever, every time the boat moved I was thinking we we dragging toward the beach, I got up and looked the anchor over and our proximity to the shoreline, the boat never moved🏁but Great videos it’s cold and raining here in Michigan looking for warmer weather and working on my auction boat #fortress
I love that Venture 34 “Desperado”. I pass it on the way out of Sisters Creek. My Dad has the Rybo Runner with the older Yamahas you had before you’re repower. Just had our sled painted Whaler Blue. Great vid, wish more people knew this stuff!
@Born Again Boating Best DIY channel out here! It would be great if you put out a video about how to do a simple wiring on a simple 17-21 ft boat... Basic stuff. Literally could lay it all out on a sheet of plywood for ease of viewing and understanding. Batteries, main switch, courtesy lights, bilge, fuel, radio, depth/gps, nav... as a noob I understand the concept but I've never attempted it. Bus boards and basic fuses. My old 1990 Wellcraft 18 fish still operates with old glass fuses. I'd like to upgrade but not at the cost of the shop. I'm not dealing with a birds nest, I just have old original wiring and I feel like any day now i'm going to be stranded! My boat could really use a fortress too!! #fortress Thanks!
I have a question about 4:26 - I know that is the area around Big Pine Key, near the open gulf. Aren't tidal swings in that area very minimal. I'm curious about floating in, tide drop, then tide rise and floating out. I didnt think the tide moved more than 6" or so.
good info. I will add the importance of cleating stern anchor (port or starboard) depending on tide. A mistake is made when the boats engine hits/rubs that stern line. I also switch it to the other cleat when tidal flow switches. One other fact, I learned from anchoring up on an inlet sandbar with ripping tides (Barnegat Inlet, NJ) the tidal flow does not match the high or low tide. For example “Dead low” does not mean the tidal flow switches at that time. Lastly, have an experience boater retrieve anchor. Not only for the obvious reasons, but mainly for not nicking up the bow. I’ve seen too many times boaters dipping the anchor up and down cleaning it off only to nick up the front gel coat. It’s happen to me and you’ll sadly discover the nicks at the end of season when you pull out your boat.
I have a Danforth anchor and it doesn't work in any of the lakes near me because it's too light. I had to go buy a navy style anchor and that works great. I know you didn't cover the navy style anchor but it really works well
a good practice is to run out your kedge (rear anchor) when wanting to beach your boat on its bow so you have some extra leverage to pull it off in case the wind shifts or the tide goes out (or in a lake, water level goes down for some reason: like a dam release).
Great video, more people should watch this. You mentioned keeping the line nice and long, thats critical to getting a god bite on the bottom. The rule of thumb is, however deep the water is, your line should be 3-5 times longer, that will give you a shallow enough angle for the anchor to grab in. Way too many people go and anchor in 3ft of water with 6ft of line. It's easy to tell, they are the ones with boats floating away.
Don't think I have an anchor on my fishing boat lol, but I do have 2 on the runabout. Fishing boat don't need no old school anchor, trolling motor has a anchor button :)
So whenever we tie up to a mooring ball I find it a lot easier since our boat is so large to back up towards the ball with my wife standing on the swim platform with a hook. A lot of people worry about getting the line into their props. If you do it right that will never happen. Once she has the end of the line he ties the rope from the boat to it and walks straight up to the bow and ties us off. As always I enjoyed your video look forward to watching the next one.
I have a quick question. We recently got a 17' Montauk and took it out to a restaurant on the water that we love. ( Flounders in Pensacola, FL) The water depth was approx 2-3ft, soft sand bottom, and 5-10 mph wind. The anchor was a 4-5 lb Danforth anchor with a 3/16 in diameter chain. Once I got to the restaurant I dropped the anchor with the bow headed into the wind and slowly backed up until I felt pressure on the line. Once I felt pressure, I put the boat in neutral applied pressure to the line to ensure the anchor was "dug in" turned off the engine, raised it out of the water, and then tied the anchor off (approx 50 of rope and chain in the water) before leaving the boat I checked the anchor itself and it seemed to be well dug in. About 30 minutes later someone informed us that a boat was floating away I felt bad and wanted to see if I could help whoever it was that had a runaway boat. After a short walk down the dock, the boat floating away was mine..... I quickly dove off the dock, swam to the boat, picked up the anchor, and drove the boat back towards the beach. I figured that the anchor should easily be able to hold a boat of this weight. I reset the anchor letting out 100 ft of line this time. I check the anchor once again and it was completely buried I walk back sit down to eat and right before I take my first bite of what would later be a fantastic shrimp po boy I was once again informed that a boat was loose and starting to float away. Once again I see if I can help and behold a very clean 17' Montauk was once again at sea without a captain. What should I have done differently? I drove the boat back for the THIRD time anchored it again and sat there with the boat. It's a good thing I did, the anchor was dug into the sand at first but after just a few minutes it was pulling out of the sand and sliding along the top of the bottom even with over 100ft' of rope out. sooo what gives? How can I fix this problem? #Fortress
It's hard to say! That's crazy, sucks when it wont set. Maybe that particular bottom just wouldn't take the anchor. Sometimes when we get to where our danforth wont catch, well use the grapnel and it always seems to hold pretty well in the sand. You could also try and add more chain. How much chain do you have? Maybe go to 15' of chain or so and see if that helps
I've got a fortress for the bow, love it. The only issue I have experienced is it getting tangled with the chain. The anchor is so light that the chain can sink faster. Just have to be careful letting it out in deep water. I'm going to pick one up for the stern also. #fortress
I have a Rocna on my 5 meter center console. I will never go back to any other type. I fish over all types of bottoms ranging from rock to sand or weed. And have anchored in depths of 100 meters out the west coast of NZ which on a good day has a 3 foot swell. I don't use any other anchor. I do have a danforth, which I only use to hold the stern in place if Im Island hoping or something.
Excellent video. Can you help me with a question? I am a first time boater. I am moving to NW Cape Coral home with indirect gulf access this July and have ordered a Ranger Tugs R-27 with a draft of 3 ft. I am worried that the deep draft is going to make it difficult for passengers to get off the boat to walk to the beach. Would you say so?
#fortress Great content once again. Have seen lots of people on the beach that need to watch this video. When anchoring up in New England, we can have sand, mud, rocks, strong tides, and more. You have to be ready for every situation and you have to practice when things aren’t too crowded!
Good vid! I'd like to see vid of options to do when you get too shallow just cruising around and the chart plotter doesn't agree with the depth sounder slowly motoring around some islands and you suddenly realize your too shallow.... Had this happen recently and stuck with the choice to tilt the engine up and try and back out or push forward to deeper water?
@@BornAgainBoating What to do in that oh sh!t moment would be good content... get out and walk an anchor back to pull off of the bar, don't use the engine.. just a content suggestion. There are so many bad situations boaters could get them selves out of using a little common sense that isn't so common.
I like to come up slow on the sandbar and make sure I put it in neutral for a minute and check out how wind and current are affecting the boat before I line up my drift back into my spot. Sandbars can be packed with very tight spots to slide into.
Great Video, I had bought a used Fortress FX7 with 1/2" anchor line from craigslist. It was on a go fast boat and the previous owner had attached the line with a stainless spring clip to the anchor for easy removal and storage. We went out into the bay and I threw the anchor for the first time, immediately realizing the snap came un-clipped and the anchor was gone. I jumped into the 6ft of water and swam around for 30 minutes to no avail. SECURE YOUR ANCHOR TO THE LINE PROPERLY!!! #Fortress
Forgetting to pull up the anchor rope and having it wrap around the prop. Then wondering what kind of weird engine issue you have when you push the throttle and it dies right away lol
Had this happen before, engine would shut off every time I gave it throttle, took about 30 min for me to finally trip the outboard and see the problem, rookie mistake.
I got stuck on a beach in Mission Bay San Diego because I drove the boat onto the beach when the tide was going out (I didn't bother to check). Stupid! I tore up an impeller trying to back the boat off the beach with the engine. Wish I had seen this video before learning it the hard way. Thanks you BAB! #Fortress
Great video. I like the mooring ball idea. The only pointer i would add is about the stern anchor at the sandbar. I like to tie off the the side that the tide or current is pushing against that way the anchor line isn't rubbing on the boat or interfering with the boarding ladder. #fortress
i'm planning on buying a landing craft to haul an ATV on/off. I've been thinking about anchoring off a rocky beach and the proper way to do it. My idea is to drop a stern anchor quite a ways off the beach with enough line to beach, unload the ATV, then tie to shore or anchor to shore. back up by pulling the stern anchor line and letting out the shore anchor. balancing the boat off the shore and going to shore. I'm worried about tides though. rocks aren't good on boats, so i'm going to do a fair bit of research on tide levels for the time i will be ashore...especially over night. suggestions?
The bonehead I saw was myself. We just bought our first boat last summer so we're newbies. We took the kids and grandkids fishing and the little ones begged us to stop at a sandbar in the Amelia River so the could explore. What could I say but yes? On our first approach I did not properly account for the wind and before I knew it I was drifting onto the sandbar motors first. I was able to use the momentum of the wind and reverse around quickly enough to avoid any drama but it was close. Our second attempt was much better and we deployed the bow anchor and drifted in with the wind until we were in 2 feet at the stern. What a fun and rewarding day! I learned a bit more about boating and my family created some wonderful memories. I love it! #fortress
The CG doesn’t recommend tossing the anchor - there’s a big chance that chain or anchor rode will foul on the anchor and prevent a good set. If you’re fishing in shallow water, the noise spooks the fish.
Another great, helpful video, please keep them coming! Luckily where we beach on the sandbar it’s near our inlet and the waves are usually heading straight into the bow. The tip on the aft anchor will come in handy if we don’t stop at our usual spot. #fortress Last summer we had a guy with probably 15 people onboard a beautiful center console with triples, he had the stereo pumping and came roaring in between 2 boats with not much room to spare. Before they could get their bow anchor out and while talking and drinking, they started to drift off and people nearby were yelling and waving their arms, to no avail. Right before he was about to drift into the boat next to him, the captain on that boat put out a fender and threw a water bottle at the offending captain who finally paid attention and reversed back out. Never saw him again all summer lol.
we don't really have sand bars near me in Buzzards bay... well there are a coupe sort of - mostly island beaches people stop at. but I once saw some people throw an anchor out at Sow and Pigs reef and and the tide pushed them back over their anchor line - then they caught it in their outboard and drifted quite a far distance before they were able to get it out. #fortress - but always learn something from you - that mooring ball tip is genius.
I could use that #fortress anchor. Watched a guy beach his boat to work on his trailer. Tide went out boat got stuck on the beach had to pulled off the beach by a not so happy harbor master. Love the channel. Keep up the great work!
Informative video. That will have to be a very steep and ideal beach, if you don't wanna bury your props (if u don't tilt up the outboards) . Can be a lot of fun to watch, though. Lol. I saw a few anchors on just a rope. The longer the anchor chain, the more flexibility it adds between the anchor and the boat, and it also makes the pull on the anchor paralell to the bottom so it grips better. Besides that, the insurance will usually not pay out, if you leave your boat on anchor without a chain. At least over here, they'll say it's inproperly anchored.
I have a 23 foot bay boat and would love to ditch my old heavy anchor. Great videos tons of info but not boring to watch. Keep up the great work. #fortress
Mine isnt really a fiasco. But I was teaching my girls to do some free diving and searching for whatever we could find. We took the skis out to a pretty popular spot and started swimming around. My oldest daughter found a rope, and on the end was a big box anchor. We were thinking about selling it and giving her the money. But on a whim I bought our first boat ever. The anchor is really heavy though and we would very much enjoy a lighter anchor. #fortress
Went fishing last year and took a young buddy. Made the mistake of assuming he knew to pull up the anchor without being reminded and of not checking for myself that it was up and we were ready to get underway. Fortunately moved to deeper water from a shallow anchor spot and avoided disaster by not snagging any structure until the anchor hit soft bottom as we were pulling up to a marina dock. Dodged a bullet but was embarrassed to say the least. #fortress
Always look forward to your vids. Biggest problem I see at sandbars is people using too short of line and their boat just keeps bumping back in the waves causing them to re-set. Usually people don't realize a longer scope will keep them in place. Oh well. Hope all is well and you're staying busy (making money) with all this COVID-19 stuff. #Fortress
I like the idea about the using an extra line to tie up to a mooring ball. with the 2 anchor system you have to rely on everyone doing the same system; otherwise if they are only using one anchor, they might swing onto you. also, that #fortress looks very light, how big of a boat does that 4# hold?
#fortress I can’t wait till I get my new boat and summer is in full swing. Love anchoring at the beach. Grilling and blending drinks. Can’t come fast enough
Having proper lenght of chain is really important. I mostly anchor by stopping a boat, let the anchor in the water then reverse on lowest speed possible so anchor can dig in
I have a 16ft jon boat. I just beach the boat on the sand bar. It is light enough that if the tide goes out to far, my buddies and I can still push it out to at least a 1ft of water where the motor can operate. When I do "anchor," I just throw out a 12lb barbell attached to a rope. Under strong wind, it will drag a little, but it is not enough to drive you crazy.
The biggest fiasco that ever happened to me while anchored around people partying is when some little a**hole thought it would be funny to unfasten the shackle to my bow anchor. After getting my spare anchor fastened to the chain rode and getting re-anchored, I was unable to find my $250 anchor. Found out weeks later that 3 or 4 others had the same problem. That's how I learned it was malicious and not an equipment failure or oversight on my part.
Just fought this weekend trying to back into a slip and fought the wind the whole time. Went back and watched your docking video...again to see what I was doing wrong. Glad to see I am at least anchoring at the sand bar correctly. #fortress
I love the boaters that never let out enough scope, they pull up to the sand bar and drop the anchor 10ft off the bow. Then they don’t understand why I get mad when their boat drags anchor and I have to run over and push them off my boat. You can see them coming a mile away!!! #Fortress
As long as it's not windy, all you need is the power pole lol and pull in forward to the sand bar ;) if its windy, just do everything the same, except use your power pole in the back
Last November we were fishing the mouth of the Cape Fear for several hours. The incoming tide was so strong my anchor buried in the shifting sands. I ended up leaving that anchor at the bottom of the Cape Fear. I wondered why the other boats were repostioning every now and then. #Fortress
In boating class they said never to throw and anchor, slowly let it down where you want it and then back off from it. Throwing anchors can be a little dangerous 😜
#fortress ...You can never have enough chain. I used to buy the little seachoice chains that come in the little packages and would get an oversized anchor to go with it because the anchor sized for my boat would always break loose. I finally got wise and got a danforth style anchor that is sized for my boat but gave up on the little marine chains and got 20 feet of 3/8 galvanized chain from the hardware store. It holds way better now and is way easier to retrieve. I never knew how important chain was until I was diving one day when the current was kind of strong and could see the rope trying to lift the anchor out of the sand. Longer chain really helps it lay flat and makes the anchor plow into the sand. I also use a grapnel anchor for fishing rock piles. But I hook it to the opposite end of what would make sense and then zip tie the chain back to the correct end. That way if your grapnel gets stuck, you can just pull real hard to pop your zip tie and the grapnel anchor will flip around the claws will be facing away from the rocks. No matter how hard I tried to put my danforth anchor in the sand and then drift back over the rock pile, I always ended up getting my danforth anchor stuck.
Got a question either you or deermeat caught what look like a large pinfish but had a big black dot near the tail. Might of called it sailer captian or something do u know
Anchored at an island near Haulover Inlet in south Florida with the bow towards the shore... after an hour of lowering tide and incoming wake, I came back to the stern of my boat 2 ft under water. Shoved some dry logs under the hull to help float the boat back up and let the bilge pump do the rest of the work. Made it back to the dock thankfully! but the wiring was fried from the saltwater
#Fortress I anchor in tidal waters in NH and Maine, sandbar anchoring isn't a thing here. But anchoring somewhere along the coast for the night is. 8ft tides and the power of the North Atlantic lead to interesting "honey, we are under way" experiences in the middle of the night every now and then.
I agree with your video with one exception. Beaching your craft on the sand. Soft sand is relative. All sand is abrasive. Beaching on the sand will only wear out your gelcoat. Which gets expensive if it needs to be redone. Anchor like the bar. Put two anchors out. Bow and Stern..
4:08 big stingray. yeah we have a 21 ft bay boat on a boat lift in the backyard, and since we live in corpus christi and this is the laguna madre which is really shallow.. we can anchor just about anywhere. except for the channels. #fortress
In Australia 95% of trailerble boats have anchor winches even small boats less than 5 mtrs and most are drum type larger boats over 10 mtrs have a windlass we hate the tedious routine of setting and retrieving it :-) most common here are plough Sarca Sand (Danforth) and Pick
Awesome video each one I study is giving the knowledge I need to be a proficient boater I'm in the process of buying my first boat!!! SEND ME THE ANCHOR AS A FIRST BOATERS GIFT!!! 🙂 Much Love #fortress
Great vedieo can't wait to get to the sand bar in marthon again. We been staying right around the corner from u at bonefish Condo. Great tip on tieing up to the reef buoy. keep the vedieos coming. #fortress.
What about the length (scope) of anchor rope/chain? Is there a formula? In crowded anchorages, is it wise/courteous to put an anchorline marker/bouy out? Love your vids, always learning!🙂👍🏻👏🏻 #fortress
When I was little I lost my dad's Popeye anchor it was a double hook with the PIN. Spend an hour looking for an underwater. Got to get those nuts down.# Fortress. Thanks for the video.
You could also just drop your bow anchor then reverse to drop the stern anchor then pull forward so you’re in the middle of the anchors instead of getting in the water and losing your hat and sunglasses like the guy in this video did
Congrats! When I first started watching your channel I told you that you would 'go viral'! Now you are close to 40k subscribers; congratulations! (but I'm not surprised).... #fortress
Thank you! Sorry to hear about the lower unit issues :/ Yes, 40K is just around the corner! Maybe we can get a silver play button this year :) It's all been thanks to all of you for your loyal support and help! Thank you for all of your support and we look forward to continuing with you into the future! :)
@@BornAgainBoating Thanks to you, and following your advice I was able to fix the lower unit issue... I cannot thank you enough for all the advice and information you are willing to share. I know it a lot of work for you, but it is very much appreciated....
Bare boat charted a California 55'. Cruised up to Princes Louisa Inlet (BC, Canada) and anchored in front of Chatter Box Falls - wondering why no one else was in this spectacular spot. Woke up early the next morning with the anchor up on shore and six inches of water under the keel Got lucky and learned a lesson.
Great video! The only suggestion I would have with the Fortress anchors attached to a 5/6ft steel chain would be to lower the anchor slowly as opposed to tossing it. Those anchors are so light that the chain drops faster then the anchor and I've seen the chain get wound up to a point where the anchor won't set flat and grab.
One important thing to add here is check your current and wind. Before I pull into my final spot at my local island or sand bar, I drift for about a minute a couple hundred feet away to check which way the current and wind will push me. That way I know which side to set my rear anchor on. If I have a port to starboard drift I tie up on the port side, and vice versa. This way the boat will stay where you want it and not be pushed too close or into someone else’s boat. I know most people will say “well that’s common sense,” but living in Florida I’ve seen way too many novice boaters with their first boat make this mistake.
When I started boating, I definitely did a lot wrong when anchoring but I anchored away from everyone until I got the hang of it. Once I got more comfortable, I started anchoring out in the line with other boats. The biggest difference was getting a proper length of chain onto the the anchor line. The boat came with a correctly sized anchor but only about 3 ft of chain for a 28ft boat so it did not hold in anything but calmest of days without letting out a ton of line. These types of videos are fantastic for anyone just getting into boating and I still watch them to learn new tricks. #fortress
a second anchor story- My nephew and I set out to the axel carlson reef system off NJ to dive a sunken tug. My wife was on board to watch the boat. It was a bit rough and when I thought I was close I had her drop the danforth hook we had at the bow. I then dropped a small mushroom from the rear as a descent line at my nephews insistence as he didn't want to go off the bow. We went down for over 35 mins but couldn't locate the wreck. When we tried to pull the anchor it wouldn't budge. Finally after a long time trying to get un hooked my wife wanted to cut my newer line I had installed. I adamantly refused. I grabbed my bc and jumped in following the line to the anchor. As I approached the hull of the tug came into view through the haze in the water. The anchor landed square on the deck and was wedged into a scupper on the side. Wish we descended the anchor line!
#Fortress
Always fun at the sand bar with "that guy" that comes in hot, too close and the swings everywhere because he's not aware of the tips and tricks in your video. We always offer help if the family seems to be struggling to anchor the boat. Most people are very happy for the assist, especially on a busy day at the sand bar!! #Fortress
We anchored out in 20 feet of water in Lake Michigan with our sailboat overnight, was the most sleepless night ever, every time the boat moved I was thinking we we dragging toward the beach, I got up and looked the anchor over and our proximity to the shoreline, the boat never moved🏁but Great videos it’s cold and raining here in Michigan looking for warmer weather and working on my auction boat #fortress
I love that Venture 34 “Desperado”. I pass it on the way out of Sisters Creek. My Dad has the Rybo Runner with the older Yamahas you had before you’re repower. Just had our sled painted Whaler Blue. Great vid, wish more people knew this stuff!
@Born Again Boating Best DIY channel out here! It would be great if you put out a video about how to do a simple wiring on a simple 17-21 ft boat... Basic stuff. Literally could lay it all out on a sheet of plywood for ease of viewing and understanding. Batteries, main switch, courtesy lights, bilge, fuel, radio, depth/gps, nav... as a noob I understand the concept but I've never attempted it. Bus boards and basic fuses. My old 1990 Wellcraft 18 fish still operates with old glass fuses. I'd like to upgrade but not at the cost of the shop. I'm not dealing with a birds nest, I just have old original wiring and I feel like any day now i'm going to be stranded! My boat could really use a fortress too!! #fortress Thanks!
#Fortress I’m new boater.. enjoying your videos & tips. A great reference for me
I have a question about 4:26 - I know that is the area around Big Pine Key, near the open gulf. Aren't tidal swings in that area very minimal. I'm curious about floating in, tide drop, then tide rise and floating out. I didnt think the tide moved more than 6" or so.
good info. I will add the importance of cleating stern anchor (port or starboard) depending on tide. A mistake is made when the boats engine hits/rubs that stern line. I also switch it to the other cleat when tidal flow switches. One other fact, I learned from anchoring up on an inlet sandbar with ripping tides (Barnegat Inlet, NJ) the tidal flow does not match the high or low tide. For example “Dead low” does not mean the tidal flow switches at that time.
Lastly, have an experience boater retrieve anchor. Not only for the obvious reasons, but mainly for not nicking up the bow. I’ve seen too many times boaters dipping the anchor up and down cleaning it off only to nick up the front gel coat. It’s happen to me and you’ll sadly discover the nicks at the end of season when you pull out your boat.
great info in trying onto a ball, we're finally getting our boat down to Cudjoe so it's nice to know what we'll do when we get to Looe Key Reef.
Not one mention of scope?
I have a Danforth anchor and it doesn't work in any of the lakes near me because it's too light. I had to go buy a navy style anchor and that works great. I know you didn't cover the navy style anchor but it really works well
a good practice is to run out your kedge (rear anchor) when wanting to beach your boat on its bow so you have some extra leverage to pull it off in case the wind shifts or the tide goes out (or in a lake, water level goes down for some reason: like a dam release).
Great video, more people should watch this. You mentioned keeping the line nice and long, thats critical to getting a god bite on the bottom. The rule of thumb is, however deep the water is, your line should be 3-5 times longer, that will give you a shallow enough angle for the anchor to grab in. Way too many people go and anchor in 3ft of water with 6ft of line. It's easy to tell, they are the ones with boats floating away.
Don't think I have an anchor on my fishing boat lol, but I do have 2 on the runabout. Fishing boat don't need no old school anchor, trolling motor has a anchor button :)
So whenever we tie up to a mooring ball I find it a lot easier since our boat is so large to back up towards the ball with my wife standing on the swim platform with a hook. A lot of people worry about getting the line into their props. If you do it right that will never happen. Once she has the end of the line he ties the rope from the boat to it and walks straight up to the bow and ties us off.
As always I enjoyed your video look forward to watching the next one.
Great video I use a windless i do the same for the mouring ball
I have a quick question. We recently got a 17' Montauk and took it out to a restaurant on the water that we love. ( Flounders in Pensacola, FL) The water depth was approx 2-3ft, soft sand bottom, and 5-10 mph wind. The anchor was a 4-5 lb Danforth anchor with a 3/16 in diameter chain. Once I got to the restaurant I dropped the anchor with the bow headed into the wind and slowly backed up until I felt pressure on the line. Once I felt pressure, I put the boat in neutral applied pressure to the line to ensure the anchor was "dug in" turned off the engine, raised it out of the water, and then tied the anchor off (approx 50 of rope and chain in the water) before leaving the boat I checked the anchor itself and it seemed to be well dug in. About 30 minutes later someone informed us that a boat was floating away I felt bad and wanted to see if I could help whoever it was that had a runaway boat. After a short walk down the dock, the boat floating away was mine..... I quickly dove off the dock, swam to the boat, picked up the anchor, and drove the boat back towards the beach. I figured that the anchor should easily be able to hold a boat of this weight. I reset the anchor letting out 100 ft of line this time. I check the anchor once again and it was completely buried I walk back sit down to eat and right before I take my first bite of what would later be a fantastic shrimp po boy I was once again informed that a boat was loose and starting to float away. Once again I see if I can help and behold a very clean 17' Montauk was once again at sea without a captain. What should I have done differently? I drove the boat back for the THIRD time anchored it again and sat there with the boat. It's a good thing I did, the anchor was dug into the sand at first but after just a few minutes it was pulling out of the sand and sliding along the top of the bottom even with over 100ft' of rope out. sooo what gives? How can I fix this problem? #Fortress
It's hard to say! That's crazy, sucks when it wont set. Maybe that particular bottom just wouldn't take the anchor. Sometimes when we get to where our danforth wont catch, well use the grapnel and it always seems to hold pretty well in the sand. You could also try and add more chain. How much chain do you have? Maybe go to 15' of chain or so and see if that helps
@@BornAgainBoating I have 6-7' ft of chain but I can definitely try a different anchor type and longer chain
I just found one of those anchors with 100 foot of line on the reef. I have probably 20 found anchors in my garage lol.
I've got a fortress for the bow, love it. The only issue I have experienced is it getting tangled with the chain. The anchor is so light that the chain can sink faster. Just have to be careful letting it out in deep water. I'm going to pick one up for the stern also. #fortress
I have a Rocna on my 5 meter center console. I will never go back to any other type. I fish over all types of bottoms ranging from rock to sand or weed. And have anchored in depths of 100 meters out the west coast of NZ which on a good day has a 3 foot swell. I don't use any other anchor. I do have a danforth, which I only use to hold the stern in place if Im Island hoping or something.
Hey sir have you made a video on making a new deck for a boat? Im in the process of redoing mine i just want to get an idea of how to do the new floor
I haven't done a full deck, but I've done one on just fixing an access panel. You should check out boatworkstoday. He does everything fiberglass :)
These videos are invaluable for newbies like me. Thank you so much.
Excellent video. Can you help me with a question? I am a first time boater. I am moving to NW Cape Coral home with indirect gulf access this July and have ordered a Ranger Tugs R-27 with a draft of 3 ft. I am worried that the deep draft is going to make it difficult for passengers to get off the boat to walk to the beach. Would you say so?
#fortress Great content once again. Have seen lots of people on the beach that need to watch this video. When anchoring up in New England, we can have sand, mud, rocks, strong tides, and more. You have to be ready for every situation and you have to practice when things aren’t too crowded!
I have a Rocna in my 21 foot whaler because it sets fast and I usually anchor in sand, mud or grass and the Fortress sometimes have trouble setting.
That was a great explanation!! I think this is one of my favorite tutorials.
Also good to mention when backing off a sand bar. Turn your motor side to side. Sometimes it's easier pull the boat side to side verses straight back.
Just subscribed! One of the BEST on RUclips!
Yay! Thank you!
Good vid! I'd like to see vid of options to do when you get too shallow just cruising around and the chart plotter doesn't agree with the depth sounder slowly motoring around some islands and you suddenly realize your too shallow.... Had this happen recently and stuck with the choice to tilt the engine up and try and back out or push forward to deeper water?
When just cruising and exploring, go slow, so if you do get into some shallow spots, you can back out before it's too late :)
@@BornAgainBoating What to do in that oh sh!t moment would be good content... get out and walk an anchor back to pull off of the bar, don't use the engine.. just a content suggestion. There are so many bad situations boaters could get them selves out of using a little common sense that isn't so common.
At a sand bar near Tampa bay I saw a 420 Boston whaler outrage run through a sand bar and scrap all 4 Mercury 350. Luckily they did not get stuck
First time out for the year. Threw the anchor and chain out. It wasn't attached to the anchor rope. #fortress
Same thing only my rope broke. It was only about 4ft of water but not clear water I did find it but it took some time
I like to come up slow on the sandbar and make sure I put it in neutral for a minute and check out how wind and current are affecting the boat before I line up my drift back into my spot. Sandbars can be packed with very tight spots to slide into.
Great Video, I had bought a used Fortress FX7 with 1/2" anchor line from craigslist. It was on a go fast boat and the previous owner had attached the line with a stainless spring clip to the anchor for easy removal and storage. We went out into the bay and I threw the anchor for the first time, immediately realizing the snap came un-clipped and the anchor was gone. I jumped into the 6ft of water and swam around for 30 minutes to no avail. SECURE YOUR ANCHOR TO THE LINE PROPERLY!!!
#Fortress
I don’t know where you live,but here in Australia the tides change roughly every 6 hrs.😂
Forgetting to pull up the anchor rope and having it wrap around the prop. Then wondering what kind of weird engine issue you have when you push the throttle and it dies right away lol
Had this happen before, engine would shut off every time I gave it throttle, took about 30 min for me to finally trip the outboard and see the problem, rookie mistake.
For me it just cut the anchor line 😂
Spot on - good advice - newbies, listen up this is the real deal- keep sharing
I got stuck on a beach in Mission Bay San Diego because I drove the boat onto the beach when the tide was going out (I didn't bother to check). Stupid! I tore up an impeller trying to back the boat off the beach with the engine. Wish I had seen this video before learning it the hard way. Thanks you BAB! #Fortress
New boater here, thanks for the advice..
Great video. I like the mooring ball idea. The only pointer i would add is about the stern anchor at the sandbar. I like to tie off the the side that the tide or current is pushing against that way the anchor line isn't rubbing on the boat or interfering with the boarding ladder. #fortress
Keep up the great work, very educational and enjoyable channel. Thanks
Thank you very much!
I love Tuesdays and love the information that i get from born again boating!!👍#fortress
i'm planning on buying a landing craft to haul an ATV on/off. I've been thinking about anchoring off a rocky beach and the proper way to do it. My idea is to drop a stern anchor quite a ways off
the beach with enough line to beach, unload the ATV, then tie to shore or anchor to shore. back up by pulling the stern anchor line and letting out the shore anchor. balancing the boat off the shore
and going to shore. I'm worried about tides though. rocks aren't good on boats, so i'm going to do a fair bit of research on tide levels for the time i will be ashore...especially over night. suggestions?
Awesome, thank you!! A video about lines and knots in general would be awesome too.
Thank you, great idea!
The bonehead I saw was myself. We just bought our first boat last summer so we're newbies. We took the kids and grandkids fishing and the little ones begged us to stop at a sandbar in the Amelia River so the could explore. What could I say but yes? On our first approach I did not properly account for the wind and before I knew it I was drifting onto the sandbar motors first. I was able to use the momentum of the wind and reverse around quickly enough to avoid any drama but it was close. Our second attempt was much better and we deployed the bow anchor and drifted in with the wind until we were in 2 feet at the stern. What a fun and rewarding day! I learned a bit more about boating and my family created some wonderful memories. I love it! #fortress
The CG doesn’t recommend tossing the anchor - there’s a big chance that chain or anchor rode will foul on the anchor and prevent a good set. If you’re fishing in shallow water, the noise spooks the fish.
Another great, helpful video, please keep them coming! Luckily where we beach on the sandbar it’s near our inlet and the waves are usually heading straight into the bow. The tip on the aft anchor will come in handy if we don’t stop at our usual spot. #fortress
Last summer we had a guy with probably 15 people onboard a beautiful center console with triples, he had the stereo pumping and came roaring in between 2 boats with not much room to spare. Before they could get their bow anchor out and while talking and drinking, they started to drift off and people nearby were yelling and waving their arms, to no avail. Right before he was about to drift into the boat next to him, the captain on that boat put out a fender and threw a water bottle at the offending captain who finally paid attention and reversed back out. Never saw him again all summer lol.
Excellent tutorial! Great tip on tying up to a mooring ball. Biggest sandbar hiccup I see is folks not adjusting for the tide.
#Fortress
we don't really have sand bars near me in Buzzards bay... well there are a coupe sort of - mostly island beaches people stop at. but I once saw some people throw an anchor out at Sow and Pigs reef and and the tide pushed them back over their anchor line - then they caught it in their outboard and drifted quite a far distance before they were able to get it out. #fortress - but always learn something from you - that mooring ball tip is genius.
Question....with your two anchor set, how do you raise the rear anchor since the boat is locked between the two? New boater here.
I could use that #fortress anchor. Watched a guy beach his boat to work on his trailer. Tide went out boat got stuck on the beach had to pulled off the beach by a not so happy harbor master. Love the channel. Keep up the great work!
Just discovered your channel so far so good.
Informative video. That will have to be a very steep and ideal beach, if you don't wanna bury your props (if u don't tilt up the outboards) . Can be a lot of fun to watch, though. Lol. I saw a few anchors on just a rope. The longer the anchor chain, the more flexibility it adds between the anchor and the boat, and it also makes the pull on the anchor paralell to the bottom so it grips better. Besides that, the insurance will usually not pay out, if you leave your boat on anchor without a chain. At least over here, they'll say it's inproperly anchored.
I have a 23 foot bay boat and would love to ditch my old heavy anchor. Great videos tons of info but not boring to watch. Keep up the great work. #fortress
Thanks for the tips! Anchoring correctly and pulling into a boat slip have been the toughest things to learn about boating for me. #fFortress
Mine isnt really a fiasco. But I was teaching my girls to do some free diving and searching for whatever we could find. We took the skis out to a pretty popular spot and started swimming around. My oldest daughter found a rope, and on the end was a big box anchor. We were thinking about selling it and giving her the money. But on a whim I bought our first boat ever. The anchor is really heavy though and we would very much enjoy a lighter anchor. #fortress
enigma9789
You found an anchor and bought a boat for it???
Here, I have a spare tire for you, it goes to a 2018 Jeep Wrangler four door.....
Went fishing last year and took a young buddy. Made the mistake of assuming he knew to pull up the anchor without being reminded and of not checking for myself that it was up and we were ready to get underway. Fortunately moved to deeper water from a shallow anchor spot and avoided disaster by not snagging any structure until the anchor hit soft bottom as we were pulling up to a marina dock. Dodged a bullet but was embarrassed to say the least. #fortress
Always look forward to your vids. Biggest problem I see at sandbars is people using too short of line and their boat just keeps bumping back in the waves causing them to re-set. Usually people don't realize a longer scope will keep them in place. Oh well.
Hope all is well and you're staying busy (making money) with all this COVID-19 stuff.
#Fortress
Great video mate that’s a good looking anchor
I like the idea about the using an extra line to tie up to a mooring ball. with the 2 anchor system you have to rely on everyone doing the same system; otherwise if they are only using one anchor, they might swing onto you. also, that #fortress looks very light, how big of a boat does that 4# hold?
I think the fx7 does up to a 30 footer :)
I love the blue water there. Here in New York it’s green
#fortress I can’t wait till I get my new boat and summer is in full swing. Love anchoring at the beach. Grilling and blending drinks. Can’t come fast enough
Having proper lenght of chain is really important. I mostly anchor by stopping a boat, let the anchor in the water then reverse on lowest speed possible so anchor can dig in
I have a 16ft jon boat. I just beach the boat on the sand bar. It is light enough that if the tide goes out to far, my buddies and I can still push it out to at least a 1ft of water where the motor can operate. When I do "anchor," I just throw out a 12lb barbell attached to a rope. Under strong wind, it will drag a little, but it is not enough to drive you crazy.
The biggest fiasco that ever happened to me while anchored around people partying is when some little a**hole thought it would be funny to unfasten the shackle to my bow anchor. After getting my spare anchor fastened to the chain rode and getting re-anchored, I was unable to find my $250 anchor. Found out weeks later that 3 or 4 others had the same problem. That's how I learned it was malicious and not an equipment failure or oversight on my part.
It was probably on ebay for $100 at that point.
@@jaydunbar7538 LOL, it was 1990, so maybe a pawn shop, but you're right.
Just fought this weekend trying to back into a slip and fought the wind the whole time. Went back and watched your docking video...again to see what I was doing wrong. Glad to see I am at least anchoring at the sand bar correctly. #fortress
I love the boaters that never let out enough scope, they pull up to the sand bar and drop the anchor 10ft off the bow. Then they don’t understand why I get mad when their boat drags anchor and I have to run over and push them off my boat. You can see them coming a mile away!!! #Fortress
I'm glad i'm not the only one who watches people doing that. I move if they are upwind of me.
Will this anchor work in lakes with sandy soft muddy bottom in 40-50ft of water
Definitely some solid tips here. A much watch for weekend warriors. #fortress
How would anchoring differ with a boat that has power poles in the rear?
As long as it's not windy, all you need is the power pole lol and pull in forward to the sand bar ;) if its windy, just do everything the same, except use your power pole in the back
Just dropped in the water over the weekend a new to us Robalo. That #Fortress anchor would be perfect.
Last November we were fishing the mouth of the Cape Fear for several hours. The incoming tide was so strong my anchor buried in the shifting sands. I ended up leaving that anchor at the bottom of the Cape Fear. I wondered why the other boats were repostioning every now and then. #Fortress
In boating class they said never to throw and anchor, slowly let it down where you want it and then back off from it. Throwing anchors can be a little dangerous 😜
How come this comment, the only right comment didn't get a "love" heart? :(
#fortress ...You can never have enough chain. I used to buy the little seachoice chains that come in the little packages and would get an oversized anchor to go with it because the anchor sized for my boat would always break loose. I finally got wise and got a danforth style anchor that is sized for my boat but gave up on the little marine chains and got 20 feet of 3/8 galvanized chain from the hardware store. It holds way better now and is way easier to retrieve. I never knew how important chain was until I was diving one day when the current was kind of strong and could see the rope trying to lift the anchor out of the sand. Longer chain really helps it lay flat and makes the anchor plow into the sand. I also use a grapnel anchor for fishing rock piles. But I hook it to the opposite end of what would make sense and then zip tie the chain back to the correct end. That way if your grapnel gets stuck, you can just pull real hard to pop your zip tie and the grapnel anchor will flip around the claws will be facing away from the rocks. No matter how hard I tried to put my danforth anchor in the sand and then drift back over the rock pile, I always ended up getting my danforth anchor stuck.
Got a question either you or deermeat caught what look like a large pinfish but had a big black dot near the tail. Might of called it sailer captian or something do u know
Hmmm not sure what that would be. Definitely a question for @deermeatfordinner :)
I love that lake you showed on google maps my boat winters there
Thank you for educating the newbs out there! Always great videos with great subject matter! #fortress
Excellent channel My go to one. Keep it up!!
Thank you very much!
A new #fortress would be a great addition to the arsenal! Great video, looking forward to seeing the next one. Always Informative!
Anchored at an island near Haulover Inlet in south Florida with the bow towards the shore... after an hour of lowering tide and incoming wake, I came back to the stern of my boat 2 ft under water. Shoved some dry logs under the hull to help float the boat back up and let the bilge pump do the rest of the work. Made it back to the dock thankfully! but the wiring was fried from the saltwater
#Fortress I anchor in tidal waters in NH and Maine, sandbar anchoring isn't a thing here. But anchoring somewhere along the coast for the night is. 8ft tides and the power of the North Atlantic lead to interesting "honey, we are under way" experiences in the middle of the night every now and then.
I agree with your video with one exception. Beaching your craft on the sand. Soft sand is relative. All sand is abrasive. Beaching on the sand will only wear out your gelcoat. Which gets expensive if it needs to be redone.
Anchor like the bar. Put two anchors out. Bow and Stern..
Nice easy little trick to tie to a mooring buoy! Had one pull out on me before thank goodness we just got back on the boat. #fortress
4:08 big stingray. yeah we have a 21 ft bay boat on a boat lift in the backyard, and since we live in corpus christi and this is the laguna madre which is really shallow.. we can anchor just about anywhere. except for the channels. #fortress
Nice! Yeah, I didn't get the camera recording quick enough to catch a better shot of it :/
Excellent video! Very informative and helpful ... hopefully I’ll be able to outfit my boat with a new #fortress anchor!
I wish RUclips was around 12 years ago when I sunk a boat at the sand bar. I didnt leave enough slack. RIP grandma.
@Giovanni Marrero not on purpose
RIP Grandma.. oh boy I almost spit out my coffee.
Trolling on so many levels. 👏👏
@@KNemo1999 I was ahead of my time.
In Australia 95% of trailerble boats have anchor winches even small boats less than 5 mtrs and most are drum type larger boats over 10 mtrs have a windlass we hate the tedious routine of setting and retrieving it :-) most common here are plough Sarca Sand (Danforth) and Pick
Windlasses are fantastic!
Awesome video each one I study is giving the knowledge I need to be a proficient boater I'm in the process of buying my first boat!!! SEND ME THE ANCHOR AS A FIRST BOATERS GIFT!!! 🙂 Much Love #fortress
Great vedieo can't wait to get to the sand bar in marthon again. We been staying right around the corner from u at bonefish Condo. Great tip on tieing up to the reef buoy. keep the vedieos coming. #fortress.
What about the length (scope) of anchor rope/chain? Is there a formula? In crowded anchorages, is it wise/courteous to put an anchorline marker/bouy out?
Love your vids, always learning!🙂👍🏻👏🏻
#fortress
nobody46820 7-10 to 1’ depth
When I was little I lost my dad's Popeye anchor it was a double hook with the PIN. Spend an hour looking for an underwater. Got to get those nuts down.# Fortress. Thanks for the video.
The exact same procedure I use every Friday morning when we go out to Tracy Island in Abu Dhabi. ✅
Very Informative video. Just lost a danforth anchor. I need a video on how to bring up the anchor using an anchor ball. #fortress
#fortress
always nice to have a much lighter back anchor for the sandbar trips
#Fortress.... great anchors. Lost one last time I anchored. Couldn’t pull it out at all. Hurt to cut the rope
You could also just drop your bow anchor then reverse to drop the stern anchor then pull forward so you’re in the middle of the anchors instead of getting in the water and losing your hat and sunglasses like the guy in this video did
Lol, I will try that. I always do it the way he showed which sucks when the water is 65 degrees.
This is the actual way to do it and I'm not sure why the video wasn't exactly this.
Great video as always guys!