On November 1st we left Peoria bright and early at 7:00 a.m. and it was cold outside! We only had a 37-mile run to the next stop, but we did have the Peoria Lock and Dam to go through. But more than anything, we were just cold and wanted to get the engine going so we could warm up (we can use engine heat to warm up the boat - same as your car heater).
Although chilly outside, it was bright and sunny as well. You can’t imagine how much a sunny day lifts your spirits when you are on the water living boat with less than 250 square feet of indoor space. Plus, you get the greenhouse effect when the sun comes through.
The run down to Havana (Illinois, not Cuba!) was uneventful. The big event was our first anchoring off Quiver Island near Havana. Arrow shows anchorage:
IMHO, the keys to good anchoring are as follows:
1) Mark your anchor rode (that is the chain/rope combination which attaches the anchor to the boat for you landlubbers) so you know how much “scope” (length of rode from the anchor to the cleat on your boat that you have let out). I have marked mine every twenty feet with colored paint repeating red, black, blue, red, black, blue, etc.
2) Pick your location to drop the anchor based on the current of the water, the wind’s present and future direction, proximity to the shore, and proximity to other boats in the anchorage.
3) Let the anchor down and payout the rode slowly while gradually moving the boat backwards.
4) When you get to the desired scope, cleat the anchor line and apply a decent amount of reverse engine to set the anchor. If you “bounce forward” a bit when you put the engine back in neutral, you have some assurance that the anchor is set.
5) Check your anchor set on your chart plotter to see if you are moving.
6) Use an anchor alarm app which will send an audible alarm if your boat moves beyond the desired arc (anchor drags, or wind shifts radically).
This actual picture from my chart plotter shows how the boat has swung at anchor, see the arc. Typically it isn’t this thick, but after a few hours I let out about 15 feet more scope. You watch this for a few hours to make sure the anchor is not dragging. You can also use visual references to shore. The star is the approximate location of the anchor, and the red line is the anchor line:
This is snapshot from our anchor alarm app. If the boat swings beyond that green-line boundary, an alarm sounds on your phone. (ProTip: If you happen to have your hearing aids in and your hearing aid Bluetooth phone app is on, the anchor alarm sounds in your ears really, really loudly. I found this out when I adjusted the boundary lines to test the app. Ouch!). The blue dot is our boat.
A big “debate” among boaters is how much rode to set out. I was taught 3:1 for a day stop if you remain on the boat, 5:1 for overnight, and 7:1 for rough weather. The first number is the amount of anchor rode you let out, and the second number is the distance from your anchor cleat to the bottom of the seabed. If you go on FB groups, the consensus will be 7:1 or even 10:1, but the problem with that is simply that the more scope you put out, the wider the arc, thus the wider the space that you take up. Setting out more than necessary scope will not make you any friends in a crowded anchorage. (Think “man spreading” on the subway: https://time.com/3595497/man-spreaders-men-legs-new-york-subway/). ProTip: don't be an anchorage hog!
At anchor from KatMat's view:
After assuring that our anchor was not dragging, we took a dinghy ride over to Havana to see an Indian Mound, shop at the Dollar General Store for groceries, and generally sight see. It didn’t take long.
We returned to the Hygge and Nancy made dinner. I ran the generator for over an hour to run the heater and charge up the batteries. Then we went to bed, glad that we had brought down-sleeping-bags along with us.
When we woke up on November 2nd, the actual temperature in the boat was 36.5 degrees. On went the generator and space heater!
When we left the anchorage, Willie Dawes had a log caught in their anchor, which beats having their anchor caught in a log (photo credit Kathy Murphy).
We then ran down 36 miles through the Lagrange Lock and Dam and we were assured that anchoring behind the dam would be a nice spot since there would be a current to keep us from swinging too much. (ProTIp: you never anchor directly above a dam, as if your anchor drags, it will ruin your day and fixing any damage to dams is very, very expensive!).
Unfortunately, we had a southbound current behind the dam, and a strong northbound wind which did not die down overnight, in fact increased. This caused us to swing quite a bit, and even though I followed all the steps above, and after many hours determined that our anchor had a good set; and even though we had the anchor alarm on, we both got very little sleep that night. In retrospect, I should have set an stern anchor to minimize the swinging back and forth. I will not make that mistake again.
Dave
Odometer: 422
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