Which Anchor Do You Use

[Jimmyt]

Separate small anchor, separate small indicator line (no load) run to boat. Use that line as your zero indication. When it changes length, the main anchor is dragging. You could tie it to your big toe. When you feel a tug, time to panic.

First method that comes to mind that requires no electronics...

Edit: I was only joking about tying the pilot line to your toe (or other appendages). Use a bell or bucket of water, etc to wake you up rather than attaching it directly to your body... Just in case there are any Darwin Award winners reading this post.

[Tomfoolery]

As NiceAft suggested, using two objects as range markers, like a big tree lined up with a water tower (for instance), and if the alignment changes, you’ve moved. Whether the anchor has dragged or not depends on how the alignment has changed, but still, it works and is free. You just can’t see it when you’re asleep below decks.

Along JimmyT’s suggestion, I was thinking of a small river anchor with a float on the end of a bit of line, so you can monitor your distance, but if someone comes along and picks it up, well . . .

[Inquisitor]

Guess, you all didn't catch my earlier "royalty" generator...

Now giving it more than 2 minutes of thought... Attaching a "device" to the anchor rode that could detect vibrations. I'm guessing at least one of you lived BVG (Before Video Games) and remember two tin cans and a string????



I'm thinking with some DSP (digital signal processing) the specific vibrations that indicate "dragging" could be isolated and alarmed. With the Arduino type electronics I play with, it could be done with < $10 in parts. This includes the BlueTooth / WiFi communications to your phone / tablet / network. The biggest expenditure would be time on the software doing the DSP work. I'm not deluded enough to think I'm the first one who has thought of this.

Has anyone seen something like this?

[Jimmyt]

If dragging was occurring in smooth water only due to wind speed, I might think something like that would be fairly easy to develop and use. You'd have a nice, steady, frequency that suddenly dropped pitch when the anchor let go, However, boat motion is typically wild during a dragging event. If you convert the tension to sound, the anchor rode is going from slack to a pitch that only dogs can hear. And the seas are not a clean sine wave typically. If we assumed dragging was a steady condition, rather than a jerking snatching rodeo, draggng in muck, sand, or on rock would seem to produce different signatures. A fouled anchor would likely produce different signatures as well.

The exception might be similar to my dragging event in the river, where the anchor briefly grabbed on the muck and vegetation, then the vegetation broke loose, turning the anchor into a dragging muck ball. Happened quickly, and in protected water, so I had very close land references to tell I was dragging. Rode tension went up, then fell back as dragging commenced.

Back to the case we'd be interested in. Dark, no land references, possible storm conditions. There should be an audible difference in the "rode music", when dragging, if you convert the rode tension to an audible signal. Unless you could develop software that could recognize the change and only produce a light or buzz when dragging, it might just add to the stress of whatever is going on. Hearing the rode tension converted to an audible signal, essentially listening to the rode stress, added to the storm sounds that are causing the rode stress, might be a bit unnerving. Maybe you could convert it to play actual tunes. Upon the solid rock I stand (holding); or Come Sail Away (dragging).

Now, if you can figure out how to separate the rode tension from anchor dragging, that would be exceptional. After all, anything that touched the string can be heard in the tin cans...

But, hey, we won't know until you test the prototype! It is a very interesting concept. I'm not aware of any device currently performing in this manner. Good luck.

[Jimmyt]

As NiceAft suggested, using two objects as range markers, like a big tree lined up with a water tower (for instance), and if the alignment changes, you’ve moved. Whether the anchor has dragged or not depends on how the alignment has changed, but still, it works and is free. You just can’t see it when you’re asleep below decks.

Along JimmyT’s suggestion, I was thinking of a small river anchor with a float on the end of a bit of line, so you can monitor your distance, but if someone comes along and picks it up, well . . .

I've heard New York had some tough areas, but I had no idea that you guys had anchor and float thieves. Tough neighborhood!

[Inquisitor]

Maybe you could convert it to play actual tunes. Upon the solid rock I stand (holding); or Come Sail Away (dragging).

You crack me up!

LOVE IT! - "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"

[Jimmyt]

"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"

Even Better!