Camping lakeside

[verk182]

I am about to take the family up to Lake San Antonio where you can camp lakeside. We are still new to boating and wonder what the best way to anchor the boat overnight is. I don't want to beach the boat, to rocky, but I don't want to be up all night wondering if the boat is still there. All insight welcome.

 

[timmyboy76]

put it on the trailer.

Doing run to Lake Isabella here, when daughter/nephews get out of school.

 

[verk182]

You don't recomend leaving it in the water? The guy that gave us the boat says they have concrete anchor they drop with a bouy and just hook up to that when they are done for the day.

 

[sporsterjoel]

Couple questions....

salt or fresh water?
how deep is the water where you plan to keep the boat?
and whats the bottom like, can you set an ancor or is there to much rock?

Ive left my boat in FRESH water for a week with no problems, I wouldnt live it in much longer then a week and make sure the bilge pump works.

 

[verk182]

Fresh water just for 2 nights. I am not sure how deep the water is, never been there before. What is a good way to test the pump out of water?

 

[timmyboy76]

have battery on, and fill the engine bay up, see if sensor kicks in. Wont need to fire boat up., but just enuf water to trigger sensor.

 

[timeman]

I usually drop a bow anchor, make sure it's set, (pay out at least 3-4 X the apx. depth), and run a line from the stern ashore around a tree or large rock. Keep the aft within wading distance, unless you have a dingy....
My baby has ALWAYS been right there (where I left her), when dawn broke!

(make sure any tide changes won't leave you on the beach)(this assumes you have a chain leader on the anchor)

 

[sporsterjoel]

My bildge will turn on even with the battery off when i tested it..... If its soft bottom and shallow then its east to set 2 ancors. one off the front and on off the back of the boat to hold it in place.

 

[Dr Honda]

First… If you are going to worry… then don’t leave it in the water. Camping is suppose to make life low stress.

Second… There were a few times in my younger days that we camped on the water, and a freak wind storm pushed in, making the water VERY choppy. (in AZ) The next morning, we found 2 boats directly in front of our camp, sunk! It was only in a foot of water… but the engines were wet, and the boats were sitting on the bottom. Also, on that morning… there was a boat just gone. It ripped the kleet off the front and rear. We were lucky… we had stand up jet skis… so we just lifted them out of the water, and put them a few feet up on the beach. (sandy bottom)

If you are going to where you can’t beach it… even if you don’t get a storm… the current, or a big wake can push an anchor, allowing your boat to hit the rocky bottom.

If it were me… put it on the trailer, and be done with it. If you are camping… it’s not like it takes that long, and you don’t have to tie it down to make it ready to go down the road. I would still set your anchor so you have a tie up point when lunch is ready, or you just want to take a brake from the water.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[bcarpenter]

:agree: with Dr Honda:

I have gone camping a few times on small and medium size lakes here in Michigan. On the small lake we often go to, we leave the boats in overnight, with an anchor of the bow. One of the bigger lakes we go to, is connected to Lake Michigan, so it gets much bigger waves. On that lake, the boat beached itself after only about 2 hours, and we had what I thought to be a really good grab with the anchor.

In general, I only leave the boat in if its a soft bottom in a protected area. If there were rocks, I would not sleep!

 

[verk182]

just talk to a friend that camps at this lake all the time, he said it is a soft bottom shallow areas to anchor and fairly protected. We shall see what happens.

 

[RollieA]

just talk to a friend that camps at this lake all the time, he said it is a soft bottom shallow areas to anchor and fairly protected. We shall see what happens.

You shouldn't have a problem leaving it in the water but put an anchor on both end and keep it in place.

I go every year to San Antonio and man I love this lake even though it's 4 hours away.

 

[verk182]

2 hours away and I have never been there. From what I have heard it is a lot of fun. Can't wait, 1 week and counting.

 

[timmyboy76]

Lake Isabella...

verk...you ever been there, if so, wonder'n what the good spot. Looked it up, and it gives multiple campsites/grounds, wonder'n if you "got the spot".

 

[scooper77515]

Only thing you need to worry about is having a dead battery in the morning.

I left mine on the trailer in the driveway one night with the the boat about level on the driveway. Started to rain pretty heavy and the bilge pumps had to kick on and ran most of the night to clear out the water. Battery was dead next morning.

Actually, I also found that when the boat was angled this way, the sensor was mounted too low so even after the water was below the pump level, the sensor remained wet keeping the pump on and just spitting water every couple minutes. I ended up bending the bracket to lift it up just a 1/4" or so. It worked fine when in the water on it's normal angle, but on trailer at a slight incline or decline, it wouldn't trigger it off in time.

So if your boat is tight and does not leak, you should be fine. But if it leaks like my XP does :ack: you may have a dead battery.

 

[laura51978]

Tie it to a tree for goodness sake!

I go camping all the time and we just tie ours to a nearby tree...

 

[verk182]

Whats a tree???