What to do w/ boat while camping & no dock?

We're taking the mini-man camping this weekend for the first time. It's been probably 15 years since I've been tent camping myself. I got to thinking though, what should I do w/ the boat? We're going to a different lake than usual so I don't know the accommodation's yet. We have a shore site, but I'm not sure about the dock situation if any.

Tie it off, beach it, anchor it out, take it out.

Take yourself a good quality anchor or two. You should use an anchor that performs well in multiple terrains if you are not familar with the lake.

I've got 2 anchors. one mushroom & the other has 3 hooks on it. I don't quite trust either of them though. Do those folding anchors work pretty good (the ones that hold @ a 45* when anchored)? I thought about buying one the other day.

box anchor works great.

Anchor out the nose and tie the back up to shore. You get a bit wet getting on/off the boat, but it's the safest bet for the boat. Most anchors will work fine if they're not subjected to abuse or really rough water. If you can see the boat from your site I wouldn't be too worried. The furthest you get your anchor from the front of your boat the stronger it will hold. Most people make the mistake of having their anchor line go straight down. I usually drive out about 50' further than I want to have the boat anchored, drop anchor there, the back up to the spot where I want to park. Give the line a few good tugs to make sure it's well set and you'll be fine. Tie up the back and go have a beer.

Have fun

Personally, if you are close enough to the shore...anchor the boat and tie a string from the boat to your tent. If your anchor comes up and the boat starts to drift off you'll definitely wake up...or end up drowning in your tent (All of you heavy sleepers out there)

I always keep hiking packs and other expensive equipment hooked to my tent when I sleep so if someone or something trys to carry it off I wake up... Just a thought.

Get an Anchor Buddy!!!! Best invention ever. Well, besides the automobile, electricity, etc! ;)

You might want to look into buying an anchor buddy as well. This is an elastic rope that you attach your anchor to. It allows a little bit of flexibility when rollers come by. It also allows you to pull your boat into shore when getting on and off the boat so that you don't have to get as wet.

Anchor Buddy is the way to go.

i use a anchor buddy anchor line . i hook anchor on the stern of boat and drop it in water about 75' from shore. then i drive boat in to beach and tie a line to the bow and let the anchor buddy pull boat off beach and then tie bow line off to something on the shore( i use a sand spike). put a buoy on anchor line so you can leave it in water and use this setup for whole camping trip. if the C.I.E. bone crusher is around you might want to hook boat up with stern towards the shore and bow to anchor line so it wont get swamped.

YA I second the Anchor Buddy. They work great. We had one on our last boat.

Here is a link on the proper way to anchor hope it helps.

http://www.uscgboating.org/safety/fedreqs/saf_anchor.htm

I second the box anchor. Get a good rope and a round buoy for the box anchor throw it off the front of the boat hook it to the front eyelet with a quick connector back up until it tightens up, then put a spike anchor on the beach and attach it to the back of the boat with the anchor buddy and call it good.

Thanks for the link Summertime!

Fish Burns....I think it's easier to hook the anchor to the bow and back towards shore to set the anchor, then tie a line from the stern to a tree or stake on the shore...that way, the bow hull breaks up any rollers, you can get in the boat off the swimstep without getting too deep, and there is less chance of getting the line caught in the prop, since it is in front of you.

Also, get a bouy for the anchor line, so you can find it to when you get back in after riding. We always leave the anchor line and stern line connected at the bouy while riding. Makes it really easy to hook back up.

Just check to make sure the water level on the lake does not change in the night. We camped at this lake every weekend and they would let water out of the lake at night to power the dam. One time when we were camping I anchored the boat about 15-20 ft from the shore and we slept in the boat that night. It turns out the water level was higher than normal. So when we woke up in the morning my boat was totally out of the water. The lakes water line was a good 15ft away from the back of my boat. We had to sit on the beach all day until about 8pm wating for the water level to come back up. I took the boat into the shop the next day and had it checked for damage and there was none except a fingernail size ding in the prop. Talk about luck.
Just incase your wondering there are 2 lakes with a dam in the middle. They pump water out of one lake into the other in the day and vise versa at night to power the dam.
Moral of the story: Check with the locals first

Just like everyone is saying. One in the beach, I have a large 3' stake. Then 2 off the back and you are good to go. I do it all the time. As you can see, sometimes I get lazy and go front in first....if you do this, plan on getting a bit wet.

So when you back the anchor in your gonna be swimming to shore right. Were gonna be anchoring this weekend too so I've had some thoughts on it. How deep of water do you want to anchor into? Thanks

I think I am going to get a anchor buddy just incase. never know when it will be too rocky to beach

I can hop in the front of the boat there. Would guess the bow is in 3' of water. When I have the transom in to the shore, I like to leave at least a foot under the running gear...which is again, like 3' of water.

So I guess the point, you are not swimming....but your jimmy has to hold its breath for a second....

Do any of you let your prop sit in the sand?

Never