Bit of a scare yesterday...

[Guma]

Sorry I get kind of long winded...

We recently bought a lake house that is about an hour from our house. We are doing a lot of work inside so we are frequently staying a few days at the lake and then a few days at home. We left the lake house Monday afternoon around 3pm, and knowing I was coming back the next day I decided to leave the boat anchored after I checked the weather. I had the utmost confidence that my box anchor and beach spike setup would hold.

Well I got to the house yesterday around 11am to find it was beached in about 20 inches of water in a very sandy bottom lake right in front of the house. Needless to say the tracking fins, prop, and rudder kept me from being able to get it out by myself. Luck was on my side though! The crew building my dock was on their way, so when they got there we broke out the pump and water jet and started jetting out the sand from underneath the boat. After about 30 mins we finally got it loose and floating in deeper water. Some beer money to the guys and more thank yous than I could count!

I broke out the dive mask and started fervently looking at the bottom of the boat for any noticeable damage. Nothing that I could see and no water was coming in either. I had my suspicions and went ahead and reset the anchor and beach spike. My suspicions were raised when I first found the box anchor in towards the shore and the bungee was slack. Not only that, but it would have had to go over top a pvc pipe and stump in the water. I think the pvc pipe would have snapped off if the line had gone over the top of it with that amount of stress from the anchor line.

So I reset and watched... Lots of chop on the water yesterday, and when I finally went out this morning to put her back on the trailer the box anchor had not moved a bit. I marked it with a bouy and stick in the sand just to see. I really think someone purposely moved my anchor and let my boat wash ashore. Can I prove it, of course not, but according to my neighbor nothing weather wise blew in that night that would have caused it to get any more rough than yesterday after I reset it. It really sucks to think someone would do that.

Anyway, drove it around today to get it back on the trailer and it is running fine, and final inspection after back on the trailer shows no damage, although I am sure I need to get underneath of there with some polish and wax again!

[skippabcool]

Glad it worked out for you.

[robert theisen]

Probably some of those Wakeworld kids.They are so jealous of Tige owners.

[kx250frider617]

if there is a dam on that lake then there is your culprit, water levels raise, anchor float up with boat.

[NICKYPOO]

I would freak out. However, knowing this fact about my anal retentive azz. I could never leave the boat on an anchor like that if I wasn't there. Just couldn't.

kx250 does make an interesting point. Can you check the water data at your lake? It would have to be a pretty major jump in elevation unless,... unless the anchor line was maxxed out to begin with. What is the release angle of the box anchor? Was it on a hard line or an anchor buddy?

I sat there sat there one night in front of the fire and watched a dead calm night turn into a perfectly steady 15-20mph nor-easter that shoved my boat right up the beach. I jumped out there before it found bottom but, I was wrestling that fat bastard. Luckily, I had two good chicks with me. They jumped out and held the boat while I jumped in the truck and backed the trailer in (its always on Alert 5, ready to grab the boat). The girls helped me walk it on real quick, pulled straight out, stopped, shut it down. Within 10min of the wind picking up and me putting the cover on Mind you this was a Sunday night, well Monday between 12:30 and 12:40am (or so). I thanked the girls, they went to bed, I grabbed one more beer and threw one more log on the fire, sat down and the wind stopped. Dead calm for the rest of the night. I have no doubt that I could have slept through that little gust of wind and awoke to my boat stuck in the sand.

[jbort]

Glad it worked out - been there. Which lake? we go by there on the way to Siesta Key for visits w relatives.

[Guma]

Glad it worked out - been there. Which lake? we go by there on the way to Siesta Key for visits w relatives.

Lake Clinch out in Frostproof

There is a run off spillway, but the lake level is pretty low right now, so I don't think this was the culprit. I am just glad it all worked out too!

[Duncan]

Water dryads for sure.

I like our (large) box anchor but it can be a little schizophrenic. I think the design allowing it to flip over and reset sometimes gets triggered under pretty minor shifts in pressure and direction, especially with a short (ie, 45 degree) anchor line. Then once it flips, it tends to do so several times until it sets.

[talltigeguy]

Did the hour meter go up?

I wonder if someone took it for a spin.

Glad that all worked out.