How to Anchor Your Antelope Point Houseboat
You’re on vacation! Tips for making it simple, safe, and fun.
Anchoring. For many it’s the only difficult part of their houseboating vacation. But it doesn’t have to be. Just follow the steps below. And if you want to make it really easy, Antelope Point Marina has a great service for you. Just sit back, relax, and take advantage of our Full-Service Anchoring program with Beach Bags.
The key to establishing an effective houseboat beach anchorage, the kind that gives you the peace of mind to blissfully slumber the night away and to continue enjoying your vacation in the face of winds or impending storms, is understanding and implementing the 3 Elements of Houseboat Anchoring. They are:
- Selecting The Right Anchoring System
- Knowing the Anchor Placement Zones
- Maintaining Proper Anchor Line Tensions
Selecting the Right Anchor System
There are several houseboat anchor types, each having its pros and cons. The types available for legally anchoring on Lake Powell houseboats include the following:
- Fluke Anchors
Also know as a Danforth, these anchors are a lightweight plow style anchor used for mooring houseboats on deep sand beaches. Securing flukes to the shoreline involves digging multiple 2-3 foot deep holes (one for each anchor) and burying the anchors with the point down and toward the boat.
Pros:
-Highly effective, when properly seated and buried at the recommended depths.
Cons:
-Limits anchoring locations to sandy beaches.
-Requires a strong crew capable of digging several 2-3 feet deep holes.
-Can take as long as 1-1.5 hours to complete the anchoring process
- Natural Anchor Points
Objects such as a boulder are abundant on areas of Lake Powell and can serve as “anchors” to which houseboat lines can be tied.
Pros:
-A very fast and easy solution for anchoring. Just run your lines and tie them around the boulder.
Cons:
-Boulders might not be available, or in the right locations, when needed.
-The boulders may not be as strong as they appear and could fail during strong wind events.
- Beach Bags Anchor System
Beach Bags are an innovative houseboat anchoring solution available for houseboats hailing from Lake Powell’s Antelope Point Marina. Highly engineered and powerfully strong, they are comprised of a portable bladder system filled with water and an ingenious anchor line tightening system called Tightrope. Anchoring with Beach Bags is as easy as Fill & Chill.
Pros:
-More places to anchor your houseboat (easy to use on both rock and sand)
-Preserves shorelines (eliminates holes caused by digging, hammering, and drilling)
-Legal (approved for use on Lake Powell by the National Park Service)
-Improves houseboating safety by allowing you to easily keep anchor lines tight.
-Offered through a Full-Service Anchoring program.
Know where to Go – Beach Bags shows you the best locations on the Lake.
Effortless Anchoring – Beach Bags crews do all the anchoring work.
A Great Night’s Sleep – Relax, knowing you’re professionally anchored by Beach Bags.
More Privacy – More locations to escape the crowds and enjoy the Lake.
Cons:
-Anchoring Service limited to houseboats hailing from Page, AZ area marinas.
Knowing the Anchor Placement Zones
Houseboats come with multiple anchors. The number used will vary based on your houseboat’s size. Some of your anchors will be placed off the houseboat’s sides. These are called side Anchors. Others will be placed off your houseboat’s nose. These are call Bow Anchors. Place each anchor type in the following Anchor Placement Zones.
- Side Anchor Placement Zone:
Position in an area that is no great than 90 degrees and not less that 45 degrees in relation to the side of the houseboat on which they are located. (You’ll typically have one or two Side Anchors on each side of your boat)
- Bow Anchor Placement Zone:
Position in an area that is no great than 45 degrees and not less than 15 degrees in relation to the side of the houseboat on which they are located. (You’ll typically have two Bow Anchors, one on each side of your boat)
There are two simple methods for finding your Anchor Placement Zones:
- Side Anchor Placement Zone:
Using a smartphone app for finding angles, orient the phone so the length of the houseboat is the fixed side 0 degrees. Rotate the phone away from your houseboat until the angle measures no greater than 90 degrees, but not less than 45 degrees. Mark the shoreline location the smartphone is pointing to. This is the Zone where the Side Anchors should be placed. Follow the same process for the Bow Anchors, remembering that they should be placed in a Zone no greater than 45 degrees, but not less than 15 degrees.
- Walking Distance Method:
Walk a straight line perpendicular to the side of your houseboat. Stop only after traveling a distance that is greater than the length of the houseboat. This is the Zone in which the Side Anchors should be placed. (For example, if your houseboat is 70′ long, walk a distance of at least 70′). Deploying an anchor at a distance greater than the length of your houseboat will place it at an angle greater than 45 degrees. Use the same principle for placing your Bow Anchors.
Maintaining Proper Anchor Line Tension
The three most important things for maintaining a successful beach mooring, keeping your family safe, and enjoying your vacation are keeping your anchor lines tight, keeping your anchor lines tight, and keeping your anchor lines tight. This means having them tensioned to the point where there is no slack in the lines under normal conditions. This is true for all anchor types, whether they be flukes, natural anchor points, or Beach Bags.
Maintaining properly tensioned anchor lines helps keep the wind loads placed on your houseboat, and subsequently your anchor lines, static. Movement of your houseboat from a combination of strong winds and slack anchor lines allows dynamic forces to be placed on your anchors. These types of forces, when high enough, can cause your anchors to move and your mooring to fail.
It is very difficult to achieve a maintain proper tension by pulling on an anchor line and tying it off to a cleat – a anchoring practice common on houseboats 80′ and smaller. When line tightening aids such as Tightrope, can be used. It’s readily available to all houseboaters using Beach Bags Anchoring Services on Lake Powell.
Enjoy the Adventure of a Lifetime
Thoughts of anchoring your houseboat can be worrying, but they don’t have to be. Come prepared, understand and implement the 3 Elements of Houseboat Anchoring, and relax, you’re on vacation!
