Bungee Anchor lines?

[Blasketsound]

Hi all.

New here and collecting my new rib next week. Very excited. 😁.

Alot of my activities will take place around the uninhabited and very remote islands off the south west coast of Ireland. The Blasket Sound to be more precise. There are a number of islands/outcrops to which I want to get access for my seascape photography.

One example is Tíreacht ( Tearaght Lighthouse
https://maps.app.goo.gl/YuFYysMP77BFYuf5A?g_st=ic ). It has an old landing point but no slip or protection to lift the boat out of the water. Ideally I’d stay overnight.

A bungee anchoring system in principle sounds great. Does anyone have real world experience of them and if so pros and cons??How do members here feel about anchoring the boat off shore over night unattended. ( obviously in calm conditions ). Thanks in advance.

[ShinyShoe]

What are you hoping it achieves?

If it fails, where does your boat end up? If it fails how are you getting home?

[Dan Gurney]

I asume you're taking about something like this: https://boatworld.co.uk/blog/boatworld-anchor-bungee/


I have something similar and would only ever use it for holdng the boat off a beach in moderate/light seas. The main difficulty is that one tends to deploy the bungee off the stern on the way in and then let it drag the boat off the beach after deploying passangers etc. If you deploy it off the bow and then back in you're going to run out of water way before you can start offloading crew. This means that the boat is anchored stern first and the minute the seas get up it's going to start taking waves over the stern.


As far as your example is concerned (disclaimer: I have never been there and this is all based on looking at the charts), it looks exposed in all wind directions and like the only place shallow enough to anchor over night *might* be on the eastern shore. Even then it's still pretty exposed an personally I wouldn't fancy it for an overnight.



I'm sure someone braver will be along in a mo to tell you it's fine.

[Peter_C]

I used a bungee anchor rode quite a bit on a Correct Craft on inland lakes, which can have rather large swells from wakeboarding boats. Most important thing is to have a reasonable amount of chain, and a top digging anchor for the bottom substrate. You can tie the recovery line into the bow eye, and it will crab in a little sideways, but there is a higher risk of the recovery line hanging up on something. Bungee from bow, recovery line tied off the stern, outboard up is the easiest, after dropping someone onshore bow first, recovery line in hand before deploying anchor, or set on a buoy.

While on the bungee, the boat CAN hit shore...obviously if you can pull it to shore by hand. I have been concerned enough to run down the shore and make sure the boat stayed in deeper water. The boat was driven to shore from repetitive wakes and wind. Personally I would not feel comfortable leaving a boat on a bungee overnight. Instead I would anchor with a normal anchor and chain, then either swim the distance (Drysuit? with fins if a longer swim), or set up a pulley system from an anchored buoy.

[Blasketsound]

Thanks a lot lads. Appreciate the input. I think the pulley system as mentioned by Peter is more appropriate. I’ve discovered since there a number of permanent moorings so a pulley system off one of those would be solid I am told.

Genuinely appreciate the feedback lads. Thanks a lot.

[ShinyShoe]

Even a pulley can go wrong.

You will have two lengths of the rope running alongside each other. As wind and tide changes you run a risk of the boat rotating and the rope becoming twisted.

I think most people would choose something as a tender (inflatable canoe, paddle board etc)