I’ve never been a fan of anchor buoys because of the problems that come with them….. but with these tricks I might be changing my mind.
Whilst in the Canaries I saw so many boats get their anchor stuck that I decided a buoy might be a good idea.. but how to make one that wouldn’t attract mooring ball devotees, get caught up in the props or tangled in the anchor chain.
What I needed was an inconspicuous buoy that always kept its chain line directly vertical above the anchor, whilst allowing for deep or shallow anchorages.
The answer was a smaller dark blue fender, designed for dinghy’s and the least mooring ball looking thing you could find. Attached to this I added a small pulley block and a 15m line with a shackle on one end and a heavy D shackle attached to the other around the line so that it could slide up and down and self adjust the length of the anchor buoy tether, depending on depth, waves etc.
I’m still in trial mode with this , but Connie loves it and I have to say it has been hassle free so far, doing exactly what its meant to do and never drifting away from the anchor, having excessive line or being hard to deal with.
It also appears that other boaties are pretty sure its not a mooring ball as we have been asked 4 times now if that is our anchor buoy.