Mega Yacht Anchors

I'd have to say there would need to be some serious reliability improvements going on in technology to justify getting rid of the good ol' anchors. Sure, the systems above will work fine in fair weather and on boats where someone's always up, but I wouldn't want to solely rely on the GPS to keep me in place at night surrounded by rocks with the wind blowing 30 kts when everyone is sleeping. I think anchors are here to stay and will be for a while. This, of course, wouldn't be ideal for an anchor either, but you know what I mean...

One example - I was coming home one night in water I'm familiar with and was using my GPS lookin' at the chart. I was right where I was supposed to be. I look away, and a minute later, check it again, and it shows me in a different location not far away (close enough where I could have been there). If I had used it to try and get me back on course (albeit the wrong one) instead of being aware of the actual channel and nav aids, I would have ended up on a 2 foot sand bar while going 24 kts... Haven't had it do this since - it was just one of those things.

Correct - although the GPS problem had nothing to do with the boat itself.

the technology has already been there for some time and it is proven to work more or less all weather. the offshore drilling ships that drill in very deep waters use this. as they are drilling, they have to stay in the same position with a margin of few meters. of course their propulsion is geared up for this.

nilo

I know it has been done in several commercial and military applications, but it always involves electronics. And as we all know electronics and water don't mix all that well.

Hi,

This old adage has been overcome in recent times by the use of more resilient electronics and the use in the case of full DP Rated ships of multiple redundant systems.

There is a reasonable description of what it is and the requirements for the variuos classes of DP here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_positioning#Requirements_for_dynamic_positioning

I didn't want to imply the technology wasn't there to accomplish this, my point was more that when on my yacht, with the way the technology is currently as far as I'm aware, I "wouldn't want to solely rely on the GPS to keep me in place at night surrounded by rocks with the wind blowing 30 kts when everyone is sleeping." Even DGPS. But hey, that's just me. It is some awesome technology we have these days though, and I certainly wouldn't be opposed to using it during the day in reasonable weather... Then again, I have no real world experience with it, so just realize these are simply somewhat uneducated opinions.

Hi,

From what I understand when in DP Mode you are classed as a vessel underway, so this means that there should always be at least one person on watch.

That would certainly make sense to me.

What ever happened to swimming from a yacht. Can't exactly do that with two big meat cleavers swinging under the transom. I can't imagine the prop wash would be very helpful with many of the water toys that yachts are carrying these days either.

I agree, it could certainly complicate things! I would suspect when keeping the boat in place, the prop wash would be minimal, just because of the minor adjustments likely necessary. That depends on a lot of factors though... I agree though - I wouldn't want my kids (when I have some) swimming around with those props spinning.

Hey, 100th post!

The basic concept of the system has been around for quite a while I beleve the original system used on oil rig tenders utilised transponders mounted on the oil rigs for the position information. But back to the original question, I do not see that it can be used as a replacement for anchors.

Well, you kind of answered your own questions. Other than size, the primary thing that determines the type of anchor is the bottom it will be used in. Some simply hold better than others in certain bottoms. Some would get destroyed in other bottoms - for example - you wouldn't want to use a danforth (works well in sand) in the rocks, as it could get mangled and be difficult to bring up. Not to mention it may not hold well, if it gets hung.