Pontoon Camping

[Brandon]

This is something I want to do, but I just have a fear of it. My lake doesnt allow you to tie up on land overnight and they do not allow land camping over night. I am scared to death that when I am asleep for whatever reason a rope will break or something will happen and I will wake up in someone's dock or stuck in a pile of tree's or my lights will burn down the battery and im stuck the next morning. What do you guys do when yall go out for the overnight trip on the lake? Is it something that you do often? What are some tricks of the trade? I really dont feel comfortable going with my kids overnight because one of them is still just 2 yrs old.

[PlaynDoc]

Well, since you've got a 2 year old, you are used to the poor quality and lack of sleep. Each time you wake up, simply feel the boat rhythm... if it's rocking gently, then you're still in open water... if it's clunking against something, then you've hit a dock!

If your lake has minimal water movement, toss two anchors, with LOTS of rode (isn't that what it's called?). Use your regular anchor, and buy a huge, oversized one to use on camping/sleeping trips. Drop the heaviest one, let the boat drift to the spot you want to sleep, then throw the other one as far as you can.

Tie them securely, drink a pint of Jack, and you'll sleep through the night.

You could test this technique by doing it during the daytime.... Get the anchors into the water, especially on a windy day. See how many hours you'll remain stationary.

[badmoonrising]

It's easy with the PC, because it's setup like an RV. We bring the generator, it has 4 batteries in case I kill the starter battery. I find a cove, drop my heavy plow anchor, one off the stern and all is good. Now this is near the ICW where you have ocean going tankers and large ships.

When you sleep over at Canal Days - large tankers go by all night and only a very narrow strip of land is between us and them. I woke up in the middle of the night and being in a half sleep - boobie viewing haze, saw a huge Chinese tanker cruise by. For a moment I had though we broke loose and were in the channel Nothing like half waking up and hearing those and seeing Chinese lettering

[LocoCoco]

Remember to toss your anchors far out, and not straight down. In order to grip the bottom they have to be pulled on an angle. Also, if it gets dragged into deeper water with too short of a line, well, your anchor will become nothing but a heavy drift sock.

Waking up to a dead battery is a legitimate concern. It'd be good insurance to bring along another battery and booster cables or one of those Eliminator portable booster things.



LC.

[slingshot]

My GPS has an anchor alarm. You set it for 40 feet and if you drift more than 40 feet of your anchor mark an alarm goes off. It's saved me from washing up in somebodies back yard twice.

[fredeboy]

Brandon
I understand your concerns about the kids and I would feel the same but if you and momma can get a free evening and no chance of storms GO FOR IT. My wife and I have done 6 over nights and it is GREAT. We try to find a quiet cove with some stick ups. I have a extra long rope on the front (about 200 ft) and I tie that to a stick up then reverse to the end of the rope and throw out the big anchor over the back. It has 150 ft of rope so I tie it to the rear cleat then pull the front rope in till I have set the anchor. Usually end up about 50 feet from the stick up. No worries at night and sleep like a baby!!
As for the light I had the same concerns but we had no problems with leaving the light on running down the battery. Just to make sure I found a LED replacement light for the Bimini light and know I could leave it on for a week and it would be fine.
Good Luck and enjoy your trip!! Here is some pics of our first just to get you revved up.http://texaspontoon.twilight-mania.com/ ... er-nighter
http://texaspontoon.twilight-mania.com/ ... ter-part-2

[kryptonite]

I have always wanted to do this, not sure I can talk the wife into it or not. We used to camp, but the older we get (we are still young though (33)) she demands more creature comforts.

I hear of guys doing this over on the Mississippi river, they setup camp on sandbars. However I would think with a pontoon it would be easier to sleep on the boat. Maybe you could setup a camp fire and such on the beach....

Might have to be a guys weekend to try it out. Everyone else I boat with is scared on the river.

[Flanker]

Apple has an app for anchoring called drag queen

[Geneva2702]

Iam with you. Looking forward to doing some pontoon camping this season. Wonder if there are many places where your its against the rules to beach it overnight like the person had said in the previous post..

[MH Hawker]

The little lake I am on also as a no land camping policy and so we sleep on the boat, but their is a huge amount of old standing timber in the hollows to tie off to, and I have a second battery just to run lights and so on. When I did my rebuild last summer I kept the from 8 x 8 cleared of any permanently mounted furniture so I can set up a cabin style tent and toss in 2 cots and air mattress. Even found a propane powered coffee pot to keep the wife happy. We often do 3 day trips out several times over the summer.

[bgzlbhd]

We have a full camper top. We tried camping last spring for the first time with our new to us toon. We only used 1 anchor in a cove and the night fishermen's wake turned us around to broadside their wakes about 2 in the morning. It almost tossed us out of bed. But there is nothing like waking up on the water, watching the sun come up, drinking that 1st cup of coffee, wating the fog burn off the water, birds getting up. Ask the locals, they are useually more than happy to offer tips. good luck. Jake

[woolznaz]

Assuming you are in a cove that is not crowded and you have room to swing around, then I recommend the one anchor approach. Get a good anchor and get confident in it by using it during the day. If it's a good anchor with the right design for your lake bottom, you'll find it will do the trick and you will become confident in it. One anchor allows the boat to swing, which means there is MUCH less wind resistance than using two to hold a particular angle and fighting the breeze. Just swing around in big gentle circles "on the hook" and you will find you are in the same place in the morning as you were when you went to bed.

As others have said, there is nothing better than nights on the water or waking up on the water. I've done it a lot in the past but not so much since we got our pontoon. We hope to change that this summer and spend more nights on the lake. Happy boating!

[dockholiday]

You have some legitimate concerns. My idea is to use Murphy's law approach. The old Boy Scout thing as stuck with me "be prepared". Probably one of the most important would be a small generator. Some can be had fairly cheap, although the Honda 2k one is really nice.

Had thoughts of getting a partyhut or cruiser when I just had the lake lot, but after one of those freak lighting storms came up late on evening decided I would be better off with a small land trailer.

Wanted to pass on a story that occurred many years ago,about making sure you are in a safe area for anchoring.
I had been camping at the lake with a friend who had a boat. Naturally we were drinking massive quantity of beer and came around a section of the lake that had water patrol boats with flashing lights. Found out later a runabout had ran into a cabin cruiser and they were dragging for three bodies. It was really eerie idling through that area and sobered me up pretty quick. What I was told was the cruiser didn't have any lights on.

I didn't tell that story to dampen your spirit of camping on the water, just wanted to say have contingency plans on if this or that fails to have back ups in place. Maybe one of those portable air horns might be good to take along, if you thought a boat was getting too close and night, just incase the battery was dead on the boat and the horn would not operate.
doc

[waterlab]

When we bought our Pontoon a couple years back it was a saturday morning. It was in a slip at Smith Mountain Lake, after we finished the transaction with the owners(really nice retired couple, had lunch with them) the family and I went out to explore the lake. They headed home later that afternoon,told the wife I'd be home shortly, and I was to pick the trailer up at the PO's house the next day, wife called me Monday following and asked if I was coming home. Camping on the toon, well it was great, could have stayed for a week

[Brandon]

Dock.....thats a horrible story. I cant say that exactly "helped" me in camping on it.