Couple of questions

[ericmichaels]

Hey guys I am getting ready to take my 02 launch ssv out this weekend for a house boat trip. I have not had the boat in the water over night since I have owned it and just wanted to ask a couple of question.

1) how would you anchor the boat down for the night?
I am planning on putting a stake in the ground, attach the anchor buddy bungy cord to the stake and then attach that to the back of the boat. Then I am going to have a line from the bow of the boat tied to the back of the houseboat. That way I can pull the bow line in and be able to get on the boat with out swimming. I figure this would be better then having the boat tied up to the house boat the entire time.

2) Do I need to keep my battery switch turned on all night to keep my anchor lights on and to keep my bilge pump working if it gets activated by the floating switch?
If so do either of these drain the battery enough that I need to worry about it dieing in the middle of the night. I do have a jump box just in case and I will bring jumper cables as a second back up.

3) Any other precautions I need to take with leaving the boat in the water overnight?

Thank you,
Eric

[tg0824SSVGG]

As for number 1, that might work. I do something similar, but I don't tie to the shore, I put an anchor out (tied to the bow of the Supra) - and in between is the anchor buddy.

I make sure that it stretches only to about a foot within the back of the houseboat.
I then do what you're suggesting, tie a rope between the transom and the houseboat to let it out from the back - so it's not in the way (except the rope)_ and I can just "pull it back" to get on/off. (does that make sense?)

As for 2) -- I do not know of ANY lake that requires your lights to be on all night, so I don't think you would do that. DO make sure that your bilge pump is setup to work
automatically in case it rains or something. (you said you have this, but I would double check that it does actually work) --

3) not too many other than your common sense.

[ericmichaels]

Thanks for the quick reply,
The anchor that came with the boat is a 15lbs mushroom anchor and I dont know how much I try that type of anchor, thats why I was thinking about tieing off on the shore to a stake. I planned on bringing the mushroom anchor with a short line and a buoy on it to keep the anchor buddy rope out in the water where I want to attach the boat at. I can see where your idea is a little better because then you dont have a rope running from shore out into the water getting in the way of people swiming or playing but I am not sure if the anchor I have will hold the boat well enough.

As for the bilge I know it does automatically turn on when I am out on the water all day with people getting in and out of the boat wet and if my wife dunks the bow at all. I just dont know if it will come on with the battery switch off. I will definitely test that out tonight.

Thank you,
Eric

[tg0824SSVGG]

As for the mushroom, I guess it depends on where you're going and how rough
it might get (in terms of wind/storms/waves).

I would probably recommend either a box anchor (what I use now) or a Danforth anchor, which I also have, and MANY people use.

Depending on the bottom of hte lake, and the aforementioned potential issues (wind, etc) the mushroom may or may not be ok and give you peace of mind.

[jzelt]

We tie ours directly to the side of the houseboat without issues.

We run a line from the houseboat to the ski pole.
A line from the rear cleat toward the front tied to the houseboat.
A line from the houseboat to the front cleat.

If we are moving the houseboat, we pull the Supra off and then run a line from the back of the houseboat to the bow eye and tow it that way.

https://forum.supraboats.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3895&stc=1&d=1282756396

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Sometimes my river is low where I dock my boat, so we have to put the boat lift extra-far out into the river. Just in case, we bought a small night with a solar battery charger and affixed it to the boat lift. Just an idea if you were worried.

Also hopefully you have two batteries and a separator so if one battery goes dead you have a backup. Best of luck

[Sluggo]

We used to tie up the boats on the side of the houseboat until we had a few years in a row where storms rolled in and the wind gust broke the house boat ropes loose. In our case we have 1 or 2 houseboats and 3 or 4 ski boats and the ones tied to the houseboats took too long to get loose and the houseboat pushed them into the shore. With the bungy anchor it is one rope and your way from the houseboat, then one more clip off the bow and your free. I thought it might be a few or several years before we encountered that kind of storm again, but better safe then sorry, right. Well the very next year, last year, a storm popped up out of no where and I was the only one that got away without damage. I also like loading off the back of the houseboat vs the sides. I have had a lot of people slip or feel uncomforatble with the steep step downward.

Never had a problem with battery power even when floating and running the radio (stock setup with tower speakers) most of the evening. I do have the two battery setup that most folks are running though and factory bilge pump that is automatic, but does require I not turn the master or perko switch to off.

I would make sure you cover at night. Sometime in TN there are a lot of bugs at night that love to die, mate, hang out, on vinyl seats.

[ericmichaels]

Ok so I tested the automatic bilge pump and it works fine as long as the master battery switch is on. I don't have a second battery installed in the boat yet ( it's a winter project). So do you think it will drain the battery to much if I leave the main battery switch on and stuff off all lights and the radio? I am bringing a jump box and a set of jumper cables just in case. I just don't know how fast it will drain the battery by having that main switch flipped, I figure as long as I make sure every thing is off then it shouldn't drain any fast then a parked car.

[rludtke]

Ok so I tested the automatic bilge pump and it works fine as long as the master battery switch is on. I don't have a second battery installed in the boat yet ( it's a winter project). So do you think it will drain the battery to much if I leave the main battery switch on and stuff off all lights and the radio? I am bringing a jump box and a set of jumper cables just in case. I just don't know how fast it will drain the battery by having that main switch flipped, I figure as long as I make sure every thing is off then it shouldn't drain any fast then a parked car.

I doubt the battery master switch will present any significant drain if left on by itself. Hopefully every other load has its own control switch (this should be the case if designed well). You would only have two switches on over night- the battery master, and the auto-bilge.