Overnighting in Trailer Boats
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: General Forums
Forum Name: The Boat Shed
Forum Description: Discuss all things boating.
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=130091
Printed Date: 09 Jul 2026 at 8:58pm
Topic: Overnighting in Trailer Boats
Posted By: RiceOwl
Subject: Overnighting in Trailer Boats
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2019 at 9:01pm
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Hi All, Just wondering how others go about overnighting in their trailerboats. Any tips or photos of your setup would be hugely appreciated. Am soon to be in the market for something about 6.5 and really want it to be a multipurpose machine but ideally one where I can do a couple of overnighters with the kids and possibly the wife (if I can convince her its comfortable enough). Any thoughts, tips, photos to share?
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Replies:
Posted By: Tagit
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2019 at 9:22pm
| Wife = toilet on board is a must. Buy a rod holder mounted BBQ with a lid for cooking dinner. Take those 10l 'water in a box' for drinking as they collapse to nothing when empty.If really getting into it get a 2nd rear canopy made with poles at the back so you can walk around in the cockpit under it when anchored up. Take good cleaners etc so the boat can be cleaned of fish smells before you stop for dinner and bed. Rechargeable mini-vac is also useful. Make sure that you have good lighting on the boat and good batteries. A slightly oversize anchor with a bit extra chain will help you sleep better. |
Posted By: Don18025
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2019 at 9:25pm
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There are few fishos that regularly overnight on boats of that size. I have seen some keen folk out at the Barrier on their trailer boats many times. You need a good anchor, chain and anchor warp. The secret is plenty of chain with a digging in anchor, SARCA, ROCNA, Delta, Manson etc. Most times you are anchoring in overnight spots in mud. Bunks are limited - two folk in the cabin (maybe 3 if you have an inset between the berth). And two sleeping in the cockpit on lilos. You will need a good cockpit cover so they do not get rained on or hit with a heavy dew which is common. A well built cockpit cover makes the boat habitable if you are holed up somewhere with bad weather. Also keeps out the draft. Alloy boat hulls can be cold when you are sleeping close to the waterline (they lack insulation) so make sure you ahve warm sleeping bag. You will need a cooker, freshwater supply, bucket for toilet, chilly bin of ice to cool food and refreshments and keeping the fish cool to take home, Some pictures of setups here; https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/whats-ya-rig_topic20109_page56.html" rel="nofollow - https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/whats-ya-rig_topic20109_page56.html https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/whats-ya-rig_topic20109_page32.html" rel="nofollow - https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/whats-ya-rig_topic20109_page32.html
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Posted By: ofthesea
Date Posted: 22 Jan 2019 at 10:56pm
| If it was me I would anchor in shelter but have a smaller anchor/grapnel aft to hold things steady, maybe bungy it. |
Posted By: Don18025
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2019 at 7:56am
Sorry ofthesea, I have to disagree. Setting two anchors is good way to ensure that you will drag especially in a 90 degree wind change. Once the wind is side on to your vessel it will happily drag both anchors. And your boat will rock to the wind and wave - most uncomfortable if you are sleeping. The 'smaller anchor/grapnel' does not hold things steady. A grapnel will not work in mud or sand. Your spare anchor on board should be the same size as your main anchor. Your grapnel should be used in rocky bottoms where your main anchor may get seriously stuck (often for good). A well dug in anchor with a heavy chain and a long warp (5 : 1, warp length to depth) will hold a boat a lot more securely than two anchors at each end of your craft.
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ofthesea wrote:Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2019 at 1:28pm
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To show what's possible with a bit of planning and an adventurous mindset, check out this guy on YouTube - overnighting in what looks like a 5m or so open dory. He's based in the southern part of Australia, and often is camping in the winter, so it's not like he's only doing it in the tropics. Temps would be similar to here at times, I'm sure. He has a good swag, a canopy which he rigs up, and he just gets into it. He does some awesome overnight treks on land too - eating what he catches or spears, cooking with a gas cooker. He must spend ages on his filming, getting lots of different angles, then going back and getting his camera. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljlVcAbCfdE" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljlVcAbCfdE |
Posted By: 700 LTR
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2019 at 1:44pm
| I'm a huge fan of that guy TTK you're right he must spend a lot of time editing his content. |
Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2019 at 6:13pm
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Wife and I overnighted many a time in our 5.5m commander. As mentruioned, portable toilet a must. Set up a 2nd baitboat on star fittings for a cartage gas buirner. Make sure u know the breeze direction for the WHOLE night.. Park up in a small bay... Anita bay..bottom end waiheke.. either Nth or Sth cnr depending on breeze... a favourite.. and mark the postion in the afternoon... fishing maybe good on dusk so need to find the spot in the dark.. Try and choose a bay in lea of land where the valley that comes down has a lot bush on...the bush breaks up the breeze before getting to you. KNOW what the seabed is like.. just because a bay maybe marked as suitable ancohorage, it may still have a rock bottom... Know the tide height at mooring time and the change of height to allow for amount of warp out. Put the drift warning in on the gps .. Take ear plugs.. hull slap... Rem the water is about 21/22 deg at the moment ...its not cold as one would expect... camping in a tent is colder.. Choose your days/weekends where light winds, reasonable to good forecast.. if possible on an east facing bay...wake to the sunrise coming up over the coromandals... fire up the engine, idle out to the reef while the billy is boiling and drop a line on the drift.. |
Posted By: Waihime
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2019 at 9:24pm
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We overnight all the time durimg summer in our 6mtr Buccaneer. I'm over 6ft tall and we have plenty of room in the cabin for two of us to stretch out. Like Steps said always set the anchor alarm on the GPS. We used to have an ali boat of the same size and that was really hard to get a good night sleep on compared to the Buccaneer due to the constant slap of the water on the aluminium hull. Really noisy compared to the glass boat. Also the bunk length was shorter than the new boat, so way happier now that we've got a more suitable boat for what we want. |
Posted By: Mossy
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2019 at 9:56pm
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I have a 5.7m fibreglass boat and a mate and I overnight on it often. The cabin is reasonably sized and I got a back-drop made that fixes over the cockpit for overnighting. My last boat was a fibreglass 4.7m and we spent plenty of nights in that too! As long as there's sufficient room in the cabin to (almost) stretch out, then it's reasonably comfortable... Would want something a bit bigger with some form of plumbing if the wife was interested in spending a night out on the boat though (which she's not)... An infill or bench-seat between the cabin squabs is a must, otherwise you'll feel like you're teetering on the edge all night... Also, we always take along a portable TV/laptop with a movie or two to watch at night - much easier to get through a movie in winter when the day's aren't so long!
Moost of my overnighting, however, is done on lakes - much easier to tie up to a tree for the night than worry about the anchor. |
Posted By: whippersnappyr
Date Posted: 24 Jan 2019 at 8:04am
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For cooking a Cobb cooker is a good choice too, very versatile https://www.marine-deals.co.nz/cobb-premier-cooker-with-bag-and-roast-rack" rel="nofollow - https://www.marine-deals.co.nz/cobb-premier-cooker-with-bag-and-roast-rack |
Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 24 Jan 2019 at 9:08am
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As to cabin size.. We only had a limited amount of room to turn, park, store a 5.5m boat.. Preference was a cabin about the size of a buccaneer 6 or 635 cabin... Modern boats have big deck and a cabin that is more accurately called a big storage cupboard. Hence why we went to the older Commander,pretty well the same sized cabin as a buccaneer 635 (which is actually around a 6m hull.) A $120 refit and ends up like this.  |
Posted By: Nickb1
Date Posted: 24 Jan 2019 at 6:21pm
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just been over nighting in the BOI over new years with my partner. 5M figlass senator, great little boat, found it handled it well. no toilet, partner used bucket  and went to russell as thats were we anchored for the 2 nights.we need to get a center squab made for cabin, as like said above, we felt like we were falling of the sides all night. Used the anchor drag alarm for piece of mind, work me a few times but was just caused be swinging. Big lesson, Dont take too much! we found we took way too much which meant we burnt through more fuel then I had wanted to and the boat sat deep in the chop, very uncomfortable! We had limited food but had the camp cooker etc, thinking next time we will take non cooking food to save weight, and only take min clothes, we took heaps thinking we wont want to sleep in fish smelling clothes, tbh we wore pretty much the same clothes the 3 days. If you find a bay that you can walk to get food like dinner etc, do that, found it way nicer to get off the boat every so often too! Make sure you trust your motor and anchor and also check in with coast guard though out the day to let them know where you are and where you will be anchored for the night. Have fun!
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Posted By: clank
Date Posted: 25 Jan 2019 at 8:35pm
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My first couple of boats were aluminium because despite wanting an alrounder I kept getting told by forums and salespeople that I will mostly use it for fishing. (Ignoring what I was actually asking for). We didn't overnight simply because the boats didn't enspire us to go overnighting. We then bought a fibreglass boat as a family and overnighting boat and now actually use it as a family, taking friends and overnighting boat. I also use it for fishing with mates a lot more than any other boat I've owned because it handles so much more weather that the gods could throw at it. I'm not suggesting any particular boat is better than another, but what I am suggesting is buying a boat to suit what you want it for, not what everyone else says you want it for. |
Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 26 Jan 2019 at 8:32am
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Make sure the bedding/ squabs are comfortbale.. Our originals where ok... Then I redid the squabs.. as above and pulled the covering down too firm.. great to sit on, great to lay on.. Terrible to lay/ sleep on for any length of time... Quick fix was a mattress underlay cut to fit the space.. helped a lot.. but at the end of the day had to un pick staples and loosen the covers off.. Now good.. and already having the underlay cover...highly recommend.. espec having ladies on board... that and ear plugs for wave slap.
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Posted By: Nickb1
Date Posted: 27 Jan 2019 at 10:51am
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another good item to take is a 5v usb fan, sit it in the cabin and run it all night, keeps the air moving and helps keep the bugs away, used one both nights we were out and never changed off of the first battery, remember to have a 2nd battery as a back up. |
Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 28 Jan 2019 at 9:04am
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Boat points into the breeze/ air movement... Crack the front hatch... Add a fan noise to wave slap along the chine, and that became very annoying.
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Posted By: pjc
Date Posted: 28 Jan 2019 at 6:10pm
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Glass or alloy? I wouldn't worry too much about wave slap if you're new to over nighting,you will be subconsciously awake worrying if anchor has dragged,soon get use to wave slap,if sleeping up in the bow you will here you're anchor warp creak n groan if any breeze and that will keep you awake. Am I dragging,better get up and check,warp will creak n groan through bow roller so just put a rag under warpp,30 odd yrs and I still wake up to the slightest groan,no noise then I start worrying thats when an anchor has dragged. ------------- Sex at 58.Lucky I live at 56 |
Posted By: Nickb1
Date Posted: 28 Jan 2019 at 6:30pm
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@Steps if he has no wind like we did then a small fan goes a long way, and with it being fiber glass and no real swell there was no slap, if we had no fan it would have been a very uncomfortable night and we would have likely bailed on staying out another night. |
Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 28 Jan 2019 at 7:01pm
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Glass or alloy? I wouldn't worry too much about wave slap if you're new to over nighting,you will be subconsciously awake worrying if anchor has dragged,soon get use to wave slap,if sleeping up in the bow you will here you're anchor warp creak n groan if any breeze and that will keep you awake. Am I dragging,better get up and check,warp will creak n groan through bow roller so just put a rag under warpp,30 odd yrs and I still wake up to the slightest groan,no noise then I start worrying thats when an anchor has dragged. That is a very accurate hands on real life description.
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Posted By: Grunta
Date Posted: 30 Jan 2019 at 2:23pm
| Good article on overnighting by Nick Jones in the Feb issue of NZ Fishing News on sale now |
Posted By: jakepitsville
Date Posted: 30 Jan 2019 at 9:22pm
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in mid winter we overnightered 45NM from land in my surtees 5.5 easy as eaten pan cakes |