While at anchor, my 340 slowly occillates back and forth so that the rode angle sweeps between about 30 degrees to port and 30 degrees to starboard. Because the angle is so large, the rode chafes on the stainless plates of the bow anchor roller. Is there a simple way to protect the rode? Has anyone had success with an "anchor sail"?
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Use a snubber.
Run the snubber from your bow cleat over the toe rail and attach it to your rode or chain. This is a good practice anyway, but it's also easy then to include leather or hose as chafe protection where the snubber passes over the toe rail. Much cheaper than an anchor sail. Guaranteed to work.
Run the snubber from your bow cleat over the toe rail and attach it to your rode or chain. This is a good practice anyway, but it's also easy then to include leather or hose as chafe protection where the snubber passes over the toe rail. Much cheaper than an anchor sail. Guaranteed to work.
Second anchor
Drop a second anchor off the bow with minimal road. Under breezy condition give the second anchor the same road length as the primary and set to maintain about a 60 degree wedge between the roads. The 340 has only the one bow roller so hank the second anchor directly to a bow cleat. It also helps to reduce your windage. Anything above deck that has surface area will have an influence on boat motion. On the good side, as long as the boat is sailing to and fro, you can rest assured the anchor is holding.
Drop a second anchor off the bow with minimal road. Under breezy condition give the second anchor the same road length as the primary and set to maintain about a 60 degree wedge between the roads. The 340 has only the one bow roller so hank the second anchor directly to a bow cleat. It also helps to reduce your windage. Anything above deck that has surface area will have an influence on boat motion. On the good side, as long as the boat is sailing to and fro, you can rest assured the anchor is holding.
Rode chaffing
Larry, our 430 also "sails" at anchor. However our solution to chafe is fairly easy. Go to your local firestation and get from them some of the small (approx. 2 1/2") obsolete hose. I then cut that into about two foot lengths, slit those length-wise, add a line to snub it, and abracadabra, a cheap, very effective protection against chafe. After the anchor has been set, I merely slip the hose over the rode, letting it protrude a foot or so in front of the bow roller, to allow for rode stretch. Good luck! Pete Burger
Larry, our 430 also "sails" at anchor. However our solution to chafe is fairly easy. Go to your local firestation and get from them some of the small (approx. 2 1/2") obsolete hose. I then cut that into about two foot lengths, slit those length-wise, add a line to snub it, and abracadabra, a cheap, very effective protection against chafe. After the anchor has been set, I merely slip the hose over the rode, letting it protrude a foot or so in front of the bow roller, to allow for rode stretch. Good luck! Pete Burger
Send to SAIL Mag
Pete, Great idea! You should send that idea to "Things That Work" in SAIL Mag. I'll share the $25 with you.
Pete, Great idea! You should send that idea to "Things That Work" in SAIL Mag. I'll share the $25 with you.
Another Way
Larry, Instead of a separate snubber you can just reach past the roller, grab the line and fasten it directly to the cleat. For a chaff guard, find a circular piece of leather about six inches across, slit it and place it directly over the cleat before you attach the line. The leather will lay between the rode and the toe rail. Easy and cheap. Les
Larry, Instead of a separate snubber you can just reach past the roller, grab the line and fasten it directly to the cleat. For a chaff guard, find a circular piece of leather about six inches across, slit it and place it directly over the cleat before you attach the line. The leather will lay between the rode and the toe rail. Easy and cheap. Les
Chafe Protection
My version of chafing gear is simply a length of old garden hose split lengthwise and held in place with 1/8" parachute cord. In last 3 or four years of doing it this way, no problems with chafe. Plus old lengths of garden hose have multiple uses on board.
My version of chafing gear is simply a length of old garden hose split lengthwise and held in place with 1/8" parachute cord. In last 3 or four years of doing it this way, no problems with chafe. Plus old lengths of garden hose have multiple uses on board.
anchor sails work
chafe gear only fixes the symptom, the problem being that fin-keeled (and bulb-keeled) boats want to charge the anchor. If you have a fin-keeled sloop and spend a lot of time on the hook, the only way to go is with an anchor sail. They really do work. (A ketch or yawl can use the mizzen instead.) Any sailmaker can whip you up an inexpensive anchor sail, especially if you're willing to have it built out of someone's old main. A nice way to recycle.
chafe gear only fixes the symptom, the problem being that fin-keeled (and bulb-keeled) boats want to charge the anchor. If you have a fin-keeled sloop and spend a lot of time on the hook, the only way to go is with an anchor sail. They really do work. (A ketch or yawl can use the mizzen instead.) Any sailmaker can whip you up an inexpensive anchor sail, especially if you're willing to have it built out of someone's old main. A nice way to recycle.
Anchored 340 in Hurricane
I never leave the rode on the anchor roller in any kind of weather. I take the rode off the roller and attach it directly to the cleat. I learned this during Hurricane Bonnie. I ancored in the midddle of the Pamlico River near Blount's Bay in about 11 feet of water. I had 2 big danforths out. 200 feet of 5/8 rode and 20 feet of chain on each. I had one on the bow roller and another attached to the cleat with the tail led aft to the midship cleat and finally around a spinnaker winch. It was new rode and I was afraid it would slip off the cleat. I have had new line do that. One anchor rode was over the roller with lots of chafe protection. Well Hurricane Bonnie stalled over us and we endured a couple of days of hurricane force winds. When I retrieved the boat after 4 days, only one anchor was left holding. The one on the roller was chafed right through and was lost. The one on the cleat did not slip but it showed slight signs of chafe where the rode contacted the anchor roller metal. I am getting ready for Hurricane Dennis tomorrow. I will probably put a trip line on each anchor in case a rode chafes off especially on my big Fortress so I can retrieve it. The Fortress has 10 feet of cable, to allow in to go into the mud, 20 feet of chain and 200 feet of rode.
I never leave the rode on the anchor roller in any kind of weather. I take the rode off the roller and attach it directly to the cleat. I learned this during Hurricane Bonnie. I ancored in the midddle of the Pamlico River near Blount's Bay in about 11 feet of water. I had 2 big danforths out. 200 feet of 5/8 rode and 20 feet of chain on each. I had one on the bow roller and another attached to the cleat with the tail led aft to the midship cleat and finally around a spinnaker winch. It was new rode and I was afraid it would slip off the cleat. I have had new line do that. One anchor rode was over the roller with lots of chafe protection. Well Hurricane Bonnie stalled over us and we endured a couple of days of hurricane force winds. When I retrieved the boat after 4 days, only one anchor was left holding. The one on the roller was chafed right through and was lost. The one on the cleat did not slip but it showed slight signs of chafe where the rode contacted the anchor roller metal. I am getting ready for Hurricane Dennis tomorrow. I will probably put a trip line on each anchor in case a rode chafes off especially on my big Fortress so I can retrieve it. The Fortress has 10 feet of cable, to allow in to go into the mud, 20 feet of chain and 200 feet of rode.
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