Storm Coming? Remove Your Anchor Please....
- Thread starter Maine Sail
- Start date
I had a Catalina 25 for ten years on a mooring in Noank Ct. After hurricane Bob (I think) went through I went down to inspect the boat. The boat next to me was a centerboarder that had the board up. It was a beautiful little sloop maybe a 22 and the loss of stability with the board up resulted in the boat flipping over, the outboard was under water and the mast was jammed into the bottom. The 25 doesn't have chocks, just cleats out on the rails and the amount of friction damage to the pennant amazed me. The line was almost glass like from where it was rubbing on the boat and had melted like a hot knife was applied to it. Luckily it didn't breay and I had two pennants. Pretty wild day.
Nice thread Maine..I checked out your website and some great info there as well. One thing that really bugs me is how these anchor rollers are set up. Wouldn't it be better to run the pennants through the anchor roller and back to the cleats? This would put the pull on the boat straight down the centerline and a nice soft roller to chafe on seems better than a hard chock? Running the pennant this way would force removal of the anchor.
Nice thread Maine..I checked out your website and some great info there as well. One thing that really bugs me is how these anchor rollers are set up. Wouldn't it be better to run the pennants through the anchor roller and back to the cleats? This would put the pull on the boat straight down the centerline and a nice soft roller to chafe on seems better than a hard chock? Running the pennant this way would force removal of the anchor.
If it was a centerboard and not a weighted lift keel, it would have gone over anyway. Boats with true centerboards are much less likely to flip if the board is up because the hull will slide sideways reducing the heeling force. Raising a centerboard in severe conditions is a survival tactic.
No, not really. Most, perhaps 95% of the anchor rollers we see today are far to weak to handle the loads necessary. The extra lever length will also apply tremendous loads to the deck even with massive backing plates. Most also have no way of keeping the pendant in them when pitching up and down. Even the ones with pins rarely have soft enough edges forward of the roller to no chafe the pendant when yawing side to side. Some older boats do have rollers that can handle the loads but then usually no way the keep it there.
This one, a rather robust design by today's standards, was mashed in a storm. Note the size of the backing plate too which is still attached to the bottom. The deck was badly crazed where the forces of the roller went to work on it. I suspect it was wet and already weak though because that is a massive backing plate and the deck should not have showed signs of damage.
As Roger said leaving a centerboard up is considerably safer. I have seen three boats in my life sink from centerboard slam. When the boat is on the mooring the centerboard can slam side to side and eventually crack the centerboard trunk. Under sail these loads are much more constantly applied as opposed to violent impact type impact loads from the boat rocking violently side to side with a long lever smashing the sides of the CB trunk. When I was a kid we used to moor our some of our boats off Plaice Cove, NH which is open ocean. Boards were always raised and the boats survived every storm. That boat likely sunk from the low freeboard and water filling her. Once partially full they flip easily.
Answer to chaffing mooring or dock lines.
I have a 29' Hughes and ride at anchorage. When I made my mooring lines up, before splicing the eyes in, a piece of 5/8" id clear cord reinforced tygon hose from Home Hardware was put on to cover each of the double 1/2" nylon lines enough for any chaffe areas and even through and 8" past the chocks onto the deck. This stuff is fairly flexable even with 2-3 years on it. With a paring knife, just chamfer the inside and outside edges with a slight bevel. Even your bowsprit anchor line will have a very hard time going through that before reaching the line. A 12" piece on your dock line and you can slide it anywhere you need it, like some of those 10' concrete wharfs. There are larger sizes as well for larger line. PT
If you like to control the swing on the mooring, get a small triangle (ie 2' a side) of sunbrella with a zipper sew in and zip it low to your backstay and run a line straight down from a grommet in the other corner forward into the boat somewhere (center your traveller). Something like the tailfin of an ultra light aircraft.
I have a 29' Hughes and ride at anchorage. When I made my mooring lines up, before splicing the eyes in, a piece of 5/8" id clear cord reinforced tygon hose from Home Hardware was put on to cover each of the double 1/2" nylon lines enough for any chaffe areas and even through and 8" past the chocks onto the deck. This stuff is fairly flexable even with 2-3 years on it. With a paring knife, just chamfer the inside and outside edges with a slight bevel. Even your bowsprit anchor line will have a very hard time going through that before reaching the line. A 12" piece on your dock line and you can slide it anywhere you need it, like some of those 10' concrete wharfs. There are larger sizes as well for larger line. PT
If you like to control the swing on the mooring, get a small triangle (ie 2' a side) of sunbrella with a zipper sew in and zip it low to your backstay and run a line straight down from a grommet in the other corner forward into the boat somewhere (center your traveller). Something like the tailfin of an ultra light aircraft.
Neal: I can see that if you run tight lines through black rubber hose. These are loose in 5/8" clear tygon.
So lets say an old Catalina with a bowsprit has two pendants coming from the mooring ball. How do I keep it from wrapping the bowsprit? I've seen pendants with clear hose, shrink tape, and nothing at all. Since this Catalina has cleats without chocks, what would be the better solution? We've been in a slip for 6 seasons but will be traveling when we put the boat in next year.
All U Get
They are a little pricey but you can get (probably here) cloth chafe guards that wrap around the rope with Velcro. Since they are cloth, rain will soak and cool them. If you are in an extreme situation, such as a tow, where they aren't getting wet, you can pour water on them. They are especially good at not creeping along the rope and out of position.
Consider installing chocks. I have an oversized chock on one side which is nice when picking up moorings for larger boats and makes fitting chafe gear easier.
If this is a TR BS model the head stay comes to the bow sprit making it quite robust and less likely that the pendants will catch and stay there. You could also run a line around the bottom of the sprit then up each side of the head stay that would not allow the pendants to get caught on the bow sprit and it would spill them off.
Actually I prefer the chockless cleat right near the toe rail method and have actually converted two of my boats to that. You obviously need to be careful in the placement of the cleats but with no real line to stretch and rebound over a chock less heat build up and less wear. I have been monitoring chock to cleat and chock-less, like Catalina uses, and by far find less chafe and pendant wear in chock less tow rail mounted cleats. I would convert my own boat to that in a heart beat but I have a custom made ss stem head and complete aluminum toe rail making the conversion a huge project. I have spent a considerable amount of time softening the edges on my SS stem head though. The Hunter shown below was yawing side to side wildly as well as pitching and she had no wear on the pendants and had toe rail mounted cleats.
Agreed, if the cleats are about where the chocks would be. Some of my research vessel are arranged that way although with bitts due to their size.
I was thinking about some of the boats I've seen where chocks appear to have been just omitted to save the cost of the fittings. It wasn't good advice on my part to suggest adding cleats without seeing the actual arrangement.
Note in the picture of the Hunter taking a nose dive the amount of headstay sag without a sail deployed. The amount of sag appears greater than one foot which must certainly be causing a huge amount of mast pumping not to mention how poorly this boat would sail to windward. It also appears the floor board of the dinghy is being blown out of it.