Weight in the ends

[Alan]

After sailing back from Key West in gale force winds and seas running 10 to 12 feet our skipper remarked how well the boat performed. Prior to our start he had emptied the water tank in the bow and removed 2 CQR's with there attendant rode off the anchor roller. The lack of weight in the bow allowed the boat to surf the waves much more easily. We rarely took any green water over the bow with this setup. He remarked that in the past with nearly 1000 lbs of extraa weight up front the bow would have been submerged in most of the bigger waves that moved through. It made for a much more comfortable ride and considerably better boat speed.For cruisers, it might be worth considering the 'weight in the ends' issue when facing heavier seas and winds.

 

[Bob V]

Absolutey correct Alan

And it applies to both ends. I've got a more storage space in my back lazzerettes than I have in my garage at home and the two bow roller and giant anchor locker plus a preference for lots of chain. At the start of a trip (with full water and fuel), the ride is much better if I bring a bunch of that excess weight closer to the middle. Performance trumps convenience while traveling but once I get to the part of the trip where I am just gunkholing around a small area then convienience wins again. I do not have room on deck for my 14 ft hard dinghy so it tows behind because hanging off the stern way back there, it would just not be comfortable in big seas.

 

[KennyH]

While an excellent idea for trim be careful.

I would not recomend anyone move all their anchor gear out of the bow of their boat for trim. While the boat does trim better you may need an anchor ready to deploy in an emergency. White line squal comes to mind. A better idea would have been to move 1 of the CQRs out of the bow. However this is why I only use enought chain for severe conditions and no more.

 

[Don Guillette]

Weight

Boats are magnets for all kinds of stuff. When I cleaned out every boat I've owned I found stuff I didn't even know I had on board. If you just have to have all this excess weight on board your best bet is to concentrate the weight as much as possable as low in the boat and close to the center.

 

[Bob V]

You are correct Kenny H

I know how important the anchor can be in an emergency. When I am using my boat on short trips near home I always have one anchor in the bow roller and I take water out of the bow tank to compensate. A typical longer trip for me would be to go from my home on Whidbey Island to the Gulf Islands or Desolation Sound and spend a month in a relatively small area. On the way there I cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia both with the potential for large seas with strong currents and some wind thrown in which can make it fairly rough at times. My anchors will always be close at hand and ready to carry forward and deploy or just deploy from the stern with the rode brought forward. Once I get up to the protected waters, I load up the anchor locker with both anchors on the rollers and ready to go. I also transfer a lot of junk to the trunk at that point to make it more roomy down below.Your point was well taken because I learned the hard way that an anchor can save your butt when nothing else works. Fortuately there was an experienced sailor to come by and tow me away from a certain grounding in 3 knots of current. After he towed me back to his marina, he was nice enough to explain that if I had used my anchor I could have saved myself. Remove one token from my bag of luck and transfer it to my bag of experience.