R27 OB - Yawing when at anchor or on mooring

Hi folks,

Happy Memorial Day weekend! Quick question: We have an R27 OB (Graceland) and absolutely love it. We’ve so far traveled around from North Fork of L.I, up to New England. One thing we’ve noticed is how much the boat can yaw when at anchor or on a mooring even if engine is lowered. If it’s very windy the yawing is enough to keep us awake at night. What do other Tug Nuts do to address this? Should we get a second anchor for the stern? If so, what type do you guys recommend?

Thanks!

Gregg

My R27 did the same. A couple of suggestions

Bridle/Snubber: Instead of letting the rode pull directly from the center bow roller, rig a bridle (a V-shaped line tied to both front bow cleats). This prevents the boat from wandering off-center.
Mid-ship spring line: Tie a line to the anchor chain and run it back to a mid-ship cleat. This will pull the bow at a slight angle to the wind and calm the swinging.

I tried the spring line method which seemed to help only a little. I now use a bridle which works pretty well.

We keep our 2024 R27 on a mooring in Marion, MA, and we do sail a bit at the mooring. Having owned full keel sailboats we have always experienced some movement while on a mooring or anchor.

However, our R27’s no keel planing hull with a good amount of bow windage can dance a fair amount. We added a second mooring line to act as a bridle. This reduced the dancing somewhat, but the lack of any real lateral resistance lets the movement happen.

when on anchor, one could deploy a stern anchor to keep the bow pointed in a certain direction. However, most mooring fields can’t accommodate this.

Our mooring bridle helped some, but our many years dancing on the mooring has allowed us to become used to it. Thankfully, Marion is more often calm at night.

When we had our 4 winns which was a planning hull, it swung quite a bit in the wind. One thing that helped us was add more chain. It had a 50 ft chain and 150’ of 8 plait. I replace the 50’ft chain with 300’ plus the original 150 rope attached to the previous rode. Never had to put out more than just chain so the swinging was always tight as the chain went straight to the sea bed. I always use a bridle which helps as well. If needed, the last hack is to add a stern sea anchor(not at traditional anchor) to add drag from dragging through the water as the boat swings back and forth. With a sea anchor, you just need to be careful with the currents. FWIW, I’ve never tried it nor have I dropped a stern anchor.

Our rangertug 31S has a deep V dispersement hull so we hardly swing at all. The chain seems heavy for the boat so even when we do have rope out, we hardly noticed the swinging.

Hope that helps.
Best

When we had our 4 winns which was a planning hull, it swung quite a bit in the wind. One thing that helped us was add more chain. It had a 50 ft chain and 150’ of 8 plait. I replace the 50’ft chain with 300’ plus the original 150 rope attached to the previous rode. Never had to put out more than just chain so the swinging was always tight as the chain went straight to the sea bed. I always use a bridle which helps as well. If needed, the last hack is to add a stern sea anchor(not at traditional anchor) to add drag from dragging through the water as the boat swings back and forth. With a sea anchor, you just need to be careful with the currents. FWIW, I’ve never tried it nor have I dropped a stern anchor.

Our rangertug 31S has a deep V dispersement hull so we hardly swing at all. The chain seems heavy for the boat so even when we do have rope out, we hardly noticed the swinging.

Hope that helps.
Best

We use the mid-ship cleat attachment for our anchor bridal. Also, we deploy a sea anchor amidship just below the water line. It slows the swing substantially.