Sea anchor

[nzfisher]

Looking for recommendations on where to buy an inexpensive sea anchor for my R25. I will use it mostly to slow down drift but might also use it to keep boat stab;e to the wind when staying out overnight in water too deep to anchor. I am hoping that some of the salts out there have some suggestions. My estimation is that I need a chute 9-12ft in diameter but advise is welcome.

 

[knotflying]

Try Defender. Here is a link with various sizes and prices. http://search.defender.com/?expression=sea+anchors&x=10&y=6

 

[captstu]

I had a Paratech as described above during an ocean crossing on a large catamaran. It stopped the boat! Not so easy to recover once you wanted to go again - especially on a Ranger where there is limited deck space and no sails to get you going without the possibility of tangling in an engine.

Even a small Paratech is a major handling challenge - we used electric winches, a large foredeck, and strong crew to recover mine when we deployed it.

Look for a smaller drouge that can be deployed off the end of the anchor, dropping the anchror 6' or so into the water and deploying the drouge on a line to short to tangle in the prop.

Unless you are planning to save your boat from a very large storm, the Paratech is "oversave" - the opposite of "overkill"

/Stu

 

[stwendl]

I would look for multiple smaller drogues just for the purpose of handling and retrieval. Also for the purpose of redundancy multiple drogues in series might be a choice. I think there are some available with release opening to take of the load .

 

[nzfisher]

Quote from Captstu

I had a Paratech as described above during an ocean crossing on a large catamaran. It stopped the boat! Not so easy to recover once you wanted to go again - especially on a Ranger where there is limited deck space and no sails to get you going without the possibility of tangling in an engine.

Even a small Paratech is a major handling challenge - we used electric winches, a large foredeck, and strong crew to recover mine when we deployed it.

I was planning on a separate line to "dump the chute" when hauling it in after deployment. Do you still think it will be unmanageable? I am hoping that I can use a leader short enough to keep it out of the steering gear but that is a unknown at this point. I am using a 5" chute now and have no problem pulling it in, it is just not big enough to turn the boat into the waves. From your comments I think I should be leaning towards the 9' chute rather than the 12.

 

[captstu]

My Paratech had a 600 foot main bridle and a 650' trip line. To recover the 'shute, I put the trip line on a large electric winch, powered forward at a slight angle, and basically turned the shute inside out.

Once it was tripped, I winched both the primary line and the trip line alternately until the shute was within about 10' of the boat. Then I clipped a halyard to the main line and lifted it out of the water, hanging it off the mast about 30 to 40' while It dried.

Then I repacked it on the foredeck.

With a smaller boat like my current ranger, I assume a 6' to 8' shute and 50 to 80 feet of main line would be sufficient.

A long main line is necessary to control the forces - acts like a spring.

As the shute grows smaller, it approaches the function of a drouge - and should be much easier to recover.

I, and everyone I ever talked with that uses or used this, suggests you hang the shute off the bow - I don't know about a drogue, but if you hang a shute off the stern, the water flow is over your rudder in "reverse" and may damage your steering gear.

If you stop facing the current, you still have a bit of steering and there is no damage to the rudder.

I'm not a good source - I used it in very heavy weather with a larger sailboat - the Tug is quite different and the forces are, I presume, much much lower.

BTW, the factory supplied line on my 18' was 1" and the trip line was 1/2" - kind of daunting after moving to a more realistic size boat.

/Stu