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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Anchor Hangers on Bow

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Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/22/2009 : 06:32:32

I am either going to touch a nerve here or show my incompetence, either way, I can handle it if you can...

The latest mainsheet tech tips for single handling suggests an anchor hanger on the bow pulpit as a way to make anchoring easier. I would suggest that this may be a bad idea. Here are my reasons why:

<ul><li>Hourglassing - in a single-handed race last summer, I was flying my 155% genoa and on a less than lovely gybe I hourglassed the sail. I ran forward to release it, and as it started to unfurl, I ran back to the cockpit. looking forward, the sail was still hung up, but was now a big balloon with only its bottom corner "stuck". In coming out of the hourglass, it had caught on the crossbar of the danforth hung on the bow pulpit, and managed to rip a nice hole in itself so that it was now very securely in place. A dangerous situation. </li><li>Collision Damage - Another boat in our fleet put her anchor through a competitor's window, then "anchored" there until after much yelling , jumping, prying and so on the anchor came free. Had the anchor not been there, the two boats would never have locked together. </li><li>You have an anchor locker - keeping the anchor in its locker keeps the bow clean, is easy to get out and prep for deployment, and allows you to measure out your scope before you have to set the hook, for me this works well. </li></ul>

Again this is just my observations, YMMV.

We have removed our pulpit hangers, and will be swapping them away at our club's next "swap meet"

"Iris"
1984 FK/SR #4040
http://frosthaus.blogspot.com/

Take a minute to register your boat with the association!!
http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/owner_questionnaire.htm

Edited by - Prospector on 05/22/2009 06:33:45

Peregrine
Admiral

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830 Posts

Response Posted - 05/22/2009 : 07:54:53

All good points Chris.
I included the hangers for the single sailor as a way to minimize time away from the cockpit. There are times when a close quartered or crowded anchorage requires a quick deployment without having to get the anchor out of the locker, feed it around the pulpit then set it.
I should have noted that I would not use hangers as a permanent place to “store” an anchor. I would use them as a preparatory position when entering an anchorage, otherwise you are right, the proper place for the anchor is in the locker.
I feed my anchor rode out of the locker, onto the bow roller, around the pulpit and back into the locker. That way I can just send the anchor out the side of the pulpit and drop it.
I also have a bungee with a plastic clip glued to the inside of the locker lid so it can be held open by clipping the lid to the pulpit.
I also have the bungee and clip on the lazerette so I don't get my head bonked when I need something out of it.

For further comments, suggestions and other opinions on the May Mainsheet single handing articles head over to the
"Single Handing May Mainsheet/Forum Discussion" in this forum.

Edited by - on

dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 05/22/2009 : 08:11:45

The hangers are also a good place to keep the anchor with rode looped over it so they can dry out some while sailing/motoring back to the slip (lake sailing). I would not leave it on the hangers while racing, for the reasons you mentioned.

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Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 05/22/2009 : 09:12:38

TOPIC MOVED HERE: http://www.catalina-capri-25s.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19851

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 05/22/2009 : 09:19:06

We keep our anchor in the locker till we're ready to actually enter an anchorage, then I'll put the Danforth in the hanger after running it through the bow roller. This does several things for me, it makes the Danforth easy to deploy, and it opens up access to my plow anchor which is in the bottom of the locker.

I don't think it'd occur to me to have the anchor up there on a permanent basis and racing with it would seem to be a very bad idea.

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5902 Posts

Response Posted - 05/22/2009 : 10:21:05

I have a different perspective on it. I carried my anchor on hangers mounted on the bow pulpit for many years, racing as well as cruising with them, and don't recall ever having a problem.

Hourglassing - The problem was caused by the "less than lovely gybe." If you don't let out so much jibsheet when you gybe, or even pull it in a little before you gybe, and then let the sail backwind slightly, so that it blows the sail to the other side, the sail will stay behind the forestay, preventing it from snagging on the anchor.

Collision damage - The problem wasn't caused by the anchor hanging on the bow pulpit. It was caused by inattention, which in turn caused one boat to ram the other. If one boat had a bow sprit such as the ones now being made by Forespar to make a cruising spinnaker fly more efficiently, would you say that such a bow sprit shouldn't be installed, because it might punch a hole in another boat if there's a collision? Of course not. The damage was caused by the collision, not by the device that was installed there for the convenience of the skipper or for the efficiency of handling the boat.

Anchor locker - I kept a second, big anchor in the anchor locker, that I used for a storm, or when I was going to sleep on the boat, but the one I ordinarily used was the lunch hook that was hung on the pulpit. The fact that your boat has an anchor locker doesn't mean that all your anchors must be stowed in it.

In big winds I stowed the small anchor, simply because it's much harder to control the jib and the mainsail when gybing in those conditions, especially when shorthanded, and it makes sense to reduce the number of things that can possibly go wrong in those conditions. But, that having been said, that's no reason to not hang the anchor there in ordinary sailing conditions.

I sail with a friend who always carries his anchor on the pulpit, and we race with it there, flying a symettrical spinnaker, and we sail it through storms, and have never had a problem with it.

Edited by - Steve Milby on 05/22/2009 10:33:16

aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 05/22/2009 : 10:45:08

Here is my solution to the problem encountered. It works passably well.

I carry my "lunch hook" on an anchor hanger on the stern pulpit well out of the way of the genoa. When single handing or expecting to deploy the anchor, I connect my road, which is stored in the anchor locker, to the lunch hook. I can then sail or motor up to an anchorage, deploy the anchor from the cockpit, walk the road forward, and set it as the road snubs up.

I also carry a spare road and chain in a 5-gallon bucket, in the port lazarette, which I use with my storm anchor.

Just another single-handed technique for your consideration.

Edited by - on

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