Boats that behave at anchor?

wully1

wully1

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Im starting to have dangerous new ( to me ) boat thoughts, something with a bit more room for longer Northern European cruising.

One of the 3 Must Haves is the ability to sit still at anchor - 3 out of the 4 boats I've owned charged around all over the place in any kind of a breeze jarring me awake at the abrupt end of every sheer round the hook.

I'm not going back to a 27 footer so am looking for advice on something around 35- 45 foot that behaves.

Anything with a stupid wide Arse and twin wheels is definitely out...
 
Not mine alas although it doesn't have twin wheels. We've been safe at anchor for many many nights at up to 45 knots but it sheets like a mad thing. Have nylon plus rubber snubber and find putting a non-flogging big dodger on on side of the cockpit helps in high winds but not noticeable in moderate ones. Only anchors in a vee calms things down reliably but can rarely rig that in an anchorage where everyone else is anchored on one. So if we are worried it's a long line to the shore
 
wully1 said:
....Anything with a stupid wide Arse and twin keels is definitely out...
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Well, that sounds like a catamaran and it sounds like that is exactly what you want.
 
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My 28' Twister behaves well at anchor. She keeps her heading when others about her are losing theirs!
If you want a bigger boat than that, how about a Rustler?
 
60 meters of 10mm chain on a 36ft boat and a 16kg britany anchor (yes, not the best anchor) never dissapointed me, especially buried in the Med sand. Even in 30 knots of wind with 35 meters of chain in around 8 meters of depth. Yes the boat "dances" with every little gust from side to side but I am OK with this. What I don't like though is a wind direction change and the boat turning completely. Absolutely hate it and will keep me awake nearly all night. So in every opportunity I drop the main anchor from the bow and a second anchor aft (or a chain/rope ashore or at some rock on the bottom of the sea). No dancing, no turning, no nothing!!
 
cmedsailor said:
60 meters of 10mm chain on a 36ft boat and a 16kg britany anchor (yes, not the best anchor) never dissapointed me, especially buried in the Med sand. Even in 30 knots of wind with 35 meters of chain in around 8 meters of depth. Yes the boat "dances" with every little gust from side to side but I am OK with this. What I don't like though is a wind direction change and the boat turning completely. Absolutely hate it and will keep me awake nearly all night. So in every opportunity I drop the main anchor from the bow and a second anchor aft (or a chain/rope ashore or at some rock on the bottom of the sea). No dancing, no turning, no nothing!!
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I've always thought that was a duff idea. When the wind goes round, instead of the boat quietly swinging round with it, and staying head to wind, you get the wind and any waves on the beam. No thanks.
 
parsifal said:
Sometimes a bucket streamed astern helps
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Tried that a couple of weeks ago - from bow and from stern - it just moves with the boat. Although it can wrench my arm out of it's sockets when going along I found almost no resistance on the rope at the speeds the boat was sheering about.

I had a half thought about dropping a weight or smallish anchor over the stern to just rest on the bottom and slow things down but it was putting up a single dodger that seemed to make a bit of a difference - I guess the beginning of having a riding sail rigged asymettrically.
 
The riding sail is a solution that you should seriously consider, it would eliminate the problem and leave you to focus on other design aspects.

The Rival shears about until it's blowing a hoolie and then takes up dead straight, until the wind drops or gust passes and the she starts wandering about. It has never really bothered me it is what boats do.
 
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The only way to cut down swinging and snatch loads, includig a long keel which we had, is a riding sail. We put it on the mizzen topping lift for sloops put it on the backstay and tie the pointy bit to stanchions. It cuts down the swinging from 90 degrees to 35 to 40 degrees and it and it significantly cuts snatch loads. We bought ours here: http://www.sailrite.com/Anchor-Riding-Sail-Kit-12-5-Sq-Feet

What I find amazing is I have seen 50 boats or more in dozens of anchorages and none were flying a riding sail, cut the snatch loads in strong winds and you are much less likely to drag.
 
In the size you mention, I would be looking at something like a Malo, among current boats. The other thing that would help would be to remove the foresail, but doing without a furling jib is not an attractive option for most of us.
 
johnalison said:
In the size you mention, I would be looking at something like a Malo, among current boats. The other thing that would help would be to remove the foresail, but doing without a furling jib is not an attractive option for most of us.
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Yes, it's all about the windage at front compared to back. With a masthead furling jib with padded luff and a 3m rib upside down on the foredeck we are asking for sheering to happen. It is a bit better when we tie the rib afloat and aft - it provide a little drag but I'm sure the main effect is that it's no longer providing windage up front. So riding sail seems to be the consensus as fore and aft anchoring is not an option (except back to shore in some bays) as you can't be the only boat in a fixed position whilst other boats swing round with the wind.
 
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