stability at anchor

[johnaland]

before I start with a million other questions regarding this dream (med live aboard) one basic question. Just think, put me off now and there's one less grumpy old man cluttering up the beautiful coves of the eastern med!
So. My wife gets sea sick in the bath, and the entire dream if OFF unless we can find a hull form which is as stable as can be when at anchor.

I think I know that size and weight are at the top of any list solving this issue, but, what else helps?
We are not going to be moving much...more floating home than sailing or motoring adventure...I even wondered if a long keel yacht with the must struck down might work well?! (maybe not joking at that).
ANY solution is worth hearing about. What are the basics please.
Huge thanks
John.

 

[KellysEye]

>So. My wife gets sea sick in the bath, and the entire dream if OFF unless we can find a hull form which is as stable as can be when at anchor.

Catamaran.

 

[sarabande]

A sailing boat with the mast down will have an extremely short roll period, and be rather uncomfortable.

It is possible to rig 'flopper stoppers' which dampen the roll and make life more stable.

http://www.faymarine.com/Pauls Information Site/Flopper Stopper.htm

 

[Crisby]

Powercat?!

 

[Yngmar]

Catamaran, but not a small one. Generally, as big a boat as you can get. The 50m superyachts anchor way out all around here and don't seem to wobble much. New wife might be cheaper though.

Maybe monohull with flopper-stoppers - we've rigged out a weighted bucket on the boom a few nights in rolly anchorages and even that helped a lot. You still roll, but you don't get the build-up that leads to extreme angles. There's also active stabilization systems, but those require you to have a generator running the entire time.

Probably best to abandon the idea and buy a holiday home instead as you don't want to move much anyways.

 

[charles_reed]

I've been in the Med for the last 10 years, anchoring about 100 times a season.

I'd love to give you some facile encouragement but have to suggest you either give up the idea, change wife or ensure she grows out of her seasickness.

When wind is offshore or onshore your problem of rolling is reduced at the cost of pitch.
If winds are parallel to the shore then rolling is major - and even big catamarans can roll, despite assumptions to the contrary.
In the Med seas are shorter, sharper and come up more quickly than round N European shores.
In fact the sailing is considerably inferior - the only advantage is the sun.

 

[vyv_cox]

I suggest a motor caravan would be more suitable. We see increasing numbers of them in Greece and they mostly go to nearly as many nice places as we do.

We are currently inside a port in complete shelter, tied back to a wall on a well-weighted lazy line. Every (frequent) gust from the F5 wind heels us over to 10 degrees or more. It doesn't bother us a bit but it sounds like your wife would not like it. At anchor it would be considerably more extreme, when she might jump overboard.

 

[cmedsailor]

One way to reduce rolling but not pitching (rolling is of course much more uncomfortable) is to drop both bow and stern anchors in such way that the boat faces the (expected) swell. Yes, the wind turns but you could try it for the night at least.

 

[sailaboutvic]

John I sorry to say I agree with some here when suggest your liveaboard dream may be a problem unless you can find a way to cue your sea sickness , a cat may help some what but they also can have a hard time when the condition are right .
I writing this as we sailing behind our friend in their cat that never roll and sail flat , well not from where we seeing it from .
but after saying that a very good friend who a member here , not going to say his name , wife isn't a great sailor but they have managed to live in their boat for some years without too many problems and sail it from the uk to the Med , well done guys .

 

[RichardS]

A catamaran is the best answer for steady decks at anchor.

Where we are anchored at this moment, we had a lot of swell coming into the bay and the monohull next to us had an anchor light which must have been rolling at least 20 degrees either side of vertical. Both us and the cat on the other side of the monohull were bobbing up and down a bit but I slept like a log as soon as my head hit the pillow.

If my wife, who slept well but not as well as me, had been on that monohull she would have been throwing up. :ambivalence:

Richard

 

[[3889]]

I suggest a motor caravan would be more suitable. We see increasing numbers of them in Greece and they mostly go to nearly as many nice places as we do.

We are currently inside a port in complete shelter, tied back to a wall on a well-weighted lazy line. Every (frequent) gust from the F5 wind heels us over to 10 degrees or more. It doesn't bother us a bit but it sounds like your wife would not like it. At anchor it would be considerably more extreme, when she might jump overboard.

+1
Know too many couples (incuding a past relationship of my own) where one partner at best tolerates living aboard . Like for like a motorhome is cheaper and more flexible. Done both. I love boats but, if either of you doesn't, liveaboard is a bad idea.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Seakeeper gyro? https://www.seakeeper.com/

I've only ever heard of them being used on power boats. In fact I have one myself on my boat and it works very well at anchor. Can't see any reason why a gyro wouldnt work on a sailing yacht at anchor although obviously not under way

 

[johnaland]

Thank you all very much.
So a lottery win would suggest an 80ft steel catamaran might be reasonable, otherwise forget it and stay ashore.

Why is everyone so flippin sensible these days!?
Seriously tho, many thanks for all the replies. My tiny bit of knowledge and research sort of saw this coming, but I had hoped...
We have had a bit of a waterways dream aboard a 30 ton steel widebeam barge...she didn't move much despite several parties of elephants and some late nights, but few waves on the canals.
Well, it saves the aged brain from CEVNI and all the other exams, having to remember stuff , and etc.
If anyone dreams up a solution, do post, otherwise, the bloke waving at you from the shore in a campervan is me.
The two fingers, means peace, or it did when I was at college.

 

[Neeves]

Why not charter a cat - and try it?

Jonathan

 

[vyv_cox]

Don't turn your nose up at motor caravans, we have owned them for 45 years or more. Lots more flexibility to get to good places and Europe looks far more favourably on them than UK does. Google 'aires' and you will see what I mean.

If you are intending touring Greek islands go for something smaller, the ferries are expensive. It cost us more from Pireas to Leros than Ancona to Igoumenitsa, a far greater distance.

 

[Neeves]

Why not charter a cat - and try it?

Jonathan

Or as Vyv underlines, a motor home is not to be dismissed, try renting one and see how you like that.

Most people don't try a car without a test drive, few buy houses unseen - why would you rely on an internet forum to base your decision when you could try any of the options beforehand. Makes very little sense to me - yachts, catamarans, motor homes - they are fairly big ticket items, easy to buy, takes a bit longer to sell - and there are lots of companies willing to let you rent, charter.

Jonathan

 

[Sybarite]

before I start with a million other questions regarding this dream (med live aboard) one basic question. Just think, put me off now and there's one less grumpy old man cluttering up the beautiful coves of the eastern med!
So. My wife gets sea sick in the bath, and the entire dream if OFF unless we can find a hull form which is as stable as can be when at anchor.

I think I know that size and weight are at the top of any list solving this issue, but, what else helps?
We are not going to be moving much...more floating home than sailing or motoring adventure...I even wondered if a long keel yacht with the must struck down might work well?! (maybe not joking at that).
ANY solution is worth hearing about. What are the basics please.
Huge thanks
John.

There was a recent article in French mag suggesting that using ONE earplug had spectacular results against sea-sickness.

 

[Mikedefieslife]

Catamarans roll terribly in any sort of side swell. Even small but frequent 10cm swell can be a pain.

That being said. I remember being on a 60ft mono in Mallorca, and while I thought my 35' catamaran was rolley, we couldn't keep a single glass of wine, or can beer on the table in the mono.

 

[BurnitBlue]

If you look around in any anchorage there is at least one yacht that is rolling its gunnels over, even on relatively calm days. The next day it will be a different yacht. It is called Resonant Rolling and is caused by the beam of the yacht matching the peak to peak length of the swell. There is a formula for this somewhere. From my poor maths ability I also guess that there must be an anti-resonant rolling formula somewhere. Give this formula to your wife and let her decide which boat you should buy. Then you can blame her if she gets sea sick at anchor.

On the subject of Motor Homes, there is a very strong rumour that a world famous catamaran circumnavigator (ex YBW poster) has mothballed his 70 foot Catamaran and is moving aboard a Motor Home. I suspect from his YBW posts that his desire for space is interfering with his choice of Motor Home. I expect that nothing less than two double decker busses bolted together like a catamaran will be sufficient to house his Harley Davidson Motor bike and his small catamaran (for fun).