Can flopper stoppers damage your rigging?

[Cheechako]

My answer is : Yes of course. Repetitive side loads and just movement in general etc will at least wear things out eventually.

[Jack C]

Some of the triangular plates hung off fishing boats are passive stabilizers that prevent rolling only while the boat is moving forward.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Muaddib1116

I've searched and read a bunch of flopper stopper threads, but they all focus on if they work and don't answer this concern of mine. If you rig one or two flopper stoppers on spinnaker poles with topping lifts or halyards, can this exert enough force to damage your rigging, the pole, or the mast?

I'm guessing that if the swell is so bad that your rigging is at risk, then you will have likely moved to a different anchorage already, but I have no experience with these.

We had a home made one, and we did suffer chafe on the line that went through the spinaker pole's jaws to the flopper stopper. It was not new line, so now, in retrospect, I think it was vulnerable to chafe, and that chafing gear on the line would have preserved it.

The need for flopper stoppers is partly dependent on your hull shape, some are more rolly than others. It will also depend on what other options are open for you, such as, can you take a stern line out (stern anchor), and haul the boat so that you take the swell on the fwd. quarter, which is often more comfortable. If the wind is stable, you can run a spring, from your leeward stern quarter, secure to anchor chain with a rolling hitch, and lower a little more chain, to pull the stern so the bow is more into the wind. To me, the best thing you can do, if you have to stay where it is rolly, is to teach your body to sleep through it, but it won't work if you're seasick. An ocean passage can really teach your body about motion, and subsequently, rolling is less obtrusive.

If you include your boat type in your Profile, and your general location, it will help us to give you more specific feedback, relative to boat and frequent anchorages. Smaller, narrower, round bilge boats tend to be more rolly than larger, hard chine ones.

Ann

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Jack C

Some of the triangular plates hung off fishing boats are passive stabilizers that prevent rolling only while the boat is moving forward.

If it’s a shrimp boat, they are called birds, and birds fly in the water and hold the mouth of the net open.
But they will also help stabilize the boat when not dragging the net.
If you go to Spanish Wells in the Bahamas, all the Lobster boats have them and the booms just like a shrimp boat, they say they they help stabilize the boat at anchor.
Also many especially older Trawlers have booms and birds to help the roll when underway, big buck guys have active stabilizers.

[Goodall_M1]

Originally Posted by Pete17C

link

Thanks for the link Pete, now I have more chance to understand what everyone is saying in this thread...

(If you go to sea and think that you know everything, the only person that you are fooling is yourself. The sea knows this and will soon show you why!)

[mvweebles]

Flopper stoppers are used at-rear (anchored) and have some sort of mechanism such as a diaphragm that allow them to descend in water but provide resistance when pulled up

Paravanes are underway stabilization mechanisms with outrigger booms that fly triangular "fish" on either side of the vessel. Because the boat is underway, the superstructure needs to be significantly beefier than for flopper stoppers.

I wouldn't worry a moment about rigging when using a flopper stopper. Water is more dense than air, but the surface area of a flopper stopper is a tiny fraction of the sail area. Chafe may be an issue, but not structure.

Peter

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pow...bilizer-option

[Muaddib1116]

Thanks for all the great info guys. The idea of just attaching them to the toe rail or a mid-ships cleat sounds pretty appealing.

[Zzmeyer]

I used to hang my flopper stopper from the spinnaker pole but found it much easier to hang it off the boom. My boat is good without them, but I've seen a lot I'd hate to be on without them. If your mast falls down that is good because you are still at anchor and will probably survive. If the flopper stopper is going to bring your mast down then it was probably coming down anyway. Or buy a catamaran.

[Dougtiff]

DON C L, the "triangular blades: are PARAVANES, used underway, to dampen roll, seen on fishing boat's and recreation motor yachts.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Dougtiff

DON C L, the "triangular blades: are PARAVANES, used underway, to dampen roll, seen on fishing boat's and recreation motor yachts.

Thanks! I did not know their name. And are they not also used at anchor?

[Dougtiff]

Not used at anchor, only under way.