Steadying a monohull in a pen.

[OloteleMtn]

Just to add insult to injury.....how about a hammock?

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Live with it. Do not load up the mast to keep the boat from its normal gentle yielding to the forces which assail her. Suck it up, accept it. You chose to live on a boat, in particular, the Swanson, for it's/her virtues. Accept heeling in the berth or wherever else it occurs. Remark it. You know it is safe. Tell your body to go back to sleep, it's okay. At anchor, you have to get up and get cold and sometimes wet, as well, and see that all's well. Let yourself feel grateful there's nothing to worry about.

The more you tell yourself it's horrible and you can't stand it, the more strongly that way you'll feel. So soothe yourself. Encourage your body to deal with it. Accept. Move on.

Ann

methinks you are quoting from the sailing edition of 'The Little Book of Calm'.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1oO08T49s8

Or for those who have little more time on their hands..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X5o...re=emb_rel_end

[Jim Cate]

Matt, you keep telling us about the three tonnes of junk that you have removed from Manera... perhaps you should put it back!

Jim

[GILow]

Jim,

It's more like four tons, and yes, I've lost some initial stability, that's for sure.

But no, I'm not putting any back.

M

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Matt, you keep telling us about the three tonnes of junk that you have removed from Manera... perhaps you should put it back!

Jim

[GILow]

Actually, I like the idea of the weight on a pole. The boat is pretty still, the wind is very steady, so a flopper stopper wouldn't do much, but a weight would. I've brought the dink in off the davits, and it's already sitting in the water upwind of me, I'll give it a try.

Thank you, partly for the idea and partly for not flaming me like some of the others around here. (Not naming any HF radio operators in particular.)

Originally Posted by Pete7

You need a flopper stopper, but try a builders bag on the end of a deployed spinnaker pole.

Pete

[GILow]

Very sensible!

Originally Posted by OloteleMtn

Just to add insult to injury.....how about a hammock?

[GILow]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

Your problem is what turned me into a permanent cruiser.

I suffered through a winter in Challenger harbour in Fremantle and when the next one came decided that I would flee north and cruise the Kimberlies to get away from the cold and boat leaning and snatching gales.

Got to the King George river and was leaving it to go back south when the flange on the gearbox fell off, requiring ongoing to Darwin. Cyclone season and NW monsoon pushed me on to Queensland and eventually down as far as Sydney on the way back to Fremantle via the south coast.

Motoring out of the harbour to continue south when a sudden flash of inspiration questioned whether I really wanted to go back to winters in Fremantle so flipped a coin and it commanded me to turn left and head back north.

Left Fremantle in April 2002 and cruised between Yamba in NSW and Exmouth on the WA coast ever since. It's the only proper cure to wind driven heeling and mooring line snatching in a pen during winter in southern climes.

Yes, doing this refit I've worked on the assumption that the boat will be at anchor and therefore mostly pointing into the wind. I chose this pen because it also keeps the bow into the prevailing South Westerlies. But these rare sustained North Westerlies are certainly enough to make me want to get out of here even more.

[GILow]

Too right, not for the thin-skinned.

Originally Posted by Midnight Son

GILow:
It's a tough crowd today.
Cheers bud

[GILow]

Yes, part of me says the forces should be fine, and I've got lovely strong brand new standing rigging too, but part of me worries that it's not quite the same as what the mast would usually expect, particularly if things get dynamic.

Turning the boat ideways in the pen would have been the smart move, but it's too windy to do safely now.

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Buy a cat Gilow! But seriously I would be worried about bending the mast in the middle? Secured at the top and the boat tied to the dock I just tried it with a straw and it seems to bend in the middle when I replicate the imagined motion.

I just realised you have an empty dock next to you, why not tie her into the breeze?
Cheers

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by GILow

Yes, doing this refit I've worked on the assumption that the boat will be at anchor and therefore mostly pointing into the wind. I chose this pen because it also keeps the bow into the prevailing South Westerlies. But these rare sustained North Westerlies are certainly enough to make me want to get out of here even more.

Ahhh. You just dislike the feeling of the boat at the dock with the wind coming from the wrong place!

I feel the exact same way. I find docks very uncomfortable in any boat. I put up with a dock occasionally, such as when it’s time to put the boat away for the winter but I’m still aboard a few months. Certainly a refit is easier on a dock. But it just feels uncomfortable and unnatural.

So it’s just getting used to it. Putting up with it. Even a catamaran feels wrong at a dock.

[GILow]

You have strange dreams... I'd see somebody about those.

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

This Adelaide Forecast says the wind is going into the west tonight... as I said before... make rum your friend..

I dream of being on my boat.. in a pen.. in a gale.. on the beam... sigh...

Seriously ... line from the masthead in this situation... never in a purple fit......

[GILow]

Good point aboit the chafe problem though I could get aroubd that by using the asym halyard.

But it's the dynamic loads that are bothering me. There are just enough negative reactions to the idea here to keep me worried too.

Originally Posted by PineyWoodsPete

It's hard for me to see a downside to the OP's plan, except maybe chafe of the line at masthead sheave with the un-fair lead, but a wire halyard should mitigate that. And the force at the masthead shouldn't be more than about 50# assuming a mast height of 60', for a righting force of 3000 ft-lbs - about the same as 600# of meat on the windward rail.

[Fore and Aft]

The simple solution is some of those 44 gallon blue plastic drums that seem to be used here in Australia. Three or four of them filled with water on the deck will correct your lean pretty quick.

Even better Gilow since you are single handed why not turn some of that monster saloon space into water ballast tanks? I am thinking from the deck to the bilge behind both settees. That should be enough water ballast to stiffen her up in dock and out sailing? LOL

Cheers

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by GILow

Yes, doing this refit I've worked on the assumption that the boat will be at anchor and therefore mostly pointing into the wind. I chose this pen because it also keeps the bow into the prevailing South Westerlies. But these rare sustained North Westerlies are certainly enough to make me want to get out of here even more.

And when you are anchored and pointing into the wind but the swell is creeping around the headland and is on your beam?
..and then the wind falls light but the swell is still there... that can be rather horrid......

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by GILow

Yes, doing this refit I've worked on the assumption that the boat will be at anchor and therefore mostly pointing into the wind. ..........

More tough love alert

Most (all???) of us who have spent significant time at anchor will know there are plenty of times where the swell doesn't nicely align with the for/aft centreline of the boat regardless of what the wind or current is doing or more simply put - at times you will get a beam swell when anchored.

Again the best option is a multihull which allows you to find more sheltered anchorages...

Allow me to restate Ann's kind advice in a more informal way - suck it up princess (). Other salty phases come to mind but you get the drift matey

I am trying to refrain from suggesting what to do with the builder's bag of cement...
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it's the posting!

Wotie would to buy you a