Low Bow -- chain location

[Jim Picerno]

I spent the last two days getting my new boat in the water. Dealing with lots of oddities (e.g. some mast lights connect to a terminal block on the coach roof, while others run to the bottom of the mast). If you look carefully at the attached photo, the bow looks to be riding very low in the water. I've not placed anything under the V-berth yet, but the boat is suppose to have 200 ft. of 5/8 G4 chain along with a windlass. The chain plus 75 ft. rope road sits in the chain locker forward of the V-berth. I assume this is the culprit for the bow riding so low in the water. So, some questions. Are you carrying this much chain on your boat? If you're carrying a lot chain, have you modified the chain locker to store the chain further aft, below the V-berth? Any other reason why the bow is riding so low? Thanks.

 

[David Vaughn]

Are your tanks mostly empty?

Our 31 Independence will do that when our forward water tank (under v-berth, 25 gal.) is full, and the main tank (right over the keel, 45 gal.) and fuel tank (under cockpit, starboard side, 35 gal.) are mostly empty. When all the tanks are pretty evenly filled, she sits evenly on her lines, even with 100' of 8mm chain and 200' of 16mm rode, plus 35 pounds of anchor on the bow.

 

[ConchyDug]

5/8" chain? Seems giant for a boat under 75'. Did you mean 3/8", because 200' of that is about 300lbs, which seems like a lot on a 38'. I went with 125' of 5/16" G4 with 200' of rope rode and the bow is noticeably lower.

 

[Loren Beach]

One way to achieve the catenary without using overly heavy chain could be to use a sentinel if wind and sea state is concerning. This might be a rare occasion depending on where you anchor.

 

[Christian Williams]

You're in Florida, I see. Do others there carry so much chain?

You could carry moderate anchoring gear for day-sailing, and plan to beef up for coral cruising or hurricane holes.

The boat does look a bit bow down, but with crew in the cockpit would even out. It is true that we want weight out of the ends, but compromise is necessary and that factor is more for racing than the realities of passage-making.

 

[southofvictor]

5/8” chain? Or 5/16”? We carry 100’ of 5/16” g4 and 250’ of 5/8” 8-plait for our 20kg Vulcan primary anchor. It’s all in the original shalllow anchor locker pan, and does not seem to put the bow too low. Re - building the chain locker to get the weight lower as many others have done is on my someday list, but not a priority for now. From what I understand the fore-aft placement of weight has a lot more impact on performance than height does.

 

[Prairie Schooner]

One way to achieve the catenary without using overly heavy chain could be to use a sentinel if wind and sea state is concerning. This might be a rare occasion depending on where you anchor.

Loren,
What is a sentinel, in this context?
J

 

[Loren Beach]

There are several ways to describe a *weight lowered down the anchor rode -- purpose being to arbitrarily depress the level of the rode. This causes the pull on the anchor to be lower down and helps it dig in and hold better. This also helps to prevent a hard snatch on the anchor when the bow rides up hard in waves with the rode already tight.
*Also commonly called a kellet (interesting link: https://www.practical-sailor.com/sails-rigging-deckgear/kellets-on-the-rode

We have been lucky to never have to anchor where there is inadequate room to let out enough scope. We have not owned or used such a weight. I have met cruisers that always carry one, tho.

Also, I am no way sure which name for the device is "proper"...

 

[Prairie Schooner]

There are several ways to describe a *weight lowered down the anchor rode -- purpose being to arbitrarily depress the level of the rode. This causes the pull on the anchor to be lower down and helps it dig in and hold better. This also helps to prevent a hard snatch on the anchor when the bow rides up hard in waves with the rode already tight.
*Also commonly called a kellet (interesting link: https://www.practical-sailor.com/sails-rigging-deckgear/kellets-on-the-rode

We have been lucky to never have to anchor where there is inadequate room to let out enough scope. We have not owned or used such a weight. I have met cruisers that always carry one, tho.

Also, I am no way sure which name for the device is "proper"...

Thanks Loren. It sounds like a good theory. Interesting that they couldn't get reliable results in their testing.

 

[gabriel]

I remember watching a video by Tom Cunliffe some years back on anchor weights:

 

[Jim Picerno]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I confirmed the anchor chain size with the PO and it’s 150 ft of 3/8 G4 connected to 175 ft. of 3 strand nylon rode. This seems more reasonable but probably a 5/16 chain of that length would be more than sufficient and save 60 lbs or so at the bow. The boat also has a 20kg Rocna anchor. After some guesswork (nothing was marked) I was able to figure out which switch on the water distribution manifold under the sink would allow me to drain the front water tank. That seemed to make a small improvement. Though I live in FL, I purchased the boat in CT and that's where she’ll remain this summer. I’ll bring her south in the fall. Interestingly, the PO decided to put in a new windlass along with the chain and anchor the last season he owned her, but never actually used it. It was professionally installed but will the FLA house bank be able to bring up that heavy chain and anchor? Guess I’ll find out.

 

[Christian Williams]

3/8th G4 is said to be 1.5 pounds per foot. So 150 feet is 225 pounds of chain.

Water is more than that. At 8+ pounds per gallon, a 30-gallon bow tank is 250+.

Easy options to reduce the total weight until comfortable. The Ericson 38 bow is pretty fine, not much we can do about that.

 

[southofvictor]

Yeah that forward water tank sounds like a likely culprit. We don’t have one, though I’ve considered adding more water capacity somewhere. Where exactly is the forward tank located @Jim Picerno ?

I sleep perfectly well with our 5/16 chain, and my back likes it too since we still have a manual windlass.

 

[Jim Picerno]

Yeah that forward water tank sounds like a likely culprit. We don’t have one, though I’ve considered adding more water capacity somewhere. Where exactly is the forward tank located @Jim Picerno ?

I sleep perfectly well with our 5/16 chain, and my back likes it too since we still have a manual windlass.

Hi Jim, I expect that you're still enjoying Mexico. Should be nice right now though probably starting to get warm. The forward tank is located under the v-berth. My understanding is that Ericson at the time offered the option of a third water tank, similar to having the option of having either propane or CNG for the cook stove. One of the Ericson guru's here can correct me if I'm mistaken. If I were starting from scratch I'd feel very comfortable with 5/16 chain, but the cost of replacing what I have is a bit prohibitive. If after sailing the boat for a while I felt the chain weight was a problem I'd probably whack off 25 ft. of chain which as Christian notes would reduce the bow weight by 37 lbs.

 

[RedHerring]

E35-2. 90ft of chain, 200ft of rope. Lets you anchor at up to 15ft with all chain. If I can drop the hook at 15-20ft with no crowd, I just let out all chain and a bit of rope, and don't even bother with a snubber.