SD v FD in weather

Yesterday was a interesting day. We looked at a one year old North Pacific 45. We also put in an offer on a Nordie. The NP45 was drop dead gorgeous and wife enthralled by the interior. Quality of build seemed excellent as well. But on the drive home she noted. The semi displacement hull, lack of stabilization, need for knee pads and risk of crawling around a hot engine should something go wrong down there in a seaway.
The only two times we’ve been declared overdue (and once SARS sent out) have been coastal. Both times decades ago before current increased weather forecasting improvements. Both times pushed by schedules. Still, even in recent years have been caught by weather. Believe your judgment and view of the world is effected by your experience. So believe if you’re going even to do just long hop coastal eventually you’re going to see weather. Line squalls, pop up T-storms and the like at a minimum.
So here’s the question. Are active techniques different for SD v FD in weather? If so how? Specifically what techniques do you use? At what point and how do you employ passive techniques such as sea anchors and drogues? What are your feelings about vessel design for vessels doing multi day near shore (<50nm) transits?
We passed on considering any SD boat as our next cruising platform. But note in our search the overwhelming predominance of cruising boats are SD. Is our thinking way off base?

IMO, you need some form of stabilization (,active or passive) on a power boat if you're passage making (greater than 3 day crossing). My semi displacement hull is fine for a one or two day crossing and doesn't do badly until in moderate beam seas. If I were going to Bermuda (which I wouldn't) I would be prepared to keep the bow into the seas until the weather passed as a larger beam seas past a certain point, make the roll miserable.

Ted

With SD and adequate engine power, you have more options provided fuel range isn't an issue. Simply because you have a wider range of speeds to choose from. If dealing with beam seas or other rolly conditions, speeding up a bit above hull speed will usually make things a lot more stable with an SD hull. Given enough power, a short enough distance to somewhere to hide and enough warning, you may have the option to turn and run before the weather hits you (but don't count on this). At a minimum, the ability to go faster may mean you're in unpleasant conditions for a shorter period of time.

The best tactics to use in a given set of conditions will depend just as much on the specific hull in question as it does on SD vs FD. In general, a more full, buoyant bow will ride a bit worse (but often dryer) going into steep seas. Going down-wind, that more full bow will be less likely to dig in and bow steer. A finer, more pointy bow will pitch a bit less and cut through waves better going up-wind, but will be more likely to take water over the decks when things get ugly. And it'll be more likely to dig into a wave going down wind.

In the realm of coastal cruising where you're always within, say, 8 hours of safe harbor, the vast majority of 40+ foot boats with enough fuel range to do more than hop from fuel dock to fuel dock will be capable enough to handle the short term weather events that aren't always predictable. The really bad weather is typically predicted and avoidable. FD designs (especially stabilized) will often be more comfortable when it's ugly out, but neither is likely to approach its true limits in coastal use.

Having a boat with a crawl-in engine room, I find I'm much more stable and can move around more easily by squatting and sitting on my feet rather than kneeling. Pay careful attention to the layout to determine how often you're likely to need to crawl into the tighter areas. And think about getting in there with things moving around and whether there are any danger points (like exposed engine belts to crawl past).

Ted you have a lovely boat. That company makes a Rolls Royce of a boat. In sail both the 44 and 48 are still highly desired. What is your technique for weather? Stabilization has no effect of AVS just comfort. Given that and desire for comfort at what point will you run with the seas if that’s closer to your intended heading or decide to jog into them?

RS Dashew has written fascinating stuff about his experience and techniques using the FPB as a platform. Think they’re a different beast where speed does keep you going as fast as the wave train so running remains safe. I wonder how much of this is really applicable to our boats. The difference between 7 and 12 knots still means exposure in many coastal settings we encounter. Doesn’t it mean at a certain wave height and period doing a rumline to the nearest port isn’t an option? Just crossing the Gulf of Maine, or the NJ coast where with a easterly means the entrances to the few available harbors are problematic or so many other settings (pop up T storms as an example) which are are hyper local and unpredicted. Does this impact how you use your boat? Does it restrict you in any meaningful way?

Hippocampus said:

RS Dashew has written fascinating stuff about his experience and techniques using the FPB as a platform. Think they’re a different beast where speed does keep you going as fast as the wave train so running remains safe. I wonder how much of this is really applicable to our boats. The difference between 7 and 12 knots still means exposure in many coastal settings we encounter. Doesn’t it mean at a certain wave height and period doing a rumline to the nearest port isn’t an option? Just crossing the Gulf of Maine, or the NJ coast where with a easterly means the entrances to the few available harbors are problematic or so many other settings (pop up T storms as an example) which are are hyper local and unpredicted. Does this impact how you use your boat? Does it restrict you in any meaningful way?

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There's absolutely a point where conditions are bad enough (in any boat) that some courses become off limits. Not necessarily because you can't, but because you'd be too miserable and won't want to. How much speed helps you beyond stabilizing the ride will depend on the conditions and how fast the boat in question can cruise. Sometimes an extra couple of kts is enough to make a big difference, sometimes it isn't.

On my own boat (which is a full planing hull that cruises around 17 kts, so faster than most of the SD boats on here and a little worse behaved at low speeds), with the steep crap we get on the Great Lakes, I tend to avoid beam seas above 2 - 3 feet. Once they're over 1.5 feet or so, it's time to get up on plane, as the motion is more comfortable (more of a series of tilt, sit there for a minute, tilt the other way rather than a constant rolling).

For me, Head seas are fine to 3 - 4 feet up on plane (more if they're not steep). If they're steep, the pitching can get excessive at low speed as the bow is very buoyant (to the point where at low speed it goes over the top at all costs, never through a wave). Going down-wind, I haven't found the limit. Running in 3 - 4 downwind up on plane is comfy. Just a light touch on the steering and just a matter of "climb, pitch down over the top, surf, repeat".

I've come back in with the wind blowing straight up the river, which stacks up the waves badly against the small river current in the entrance channel between the piers. I remember one day of 2 - 3 footers on the lake, but 4 - 5 in the first bit of the entrance channel. I just kept a hand on the throttles at about 9 kts and rode the trough between 2 waves. Took a little effort for speed adjustments, but perfectly comfortable as if we were in flat water. In a situation like that, coming into an inlet that's bit sloppy, I'd say an SD with decent power will be easier to handle than a slow FD boat unless the FD is of a shape that really likes following seas.

Many SD trawlers have a bit finer bow than I do, so the downwind performance may not be quite as good, but the pitching shouldn't be as bad going upwind at lower speeds.

The link contains a pair of videos.One is running up on plane in some slightly confused small seas (at about 16.5 - 17 kts). Hard to really see the waves in the video, but they're off the port bow and a bit behind the port beam (after a wind shift). I'd say probably about 1 foot for both wave trains, wind just forward of the port beam. The other video is 1.5 - 2 footers off the stbd bow, running about 6.5 kts. Wind was off the stbd bow in this one. Unfortunately I don't have much video of us running, so nothing in worse conditions.

Comparing the 2 videos, you can see that motion becomes much more damped at higher speeds. Even an SD a knot above hull speed will gain a good bit of damping compared to running slowly. The lift from the flatter parts of the hull does quite a bit in that respect.


Planing video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/h8QFCMz791d3X1s4A

Slow video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7DLrJXtCvmU7xUEi6

Hippocampus said:

Ted you have a lovely boat. That company makes a Rolls Royce of a boat. In sail both the 44 and 48 are still highly desired. What is your technique for weather? Stabilization has no effect of AVS just comfort. Given that and desire for comfort at what point will you run with the seas if that’s closer to your intended heading or decide to jog into them?

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Thank you! I like it.

I don't consider my boat even close to a modest passage maker. It will handle 7'+ on the bow with reduced speed, and it can run with modest speed seas in relative comfort with the autopilot and large rudder keeping the boat on course. Where it gets scary is when the seas go faster than the hull and pass underneath. The boat doesn't have the nice rounded buoyant stern of a Kadey Krogen 42 and lacks adequate stern deck drainage should a wave dump water over the cap rail. I've never had an incident with water on the back deck, but it's unnerving to see seas above the stern cap rail because of the drainage issue.

To answer your question, I do coastal cruising and avoid bad weather. When I have gotten caught in it, I can do maybe 30 degrees either side of head on or go with them. My square stern needs to be square to the seas or I may find myself taking the next one on the beam.

Ted

Hey Hippo - good to hear you found a solid candidate to make an offer. Keep us posted at appropriate times.

I know of no powerboat that has a drogue aboard let alone have deployed one. I'm sure they're out there - ex-sailor types who bought a Nordhavn or something. I just have never heard of one. Suffice to say, I can offer no color commentary.

The Dashew FPB is a different animal. Long, narrow, and fast. Ability to bridge waves and pierce those it encounters. Reserve buoyancy is not a design criteria.

Leaving aside FPB, there's a point in weather where all boats move at displacement speeds. And there's a point where they will need to slow down, bear-off, or both. If reasonably watertight, higher quality planing boats are not bad sea boats as they tend to be low and wide with a lot of form stability - if you can keep enough speed to keep flow past the rudders and steerage. A/P works triple-time.

I guess I'm still a bit confused over the discussion on freak thunderstorms and cells. Yes, they will undoubtedly happen. Yes, weather will be worse than forecast. But sea state is function of fetch, wind speed, and duration. I simply don't recall being surprised by 40kts for more than an hour, maybe two - localized weather means limited fetch, and duration is too short to create much disturbance. Now, I do recall 30-kts sustained for a couple days that built 8-foot chop coming up the Caribbean from Panama Canal, and similar coming up the Baja, but those were decisions, not surprises (well, I expected 20-25 and got the upper end of 25-30).

As far as being within 8-hours of a port, it really depends on where you're cruising. East coast US - absolutely. West Coast, well.......sometimes, but often not. Anchorages are mostly open roadsteds and are highly weather dependent, as are the ports themselves. Between Los Arcos (the tip of Baja) and Tatoosh Island and the entrance of the Straights of Juan de Fuca is over 2000 nms. Setting aside the hook of Southern California, there are probably under a dozen all-weather ports/anchorages (a guess).

So Hippo - for me, when headseas get more than about 5-foot of short chop, most boats need to throttle-back to something below displacement speed. At some point around 6-7 feet, bearing off 20-degrees becomes comfortable. Normally just for a few hours for the weather system to pass, then you're off and running again. At least that's been my experience, but I haven't crossed an ocean, but have many, many 5+ day non-stop runs on open water.

Peter

mvweebles said:

I know of no powerboat that has a drogue aboard let alone have deployed one. I'm sure they're out there - ex-sailor types who bought a Nordhavn or something. I just have never heard of one. Suffice to say, I can offer no color commentary.

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I think the difference is more between stabilized vs. not stabilized than SD vs FD. FD usually have round bilges and will roll more easily but slower. There is little difference in AVS. My SD definitely stabilizes when run a little above hull speed, FD do not have that opportunity.

Regarding drogues and sea anchors, parachute sea anchors have been routinely used for many decades by fishermen to ride out rough weather or simply get a good night's sleep. I just bought one for my boat, not because I'm going offshore into weather, but in the event of power failure. If the engine quits, it does not take much of a seaway to make things very uncomfortable as the boat lies ahull (beam to the seas). This can happen in relatively protected water. And you are head down, down below trying to work on the engine - a recipe for sea sickness if there ever was one. Last year we even heard a mayday call from a disabled powerboat where they were so uncomfortable they wanted off, even without any immediate danger. The parachute would keep the bow more or less into the seas, and make things more tolerable as you try to get sorted out. Stabilizers are probably useless in that situation unless gyro and some way to power it with the engine out.

DDW said:

Regarding drogues and sea anchors, parachute sea anchors have been routinely used for many decades by fishermen to ride out rough weather or simply get a good night's sleep. I just bought one for my boat, not because I'm going offshore into weather, but in the event of power failure. If the engine quits, it does not take much of a seaway to make things very uncomfortable as the boat lies ahull (beam to the seas)

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I had not heard this before. It's a good idea.

How big is a chute-anchor stowed?

Peter

I have a Para Tech sea anchor on my boat that I use frequently for fishing but have also used to lay in weather. My boat is round bilge full displacement hull of 26 feet and weighs about 7000 pounds, my sea anchor is 12 feet in diameter and stores and deploys from a bag about the size of a small backpack. The rode is 600 feet of 3/8 nylon which takes up about the same space as the anchor.

With all the weather forecasting these days how does a costal cruiser get caught in bad weather?

bayview said:

With all the weather forecasting these days how does a costal cruiser get caught in bad weather?

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You've never seen a weather forecast that turned out to be wrong?

Weather forecasts are definitely not always accurate. However, in a coastal context, you're usually talking "forecast was decent, actual conditions were crap" rather than "forecast was good, actual weather was survival conditions"

bayview said:

With all the weather forecasting these days how does a costal cruiser get caught in bad weather?

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Not sure who this is directed to, but I tend to agree with you. I am pretty comfortable running with a rolling 72-hour forecast. Yes, there are localized weather events (forecast and unforecast) that can be severe, but lack the duration to develop dangerous seas. There is no way I'd head 3-days into open water with sustained 30-kts forecast over the period which would result in 3-meter chop. But going through a patch of 4-hours of 30-kts (builds to 1.0-1.5 meter chop) to get to nirvana on the other side is an acceptable tradeoff even though it's 4-hours of slop. It also depends on what you define as bad weather. Also means you could guess wrong and it's 6-hours of 35+ kt winds.

The idea of a Sea Anchor that piqued my interest is the notion of a failed engine. Along the Pacific Coast, prevailing winds are from the NW so you are almost always staring at a lee shore in the event of an engine failure. Sea Anchor buys time - a precious commodity. They aren't very expensive and they don't take much room.

Peter

Weather forecasting is better than in the past, but can still be off by hours or days! Just last week a wind event forecast for about thirty knots blew up to gusts at 70 knots (with gusts to 100 knots recorded in the mountains). It happens! Local forecasts are made more complicated by geography. Here in the NW (SE for Alaska and British Columbia), boating is done amid and next to mountains. Mountains have profound, localized effect on winds.

(Steps off soapbox)

I've seen a predicted 10 to 15kts that came as 15 to 25kts with gusts to 30 more than once where I am. Especially for someone that's cruising away from their home waters local conditions can vary greatly depending on depth, bottom contour, tide and landform.

Fish53 said:

You've never seen a weather forecast that turned out to be wrong?

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Rslifkin put it well - not so wrong that it goes to survival condition unexpectedly. Sea state is affected by distant pressure systems, but the scary stuff is driven by winds. Takes fetch, duration, and intensity. Within a 72-hour window, it's common to get surprised by intensity, but lacks duration and fetch to build to dangerous levels. Not saying it's a comfortable, but to rslifkin's point, not really survival conditions......unless something else goes.

Peter

Been reading about and talking with power cruising couples. For a N40-43 usually 16’ to 18’ suffices. Comparing different designs and with my prior experience with the Jordan series drogue at present favor the Fiorentino design. With that one there’s at least the possibility of being able to retrieve it and more likelihood it will deploy correctly and stay open. Whereas drogues make great sense for sail and as a option if steering fails see warps using floating nylon as a makeshift intermittent option for power if a sea anchor isn’t present.
As an aside will relate a few experiences.
We had just crossed the race with intention of going to Sag. ( these places are very coastal with land on both sides at the end of Long Island sound). Gribs were benign as were all forecasts. Tide and current was against wind during the T storm. Waves were 5-7’ with occasional higher ones as (? 9-12’) they reflected and deflected off the land. Although in sight of the entrance bouys to Sag ended up turning toward Connecticut. Some gusts went well over 50. So respectfully disagree. No fetch, brief episode just hours but still most definitely sparky. Would add I had no desire to enter a channel I never was in to go to a marina or anchorage I never used during rapidly building conditions.
Peter you know you can SEE weather a long time off when offshore or ocean. Only concern is microbursts or white squalls. Much talked about but (knock on wood) a rare event. Continue to feel hyper local events in coastal or near shore settings are a real concern. The one time SARS was sent out for us was coastal as well. Just going from Southwest harbor to Duxbury. Agree that’s very unlikely to occur again as that was due to several weather bouys not reporting and before current accuracy of forecasting. But again a coastal occurrence. With covid reporting from commercial aircraft and ships declined for awhile. Believe this did impact forecasting to some degree. An EMF burst or more likely an intentional hack although of low probability can occur. More likely is hyper local weather. In any case like running aground it’s not if but when. Sooner or later you will see sparky weather.

Weather on the East Coast may not always be as good as we want it to....but a huge difference in going from what many people will go out in and be life threatening...even the probability of thunderstorms predicted by a stability index should alert one to the "possibility" of severe storms. West Coast different story...weather comes from a great expanse of ocean with not that much data and therefore I believe the modeling is not as good as well as significant terrain to change very small geographical area conditions.


As far as sea anchors....they usually work but the one time I could have used one I was fortunate to be able to actually get an anchor down quick...but either the sea anchor or regular anchor did/would have held my boat into the current and still have beam seas. So while I agree with the use for one and it being a good idea... in strong tidal currents, there are those times......

mvweebles said:

Rslifkin put it well - not so wrong that it goes to survival condition unexpectedly. Sea state is affected by distant pressure systems, but the scary stuff is driven by winds. Takes fetch, duration, and intensity. Within a 72-hour window, it's common to get surprised by intensity, but lacks duration and fetch to build to dangerous levels. Not saying it's a comfortable, but to rslifkin's point, not really survival conditions......unless something else goes.

Peter

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I would disagree, the size vessels we're generally talking about here can go from easily survivable to severe inside of a 10kt change. There are also other factors to consider here as well such as a bar crossing that's simple at 10kts and dangerous at 20.

psneeld said:

Weather on the East Coast may not always be as good as we want it to....but a huge difference in going from what many people will go out in and be life threatening...even the probability of thunderstorms predicted by a stability index should alert one to the "possibility" of severe storms.


As far as sea anchors....the usually work but the one time I could have used one I was fortunate to be able to actually get an anchor down quick...but eithr the sea anchor or regular anchor did/would have held my boat into the current and still have beam seas. So while I agree with the use for one and it being a good idea... in strong tidal currents, there are those times......

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You need a lot of room and sufficient depth for a sea anchor, definitely an open water tactic.

Fish53 said:

You need a lot of room and sufficient depth for a sea anchor, definitely an open water tactic.

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The example was given for a engine failure, not waiting out a blow or overnighting.


In that case, just an hour or two waiting for a tow it may be the difference in being up on shallows or on the beach/rocks.


Also it would be rare for 10 knots to fo to survival condition at lower wind speeds say below 30 knots (say 20-30). Now 30-40 or the upper wind speeds, I agree...but most here would stay put in those missed forecasts anyway...and in my experience, the worse the weather gets, the more accurate the forecast is (generally)....or at least forewarning that it's coming.


Again...East Coast, Gulf Coast.... Caribbean....maybe less so in higher lattitudes..... so say maybe Cape Cod.

Hippocampus said:

Been reading about and talking with power cruising couples. For a N40-43 usually 16’ to 18’ suffices. Comparing different designs and with my prior experience with the Jordan series drogue at present favor the Fiorentino design. With that one there’s at least the possibility of being able to retrieve it and more likelihood it will deploy correctly and stay open. Whereas drogues make great sense for sail and as a option if steering fails see warps using floating nylon as a makeshift intermittent option for power if a sea anchor isn’t present.
As an aside will relate a few experiences.
We had just crossed the race with intention of going to Sag. ( these places are very coastal with land on both sides at the end of Long Island sound). Gribs were benign as were all forecasts. Tide and current was against wind during the T storm. Waves were 5-7’ with occasional higher ones as (? 9-12’) they reflected and deflected off the land. Although in sight of the entrance bouys to Sag ended up turning toward Connecticut. Some gusts went well over 50. So respectfully disagree. No fetch, brief episode just hours but still most definitely sparky. Would add I had no desire to enter a channel I never was in to go to a marina or anchorage I never used during rapidly building conditions.
Peter you know you can SEE weather a long time off when offshore or ocean. Only concern is microbursts or white squalls. Much talked about but (knock on wood) a rare event. Continue to feel hyper local events in coastal or near shore settings are a real concern. The one time SARS was sent out for us was coastal as well. Just going from Southwest harbor to Duxbury. Agree that’s very unlikely to occur again as that was due to several weather bouys not reporting and before current accuracy of forecasting. But again a coastal occurrence. With covid reporting from commercial aircraft and ships declined for awhile. Believe this did impact forecasting to some degree. An EMF burst or more likely an intentional hack although of low probability can occur. More likely is hyper local weather. In any case like running aground it’s not if but when. Sooner or later you will see sparky weather.

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Tide/current against a wind is a highly localized and relatively predictable event (at least the current/tide is), even if the wind gusts are extreme - even if you had time to set one, I'd guess a drogue/sea anchor would cause more trouble than it would solve due to relatively tight quarters and entering a harbor.

In open water, you can almost always track and avoid cells like these via radar. I don't disagree that there's always a chance of seeing 40 kts (or more). As a matter of fact, you can bank on it in the lower lats. But not for more than 30-mins, maybe 60 max. That will build something like 1.0-1.5 meter seas. Again, nothing to sneeze at, but manageable by slowing down to 3-kts or so. These are relatively short duration events.

There's a difference between bad/uncomfortable weather and dangerous weather. I don't mean to diminish the effects of big chop, but its manageable. Everyone aboard may be heaving and scared *&it-less, but it's manageable. And it's part of cruising in open water. Rare, but if you want to venture off the beaten path, its part of cruising.

Peter

psneeld said:

Also it would be rare for 10 knots to fo to survival condition at lower wind speeds say below 30 knots (say 20-30). Now 30-40 or the upper wind speeds, I agree...but most here would stay put in those missed forecasts anyway...and in my experience, the worse the weather gets, the more accurate the forecast is (generally)....or at least forewarning that it's coming.

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My thoughts exactly. If conditions are such that an extra 10 kts makes things dangerous, the conditions were already bad enough that I wouldn't willingly be out there. In most cases, an extra 10 kts might make things unpleasant, but not dangerous. Particularly outside of the areas known for local conditions that can cause really nasty seas to come up quickly.

psneeld said:

In that case, just an hour or two waiting for a tow it may be the difference in being up on shallows or on the beach/rocks.

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Exactly - this was the 'ah-ha' for me a few minutes ago when someone posted they just purchased a sea-anchor. Especially on west coast its almost always a lee-shore due to NW weather 95% of the time.

I learned something today - thanks all!

Peter

My opinion as the owner of a SD boat that is in the open ocean every time we leave port is...

We use the capabilities of the boat to help improve our comfort at sea. For example we use horsepower in a beam sea to sink the aft down a bit in the waves and reduce roll.

We also use that horsepower to avoid the risk of unforecasted weather coming up, and to use time of day wave cycles to our advantage.

Great example. Lets say that we have 70 miles to go that day in unprotected waters. Well, that is 10 hours at 7 knots, but only 5 hours at 14 knots. In many areas the sea breezes start a bit after noon so we leave early and try to be back in protected waters by very early afternoon before the seas pick up.

An aspect of comfort and/or safety at sea in either near-coastal or offshore conditions that hasn't been significantly discussed in this thread is the simple expedient of alteration of course to mitigate the conditions.

With some exceptions, it is easy-peasy to alter course to make your ride more comfortable, in either a full- or semi-displacement hull. And even if that alteration takes you many tens of degrees off your rhumb line course to your destination, the increase in actual distance traveled, and hence your time underway, is surprisingly small. And WELL compensated by your increase in comfort afloat!

When I owned my Pacific Trawler 40, at it's sweet spot of 8.5 kts, I routinely traveled with a group of significantly larger and faster semi-displacement, actively stabilized powerboats, whose normal speed was in the 10-12 kt range. When things got snotty, with beam seas for instance, I'd routinely alter course to put the seas more on the nose vs. the beam. MUCH improved comfort aboard. And even if the planned rhumb line distance for the day was long, and I diverted from that course (sometimes 30-60 degrees at times), I always arrived in the anchorage within just a few minutes of the rest of the fleet. In plenty of time for happy hour! Often my increased distance over the ground was compensated by increased speed over the ground, particularly when the inevitable "tack" back to the anchorage was down-swell instead of on the beam.

Being an ex-sailer, I'm well versed in the concept of Velocity Made Good (VMG). And most modern navigation systems make VMG calculations automatically, and can present them to the helmsman 24/7. It's always illustrative to watch VMG when you divert from a planned route. And illustrative to realize, often even a major divergence from the planned route (under power, of course) can make negligible differences in VMG, and ultimately, time of arrival at your destination. WAY different conclusion under sail.

And yes, having either passive or active stabilization aboard provides by far the greatest enhancement in comfort afloat, irregardless of hull form. Just ask my wife. My last boat was actively stabilized. She'd never go without it in the future. Course, wind, waves, speed, weather, headroom in the engine room, etc. be damned.

Regards,

Pete

mvweebles said:

I had not heard this before. It's a good idea.

How big is a chute-anchor stowed?

Peter

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For my boat recommendations are 9 - 12', a package about the size of an airline carry-on and about 40 lbs. My intended use for the sea anchor is to stop to fix things even in relatively small water. I resolved to do it after running out of fuel (intentionally) in the Strait of Georgia (Salish Sea), not a large body of water but still miles to shore. I wanted to drain one tank and did, a moderate seaway, but in the 15 minutes it took to get the other tank on line and air purged it was quite uncomfortable and the prospect of having to do real work on the engine for a hour or two (should that have been the need) very unattractive. In the shallow water in the east you can probably anchor in many of those situations. The sea anchor gives a good option for storm management as well which I don't anticipate using, but it is there.

bayview said:

With all the weather forecasting these days how does a costal cruiser get caught in bad weather?

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Coastal on the east coast or great lakes, a harbor is almost always available within a few hours motoring. Not true of a lot of the west coast. Fortunately west coast weather is more accurately predicted, nevertheless the possibility of being caught out is real.