Still here - Holding in Roche
09 June 2010 | Roche Harbor - San Juan's
Still at Roche Harbor waiting for banking stuff. We opted to stay here (rather than at our new favorite isolated anchorage at Stewart Island 3 miles away) because there is "traffic and civilization"...meaning Internet, showers, phone contact and Oh yeah....airplanes! (The commercial turbo-props land and take off like...20 feet away from our bow! Way cool!!!)...and we get Internet as we spin around, and around, and around...(Internet goes in and out of reception so I guess you'd say we have a tidal connection).
Sandy is (and has been) working hard on organizing and cleaning the boat...I can't imagine how that would be with me aboard but she does it. Her process involves trying to arrange stuff on the boat to keep us in balance. We've got some pretty heavy stuff aboard including 250' of 3/8 in chain which in itself weighs hundreds of lbs....then there's a my tools (about a million lbs in six boxes and bags) a spare prop, starter, and alternator...not including all of our personal stuff,& food (which is really cumbersome), clothing, ropes and lines, a spinnaker or two, spare sail...spare parts and oil...ugh!...the list just goes on and on. She not only has to play quartermaster and store it all...she also has to figure out how to maintain some type of boat balance for liveaboard because it all needs to be re-arranged when we set sail...Oh... and she has a boat to pilot...and oh...takes care of all the money...(and worse figure out what to do with me and my messes). Me?... I'm usually busy making lists of what I intend to do some day...if I'm not dreaming of my next crab.
Okay...now for an equipment update...we put an ANCHOR SWIVEL on our anchor. It's stainless, not-too-expensive, and fits our chain and anchor shaft set up. It is not a "Seadog" brand (although we have one of those)...no this a a type of pin-and-shackle set up. We've used it a few times (our friends all told us that we had to have one to keep the chain from twisting as we turn during tidal changes etc.). Well, I want to state right up front...they may do what they are supposed to do but I don't like them (it)... so I am going to remove it when we bring the anchor up next time.
Here's our experience...we've anchored out in all kinds of weather now...including heavy winds, and extreme tidal fluctuations. When we first got our Manson Supreme anchor (with the 3/8" High Test chain) it set when we dropped it...I mean "SET NOW!" When it set, you are locked...we didn't budge even in 60 knot winds! We put this ANCHOR SWIVEL thing on and the first time we tried to get it to set...I guess it might have helped us in the long run but it felt like it bounced on the bottom and we floated backwards a bit trying to set it. The next try it finally "caught" and true to the Manson's form, we stayed put...but all the while... I worried...wondered actually, about having all our weight (all 32,000 lbs of us) pulling against the one little swivel pin that sits in the center of the swivel that attaches our chain to our anchor....(Yes we do have a snubber too)... Hmmmm...so I dug out Beth Leonard's Voyager's Handbook, as well as Nigal's book and found they didn't like them either for the same reason. Now I know they are supposed to hold and all that, and tidal fluctuations can cause the chain to bind... but my brain just doesn't wrap around the idea that all this weight, on one of the best anchor and chain set-ups in the world...is depending on a single pin welded into the middle of a swivel. It appears to be a good product but I did notice that there is no rating on it (made in China and all that)...The other, more expensive swivels (which for our boat would cost between $300 and $600) would not fit our anchor shaft without serious modifications...so...we are opting to go without a swivel...our choice...but that's our experience...Oh and we'll sleep better....remembering that "Your anchor set-up is your real life insurance policy!"
Ray out for now.