Sea Anchor Setup

[stingau]

Looking for advise on how to set up a sea anchor that I just purchased.

Dimensons of the drogue are..0.5m dia and 0.75m long.

I was thinking about a 8mm silver rope from boat to drogue with 2 to 3 m by 8mm rear rope running up to a round float, this is then atached to a 6mm by 10m rope running slack back to the boat.

The boat is a 4.7m f/glass and will mainly be used for drifting in the nthend of the bay...cockle banks etc.

My calculations are based on

a/ due to possible congestion over popular area's an anchor any more than 7.5m away would be a hazzard

b/ to run it deeper than 2m risk possible collapsing on the sea bed

c/ a lighter rope is only required to retrieve a collapsed drogue


any advise or imput before I set this up is appreciated

[Mindi]

I think you might be over complicating it...for that size drogue just tie a rope on and chuck it over. You can have a trip line attached to the pointy end if you really want but if you are happy to just recover it gently there is no need. What is the float for..? if the drift/current is so slow that it sinks you are not getting any benefit from it and dont need it...Tie a rope on and chuck it over and start fishing...I would probably use 10mm rope...but 8 is OK I guess.

[stingau]

Mindi, the salesman who sold me the drogue advised the float, to keep it set at a constant level He also advised the trip line as he reckons that by pulling in the main line in certain conditions can make the drogue run deep and capsize the boat.

I posted this to see how others have theirs set up, I will alter the main rope to 10mm, what is your opinion on the trip rope is 6mm ok or should that be upsized as well since the trip wont carry and load i assumed 6mm is ok.

[revs57]

G'day stingau,

sounds like a good set up to me, we use a similar set up on the para anchor, we use 10mm on a 6.5mt boat, 8mm on a 4.7 should be no drama...have used the old blue and yellow telecom rope on the odd occassion, its not as if it pulling against an anchor that is pulled up solid.

The float for the trip is a must on a good para anchor set up, even for a smaller one - takes the pain out.

cheers

rhys

[stingau]

revs,
what about the length of run out is 7.5m to long or to short, I feel its a balancing act between any longer it will be a hazard to passing boats seeing as it sits just below the water any shorter will it effective or will it pull the bow down

[Hornet Rider]

revs,
what about the length of run out is 7.5m to long or to short, I feel its a balancing act between any longer it will be a hazard to passing boats seeing as it sits just below the water any shorter will it effective or will it pull the bow down

Interesting idea mate, & hope it goes well. Have just been reading about them... http://www.paraanchors.com.au/page6.htm

[Hornet Rider]

another view, with interesting facts on this site... http://www.noahs-ark-anchors.com/content/set2.htm

[stevea]

I do the same, always pull in from the bow. Just chuck it out a quick peek to see it drifing away from the boat, start fishing. Just have a small bit of blue yellow rope to the big end. I always pull slowly (again from the bow) to lift up. Watch the water drain out and lift up. Nothing complicated, A bucket and a rope would work also(not as good).

My previous one was home made (had to drag the tech drawing book out to mark out a Cone (truncated) on some material and then make the Mrs coffee while she sewed it up. Nowdays they are under $20 from whitworths.(not worth making)

[Hornet Rider]

I do the same, always pull in from the bow. Just chuck it out a quick peek to see it drifing away from the boat, start fishing. Just have a small bit of blue yellow rope to the big end. I always pull slowly (again from the bow) to lift up. Watch the water drain out and lift up. Nothing complicated, A bucket and a rope would work also(not as good).

My previous one was home made (had to drag the tech drawing book out to mark out a Cone (truncated) on some material and then make the Mrs coffee while she sewed it up. Nowdays they are under $20 from whitworths.(not worth making)


is what you purchased from whitworths a drouge or para-anchor?

[stingau]

stevea what I need to know is what lenght of line do you use from the drogue to the boat, the links that hornet rider posted recommend over 100m but then they are talking about parachute anchors which are very serious anchors for much larger vessels

[FNQCairns]

Use whatever works for you, things can seem complicated but the particular drogue you have is akin to towing 3 10l buckets. Honest all of the problems you speak about will not exist with that little bloke.

Use enough rope to stop the lip from breaking the surface easily, this may be 6m or 30m it will depend on the days condions and what you are trying to achieve at the time.

cheers fnq

[tenzing]

My para anchor came with 10m of rope to the front and a 17 m tail rope ( which has been a little longer than I have needed). I usually get the young bloke to tie it on up front and we retrieve fom the cockpit and re deploy from the cockpit again so no climbing back and forth and works a treat. The extra rear rope length comes in really handy as the pointy end is a few metres futher forward, Then there is the inflated depth of the chute to consider.
The main thing that I appreciate when it is a bit bumpy is that the main line needs to be a little elastic to absorb the shock of the boat getting knocked about. If its all working properly it really stabilizes the whole setup.
There is also some very complex physics that I dont understand about matching your main line length to the distance between wave peaks. I t was probably in that link from para anchor.
Anyway "springy rope"
cheers Brendan.

[Horse]

Para anchors and small drogues like this are a world apart. I use 0.5m 1.25m job that we just tie onto 4m of 8mm silver. It works a treat. My mate runs a true para and it grips the water very well but needs the recovery system as described

Try the drogue style and if its enough to hold your boat then just run the single line and use the KISS principle

Neil

[jimbo59]

My sea anchor drifts about 5 metres behind the boat so if i get a big fish its easy to pull it in...jim

[stevea]

is what you purchased from whitworths a drouge or para-anchor?

This is what I have got. Title of Thread = Sea Anchor so thats what I thought we were looking at. I dont know much about the Para-Anchors/drouge, too big an cumberson for what I do.

I need something thats very quick to pull up and throw out otherwise drift fishing becomes a pain.

Sea Anchor Size M - Suitable up to 20' $14.95
http://www.whitworths.com.au/main_itemdetail.asp?cat=148&item=972&intAbsolutePage=1

I find this sea anchor usefull for slowing the drifts accross reefs, I was side by side another boat on a reef a while ago, using my sea anchor and the other boat was drifting a lot faster than me and I reckon my boat had more windage :-[ .

[stevea]

stevea what I need to know is what lenght of line do you use from the drogue to the boat, ...


All depends on the day, normally as little as possible eg 4meters, however if a bit choppy would use 10meters max.

[Hornet Rider]

This is what I have got. Title of Thread = Sea Anchor so thats what I thought we were looking at. I dont know much about the Para-Anchors/drouge, too big an cumberson for what I do.

I need something thats very quick to pull up and throw out otherwise drift fishing becomes a pain.

Sea Anchor Size M - Suitable up to 20' $14.95
http://www.whitworths.com.au/main_itemdetail.asp?cat=148&item=972&intAbsolutePage=1

I find this sea anchor usefull for slowing the drifts accross reefs, I was side by side another boat on a reef a while ago, using my sea anchor and the other boat was drifting a lot faster than me and I reckon my boat had more windage :-[ .

stevea, thanks for clearing that up mate. I'm no expert but that's more of a drogue, albeit commercially named 'Sea Anchor'. Sounds like it does the trick for you when used as a fishing aid to slow your drift.

cheers, Mark

[stingau]

The $14.95 is the one that I have purchased was hoping that setup instructions came with it but for $14.95 I suppose you cant complain.

I intend to use it for drift fishing in the bay so by attaching a 10m main line to it should do the trick.... While looking arround google I also came across the info that it should be 4.5 times the wave set.

So a 10m line should do the trick ill mark it at 5m as well so I can shorten it when req.

I still feel 2 or 3 m deep should be sufficent so its now a matter of setting it up, finish the rebuild which is almost done just mount the pedestals and replace the canopy and get out and try it. :D :D

[Hornet Rider]

stingau, hope you get a fix on the water soon, & hope the drogue works as planned.

[Mr__Bean]

I had a drogue type that I used to use on my previous boat, it didn't hold as good as I would have liked so I closed the small end by threading some fishing line through it (like stitching) and pulling it tight.

It made a big difference.

- Darren