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roller stabilizer or flopper stopper

6K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  svHyLyte 
#1 ·
I spend every February living on my Mac 22 in the Fla. Keys. The darn thing always turns sideways to the waves. I keep falling out of bed. Plus I just can't keep my swing keel tight enough. The center of the boat sounds like it's going to come apart.
After looking at diy flopper stoppers I think this might be a plan. The best idea seems to be those plastic milk crate bottoms with plastic flaps. Most flopper stoppers seem to want you to put them out on your mast boom. The farther out the better.
I would rather have more of them and just hang them over the side of the boat. I think if these crate bottoms are at least a foot apart you could have a few on each line with just one weight on the bottom.
My question is with no way to test until this Feb. how many square feet of these will I need?
 
#2 ·
Mine are about 18" in diameter, the kind you can buy at a marine store. There's 4 along each line, about 4' apart, with a weight at the bottom. The crucial part is the weight at the bottom - that's essentially an anchor that isn't stuck in the ground but counter-balancing the motion. It has to be really heavy.

They don't work that great in choppy or rolly spots. Probably help to keep the boat stable in stable conditions
 
#3 ·
If you have too many, and you have low freeboard like with a Mac 22, will the wake from a passing stinkpotter swamp your boat? Curious.

Regards,
Brad
 
#5 ·
I agree that lee cloths are wise but in an anchorage? We use a flopper-stopper routinely, suspended from the end our adjustable length whisker pole (fully retracted) with the pole fixed in place with fore and after guys and supported with the spinnaker pole lift. Our flopper stopper is a rectangular grid of stainless steel rod with a heavy plastic cover that is split between the corners so that, as the grid sinks, the plastic can open up to allow water to pass through but as the grid is raised, the plastic closes down and is supported by the grid, resisting the up-lift. The grid is on a 4-point ss wire bridle suspend with a line that passes through a snatch block attached to the end of the pole so that it's depth can be adjusted as necessary or fully withdrawn from the water so that the rig can be recovered without difficulty. It works very well, and even in fairly heavy conditions we will be relatively stable while boats around us are rolling their guts out.

We have used this equipment on our current boat and on our former boat, a Cal 2-29, to good advantage. In the interest of safety to passers buy, we hang orange streamers at several points along the length of the out-rigger and chem-lites at night. (Photos below).
 

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#8 ·
s/v Hylyte,
Where the heck do you store those?
Chuck--

We have a single unit. The photos are of top (the plastic) and bottom (the supporting grid). Ours is about 36" long by 24" wide and easily fits in our port lazaret locker. I usually add a short length of split foam pool "noodle" to the sides to prevent chafe on the hull. The device has worked well for us since being made up in 1987.
 
#7 ·
I don't use these - I agree with Minnewaska and try to find a quieter anchorage or I lay a stern kedge and stay bow into the swell. Gentle rocking is way better than rolling.

But as far as small-boat stabilisers go, I've often thought about three buckets with most of the bottoms removed to form a frame then a plastic layer hinged in some way to let water flow upwards but not down (see HyLyte's device above). The buckets are then strung one under the other (think series drogue) and suspended off the side of the boat.

For stowage they simply pack one into the other and take up no more space than a single bucket and weigh next to nothing.

I think it may work but not on my boat which weighs 13 tons. When it wants to roll, it rolls.
 
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