[souljour2000]

Recently dinghied out an old fatused car tire from my g/f's car trunk to my convalescent Columbia 40 at moor...a nice fat 235 /R17 ...
I have hauled one aboard before...on my old C-29....briefly...for a trip up to Cedar keys...now that I got the C-40 awhile back, there's more room for selective additions like this...It's mostly a love of the rustic and and quaint side of nauticalia that drives me to do things like this...suppose.....but there seems to also be a faint but genuine impulse of practicality that may supply this urge from time to time...Btw..I know they leave a nice black rubber residue on most things...but I'd rather save my good cone-shaped orange sea anchor for dedicated sea-anchor duty..not for multi-purpose work...like towing stability and for when u just need one more fender when "rafting up".

 

[SloopJonB]

Car tires should only be used aboard work boats, never a sailboat.

 

[Rockter]

Sloopjon :

Never say never.

I have painful memories of one Thursday morning when a terrible squall came through Peterhead, Scotland. The buffeting was terrible, and my Polaris 36 was pinned against the pontoon. In seconds, two of my best fenders ruptured and the boat began losing her teak rubbing strake to the dockside. The only thing that saved her were tyres. It needed the full strength of 3 men to get the tyres between the boat and the dock.
Do not under-estimate the loads that a tyre can take in an emergency. No fender comes close. I carry a single tyre now, in the sail locker, with a hole drilled in the bottom of it so the water can get out, and a big chunk of rope tied round the top of it.
Be wary of squalls, when they are bad, the only thing that will save you are tyres.
.

 

[VallelyJ]

I think they're a great idea, and have considered getting one or 2 to augment my supply of conventional fenders. The downsides I see are that they take up a lot of room, and the black rubber would probably mark the topsides. But in a situation that calls for a fender board, I would think they'd be ideal.

 

[krisscross]

Using tire as a sea anchor? Brilliant! Does it need to be weighted to work properly?

 

[Frogwatch]

Going to Cedar Key, a tire is just what is needed if you wanna tie up to that awful concrete dock there.

 

[ReefMagnet]

Using tire as a sea anchor? Brilliant! Does it need to be weighted to work properly?

Use as a drogue and drag behind on a length of line. I'm kicking myself for letting the tyre place keep a couple of old boat trailer 10" tyres I got replaced recently which would've been perfect.

 

[capt jgwinks]

Would be worthwhile if you have a place to hide it when not in use, I don't, my lazarrette is full now. Tying up to a sea wall in a place that gets surge, you need all the help you can get. I'd put some kind of cover on them though.
Not really what you're talking about, but I once saw one of those little tug yachts with a string of go cart tires down each side, made it look like a real working tug. Really cute.

 

[JonEisberg]

Using tire as a sea anchor? Brilliant! Does it need to be weighted to work properly?

It would need to be an awfully big tire to be suitable as a sea anchor, though their use when used to configure a makeshift drogue is well known...

As for their use as fenders, aside from their bulkiness and weight, they have one big downside if put to use in tidal waters, or against an especially rough surface. Proper fenders are round for good reason, a substitute like a tire can easily become caught or hung up on something as the tide rises, and the only alternative is to have the attachment point break or torn free, or to release or cut free the line... Tires could have served as excellent fenders while transiting a system like the Erie Canal but for that downside, and have long been prohibited as fenders on the NYS canals for that reason, and the possibility of their being torn free, and then creating problems by getting stuck in the lock's valves, or gate mechanism...

 

[krisscross]

It would need to be an awfully big tire to be suitable as a sea anchor, though their use when used to configure a makeshift drogue is well known...

Probably bigger tire for bigger boats. I thought that adding a bit of weight to it (like a short section of chain to act as a bridle on the tire leading to the towing line) might be a good idea - it would change the angle of the towing line and act a shock absorber.

 

[RobGallagher]

Claudios in Greenport, NY has a fixed pier at the restaurant dock. They use tires that are wrapped in some sort of heavy duty white cloth in overlapping strips (like a bandage). These tires are hung on adjustable lines. They are not full sized car tires, not sure what they came off of.

I think they are great and have often entertained keeping something this size (wrapped in white canvas) aboard for fixed piers or stuck in the wrong location during bad weather.

Obviously they would not be ideal for leaving your boat unatended as they don't roll, but if you are around to keep an eye on them they would be superior to inflated fenders.

 

[VallelyJ]

Using tire as a sea anchor? Brilliant! Does it need to be weighted to work properly?

Peter Bruce, in Heavy Weather Sailing, said they proved to to have a "modest but effective" utility as drogues, doubling the effectiveness of a rope warp alone. Probably more is better. The author isn't conclusive re weighting them--apparently it isn't strictly necessary, though.

have long been prohibited as fenders on the NYS canals

I hadn't realized that but it turns out Jon E. is right. Peter Bruce cites them as useful on canal walls because they don't roll. I've found in the canals that cylindrical fenders tend to want to roll out from under a fenderboard.
I may just try to find some room for a couple.
John V

 

[Capt Len]

Having grown up on commercial fishing boats ,tires just seemed natural and right.I was so proud and kinda pretentious when I finally graduated to vinyl tubes. Found I still needed tires for coming alongside log booms and sticks. ,or riding tall pilings with a board .They also make a decent boarding ladder for swimmers. Handy if you leave the YC.

 

[pdqaltair]

SlopeJonB: a post without an explaination isn't much to read.

Krisscross: Why do we say "perfect" when we have no reason to think it would do anything?

Peter Bruce was simply writing about something someone else wrote. Sloppy anecdotal journalism. No test results and no personal experience. Not worth the ink.

Weighted with what? Why would it not simply skip when the speed gets up?

Weighted warps are more practical and effective... but they are probably pretty pointless. If you need drag, you need more than that. Perhaps it would generate 100-150 pounds of drag, which won't mean diddly.

Test results on drogues. I'm pretty sure a tire would be near the bottom of the list.

And this, just to give an idea of the relevant range of forces. They are much greater with a wave strike, approaching the displacement of the boat.

Sail Delmarva: Drogue and Parachute Sea Anchor Testing: A Summary for Small to Medium Cruising Catamarans

 

[SloopJonB]

SlopeJonB: a post without an explaination isn't much to read.

A comment without a sense of humour isn't much to read either.

 

[pdqaltair]

A comment without a sense of humour isn't much to read either.

Yeah I guess. But I still don't get the ha ha. If it made a good sea anchor it could make sense, thus it seemed a serious question. As a fender... that is a little funnier, but kinna too obvious.

My concern is that folks think the tire would do any good.

 

[krisscross]

Krisscross: Why do we say "perfect" when we have no reason to think it would do anything?

Peter Bruce was simply writing about something someone else wrote. Sloppy anecdotal journalism. No test results and no personal experience. Not worth the ink.

Weighted with what? Why would it not simply skip when the speed gets up?

Weighted warps are more practical and effective... but they are probably pretty pointless. If you need drag, you need more than that. Perhaps it would generate 100-150 pounds of drag, which won't mean diddly.

Test results on drogues. I'm pretty sure a tire would be near the bottom of the list.

What I had in mind was a 17 or 18" car tire weighted with 20-30 lbs of anchoring chain, tied to a 200' of anchoring rope, to use on a 30' boat as a sea anchor. I have no direct experience with something like that (and hope I never have to use it in a really bad storm), but it would seem like an effective, low cost option. Tire creates a lot of drag due to it's complex, hollow shape. I would not carry a big tire just for use as a sea anchor, but mostly as a fender. They are illegal in some places because folks don't make holes in them for drainage and they breed mosquitoes like crazy.

 

[VallelyJ]

Peter Bruce was simply writing about something someone else wrote. Sloppy anecdotal journalism. No test results and no personal experience. Not worth the ink.

Souljour2000, Krisscross, etc--
Peter Bruce, in his sloppy anecdotal book, quotes a trial undertaken using a Najad 391 to measure the effect on various drogue devices on boat speed under power. That particular sloppy anecdote showed the tire dropped the speed somewhat, though not nearly as dramatically as purpose-made drogues did. Bruce also sloppily cites the recommendation in another report that a sinker should weigh around 40 to 60 lbs. He also relays what others have written about various kinds of weights and discusses their relative merits-- chain, diving weights, anchors--and suggests boat owners experiment with their own crafts.
I'm merely repeating here what somebody else wrote, of course. But as P. Bruce enjoys a somewhat wider readership (and writes with less pique or condescension) than any of us who've responded to this post so far, I guess I'd give his recommendations some weight.
John V

 

[souljour2000]

Wow...good stuff guys..lots of mileage on this tire tread so far..,I mean tire thread...lol..
Btw..I need to drill a drain hole..thanks whoever said that... and a chain as a weight and lanyard seems like a good idea for sure..

 

[Capt Len]

Many tires are belted,steel or ?? easy to cut with knife some 2" holes in sidewalls. A hole saw will handle the treaded area to thread the lanyard and avoid wear. If I were needing some drogue offshore I doubt if I would call Firestone my handy dandy.