[Helene de Mer]

Hi Van,
I had the same problem with Helene de Mer. There was no messenger line or holes for anything. What I did was to make holes in the the mast where required and then acquire some thin/long lead fishing sinkers and then put two or three of them on a fishing line and drop them through the holes where my cables would go. They then dropped through the mast to the bottom of the mast below the floor. The new cables have to come out there anyway and it does not matter so much if the holes are a little bigger at the bottom of the mast. There you can “fish” the sinkers out of the mast through the holes. Once you have the nylon line through, then you can change to some more substantial string. 2 or 3mm parachute cord is good, and then pull your cables through to the top.
It worked for me. I hope it works for you. Neel

[Helene de Mer]

Hi Van

A Good point!

Jan

[Helene de Mer]

Hi
To me Anchors are very much “horses for courses”. I am not aware of any anchor which works universally. I also have a CQR and 50m of chain plus nylon warp. It works fine. The sea bottom here is varied from sand to rock and weed. In a new anchorage more attention is necessary until one can be confidant that the anchor has set properly. In 1995 I was in St Martin on a cat and we rode out a force 4 to 5 Hurricane “Louis” with CQR and Danforths supported by a friendly palm tree, with no damage. To me abchoring is like flying spinnakers; there is only one way. The right way.
Jan

[Helene de Mer]

Another point to consider is that although it is not usual for centre cocKpit boats to be “Pooped” in bad weather, over 45 knots, I would still prefer to lie Bow to. Jan

[Helene de Mer]

Hi !!

If it was my boat, then I would nor be worried about aft deckcleats which I would only use for trailing warps. If the weather was really bad then I would prefer to lie bow to with a drouge and have it attached around the bottom of the mast. Jan

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