Sea Anchor Too Big?

[TechnoMonkey]

I have a Mariner 40 Ketch. It's about 26,500 lbs. I picked up an unused Para-Tech Sea Anchor 24' for $30 (yes, three zero). Is this too big for my boat? As I don't have $1000 to throw away, I hope it is useable.

[Don C L]

This site may be of help:
https://dragdevicedb.com/

[Sos]

Spec' says under 95,000 lbs so I would have thought it's not too big. Unlike a drogue which is designed to allow the boat to move through the water a parachute is an anchor so apart from handling and recovery I can't see being too big a problem.
What a bargain!

[Don C L]

I haven’t used one but I seem to recall discussion that getting the para-anchor inflated and staying that way may need the displacement to somewhat match the size but I certainly could be wrong. Hope users will chime in here.

[Gone Gypsy]

Originally Posted by Sos

Spec' says under 95,000 lbs so I would have thought it's not too big. Unlike a drogue which is designed to allow the boat to move through the water a parachute is an anchor so apart from handling and recovery I can't see being too big a problem.
What a bargain!

I think you have the right idea here. It’s only too big if the size is a burden. Unlikely in a chute anchor.. It’s going to anchor your boat! Would you take $40 plus shipping? JK.

Hope you never have to use it after practicing using it multiple times.

[Foswick]

As has been said, there is no such thing as an anchor (of any sort) being "too big" unless it is too large to manage, just in practical terms.

It should be clear, though, that the same is not true of a drogue. As long as you intend to use it as a sea anchor, and the space it takes up is OK with you, then you are completely fine.

[TechnoMonkey]

It’s only 35lbs.. Lighter than the Revere Commander at 97lbs.. Thanks for the input guys. Didn’t think there would be a real problem, but the info on any sea anchor is very sketchy at best. Too much is taken for granted. Even the owners manual on this sea anchor addresses a trip line with lots of diagrams, none of which actually show the placement of the trip line. I’m pretty sure I know where it should be, but just commenting on the sketchiness. Thanks again.

[TechnoMonkey]

Originally Posted by Gone Gypsy

Would you take $40 plus shipping? JK. .

No thanks. $1700 new and this one is unused and all but new.

[Foswick]

Originally Posted by TechnoMonkey

... the info on any sea anchor is very sketchy at best. Too much is taken for granted. Even the owners manual on this sea anchor addresses a trip line with lots of diagrams, none of which actually show the placement of the trip line. I’m pretty sure I know where it should be, but just commenting on the sketchiness.

I'm glad you said that. I noticed something similar years ago.

I think the real issues are that different boats respond differently and there simply isn't a large sample size of real-world deployments to be able to say much about the "best" way to use any particular solution.

It just isn't used often so, honestly, no one really knows much about them beyond their limited experience and a little bit of heresay/conjecture. At best, people can talk about what has worked for them the one time they had to use it 10 years ago. Or, they can tell you what they read or heard from a friend. But, if there are any kind of studies like have been done for ground tackle, I sure haven't seen them. (And, despite repeated studies/trials, grounding tackle best practices are still highly debated.)

Anyone?