Flopper stopper groth...oh my!! re-rigged! - 2014

February 2014 - Anchored in La Cruz Anchorage in Banderas Bay Mexico

Mamma said "don't let your flopper stopper get like this" OK shed didn't but it sounds cool. 

 We called Danny on S\V Cyclades on the VHF and asked how he manages his flopper stopper. He has been here in La Cruz for many years and spends a lot of time in and out of the La Cruz Marina in Banderas Bay going to the anchorage. He said every chance he gets he pulls up the flopper stopper and lets it dry in the sun and wipes it off. Like each time they go to shore or on calm nights at anchor etc. I said wow that sounds like a lot of doing.

Note:
 This turned out to be easy and we do it a lot, raising the Magma "Rock 'n Roll"™ Boat Stabilizer. We have got the setup down now over the years😎

 Then we pulled up our Magma "Rock 'n Roll"™ Boat Stabilizer. It was really heavy and after seeing it we knew why! So now I see what Danny means. 

We replaced the two clam shell zinc's as one was gone and the other almost. There does seem to be some damage here at the hinge but from what? Looks like a summer weld project.

 We devised a better way of managing the flopper stopper. We actually had no way of managing it before. I was laying in bed the other night and was thinking of how this could be done. I thought "why not lift it up, the pole, so we can walk under it?" and then decided that day to look around and see if any other boats were doing that with their poles. As it turns out they all were. There were at least four other boats in the anchorage with poled-out flopper stoppers and they were all up high enough to walk under. Why I never thought of it or noticed these boas before, well I do not know. So there is solution one. Raise the pole so it is not doing the limbo to get by it on deck.

Then we removed the small line that ran from the flopper stopper to the bow for the closing of the flopper stopper when pulling it up. We discovered that this line also had the purpose of keeping the flopper stopper from rotating and tangling the lines on it if it were kept relatively tight. The small line would break in a heavy sea way at anchor. We replaced this line with the emergency spare line we had on the flopper stopper. This emergency line was in case the main line holding the flopper stopper broke then we could still retrieve it. Now we have one less line and the heaver line does not part in heavy sea-ways at anchor. We also moved it to the stern so it does not interfere with the anchor harness where it was tied to the same cleat.

 Now to retrieve the flopper stopper I just bring in the line that holds it that runs through the block on the pole. Then grab it with one hand and pull up the flopper stopper to the surface. Then with the boat hook I grab the flopper stopper and bring it to the boat, rotate it length ways and bring it up over the life lines where we bungee it on the life lines for day storage. Simpler than it sounds.