More info on the Monk-designed boat we just bought

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Blind Owl

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I've Googled my beans off trying to get complete specs and, with any luck, design particulars of our 37' 1984 Roughwater Express Cruiser. No joy so far, and no joy on the Monk 36 Owners Forum, which is all about a later and quite different boat.

Besides curiosity and a lifelong interest in boat design, the info would help me decide anchor sizes and the holding power needed for a mooring we intend to sink off Mayne Island, our home base.

As always, info and suggestions would be appreciated.
 
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Ha! We had that figured already. A website we respect, run by a couple of seasoned Arctic voyagers, has this recommendation for boat owners who are serious about anchoring. If memory serves, it amounts to: "If you're docked somewhere and you don't overhear the occasional comment from passers-by that your anchor looks too big for the boat's size, you aren't there yet."

My other motive is a lifelong interest in vessel design, specs, lines, and in understanding the whys and wherefors of any particular vessel, and what compromises—since all designs are compromises—were made, and what the aim was. A never-ending source of fascination to me.

Cheers!
 
I always tell people to figure out what size anchor you need and then go bigger as long as your windlass will handle it. Same thing with fenders, go with the largest ones you can store.
 
Select an anchor or range of anchors that interest you, check what the mfr recommends. If you fall between sizes, go up. I think anchor mfrs want to sell you as much anchor as they can, but others will tell you mfrs know zilch, and to just go bigger, and bigger......
As to your mooring, are we talking concrete block restraint? For my IG36, we used a 1000 kg block which stayed where it was put. If possible, use a bridle instead of one line.
 
Besides curiosity and a lifelong interest in boat design, the info would help me decide anchor sizes and the holding power needed for a mooring we intend to sink off Mayne Island, our home base.

Shouldn't be much different than any other boat of similar length, weight, and windage. Make-up of your holding ground probably more of a factor than boat design.

Anyway, check Steve Goodwin's (S/V Panope) anchor test videos on YouTube.

IIRC, his #131 has a decent comparison chart toward the end. And that's probably been superceded by something newer, too...

-Chris
 
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Thanks, ranger58sb.

We've watched quite a few anchor tests/comparisons, and have decided that two anchors are all we'll need on the boat. The Northern voyaging couple I mentioned have a very informative website: Attainable Adventure Cruising. They've trusted Spade anchors for many years, with an aluminum Fortress anchor for backup, lunch hook, etc. Anchor test videos we''ve seen confirm that anchors with roll bars are problematic. We'll go up a size or two with each (above the manufacturers' recommendations).

The private mooring we'll be installing will be similarly oversized. No marginal gear for us!

That should let us sleep soundly at anchor in anything short of a hurricane.
 
I think most of us know that our engine start battery should be fused, but what about the rest of the engine harness. John was shocked to find the answer to that question.
I clicked the link and at the top of the page found the above quoted. Even ABYC agrees NOT to fuse a start battery.

 
I've Googled my beans off trying to get complete specs and, with any luck, design particulars of our 37' 1984 Roughwater Express Cruiser. No joy so far, and no joy on the Monk 36 Owners Forum, which is all about a later and quite different boat.

Besides curiosity and a lifelong interest in boat design, the info would help me decide anchor sizes and the holding power needed for a mooring we intend to sink off Mayne Island, our home base.

As always, info and suggestions would be appreciated.
There is a Roughwater facebook group. Someone may own a 37 there
 
Roughwater launched its first 37-footer in 1981 to attract boaters seeking speed and a flybridge. She offered both, plus new styling that put her a generation ahead of the 35 in appearance.

Introduced with the 200hp Perkins T6.354, the 37 in later years was given even more punch with selection of the 250hp 8.2-liter Detroit Diesel. Buyers could have one, or two, of the big engines.

She is arranged much like the 36, roomier with more storage space but still with only one head. The yacht measures 39.5 feet overall and has a beam of 11 feet 7 inches.

With lots of power from twins, the 37 can easily top 20.

Joe Weber and Joy Gamble of Issaquah, Washington, bought a 37 early in 2000 after talking with Jim Roberts and other Roughwater owners. They were impressed by the testimony they heard, "Not to mention the fact that Roughwater boats are the most undervalued on the market," Joe says.

Their Morning Star has a glass hull and a wood deckhouse; the previous owner spent about $5,000 fixing soft wood as a condition of the sale.

She has a pair of 8.2-liter Detroit Diesels, and can hit 23 knots while cruising effortlessly at 16. They have changed upholstery, had the engines checked, and the hydraulic steering rebuilt.

As Northwest boaters, Joe and Joy watch the weather carefully. "I've had her out in about sixfoot seas and it was not a problem. From what I've heard from others is that Roughwaters are pretty good when the going gets rough."

The flybridge on the 37 is good looking, but controversial. Ed Monk, Jr., has advised some owners that Chen built a much heavier structure than the architect originally designed. The extra weight of the bridge, and of passengers and equipment, may add enough top hamper to change roll characteristics unfavorably, Monk says.

Joe Weber said his boat has ballast and he finds no problem with the added weight of the bridge.

John Wilkins of Juneau, Alaska, owns a 1984 37-footer equipped with a single Perkins diesel. "She has my trust and admiration," he says, but he plans to remove the flybridge to make the boat handle better in stormy Alaskan waters.


In an email to Wilkins in late 1999, Monk said the addition of rolling chocks along the round bilge would reduce roll, but the only way to add to the stability of the boat would be to reduce weight aloft.

Summing up his 37, one owner says: "She's not a fancy boat, she's not an expensive boat. She's an eight, on a scale of one to ten. She is not as good as the best Taiwan boats, and compared to the Grand Banks, she's a six.

"But if you are not hung up on an absolutely pristine boat, the price is great."
 
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Blind Owl be very careful or you may start a new anchor thread. Peligro!
 
Wow, a flood of information while my back was turned, and all of it useful, not that I expected less from TF and its generous contributors. I'll check out everything in sight.

As for starting a new anchor thread, however useful that might be, I sure as heck don't want to start it. I won't have time, and if anyone is curious to know my reasons for choosing Spade and Fortress exclusively, I suggest checking out the website link I posted earlier on this thread. It's dirt cheap, trustworthy, well-moderated, and although the empasis is on sail, all of it is expert and based on experience and research.

Give it a look, OK? Non peligro. Thanks as always, everyone.

Afterthoughts 'r' us dept: The reference to Facebook made me laugh, remembering a comment I read long ago on a completely unrelated topic. However useful others find it, I agree with the sentiment expressed when someone recommended a Facebook thread: "I don't Facebook, I'm an adult."
 
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The last thing I would want to do is to start a new anchor thread. However I have some interest in learning what regulatory hurdles and who sets the bar that you must jump, in order to establish a permanent mooring of off Mayne Island BC.

I understand the Feds define what the buoy needs to look like, but what about the other end of the chain.
Who grants approval to rest a blob of concrete (or whatever) on the Crown's seabed?

Who determines the resting location of this blob?

Is there a building permit issued?

Who defines how big this blob and the chain needs to be?

Who inspects this installation? Is there an occupancy permit issued?

Hopefully you know as you intend to do this type of thing. Please fill me in.
 
@ luna: Good questions all, and they may not apply in your area. Instead of a blob of concrete, my intention is to use three Fortress anchors in a common configuration, installed on the bottom by an experience diver, and with the appropriate buoy and other gear.

For further information, send me a PM and I'll reply tomorrow. I'm beat.
 
The Northern voyaging couple I mentioned have a very informative website: Attainable Adventure Cruising. They've trusted Spade anchors for many years, with an aluminum Fortress anchor for backup, lunch hook, etc.

Yeah, John H. has praised their Spade forever. OTOH, they've also posted about some failures other folks have had -- mostly about galvanizing but also including once where a shank apparently returned to the mother ship without it's fluke -- and those reports kinda put me off. When we were shopping for a decent anchor for this current boat, one of the personal criteria I added was "one piece" -- so ended up with "not a Spade" for our primary.

-Chris
 
@ ranger58sb: in the time we have left, I doubt if we'll use the Spade enough to wear out the galvanizing, though I know it's sometimes subpar. If ours does wear out, rather than re-galvanize, which causes problems, I'll use the best anti-rust paint I've ever used. It's from CRC, a good brand, and it's called Zinc Mate. Everyone who needs to protect something against rust—and who doesn;t?—should know about it.

I did not know about the fluke breaking off, but that won't change my decision since it's a rarity and I don't know the circumstances.

Cheers!
 
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