Barry Michel of Benicia, CA asks:

What are the two anchor looking devices at each side of the aft end of the boat and how and when are they used?

Jeff Leishman responds:

The things you are referring to are stabilizers. When you lower the two poles port and starboard, the two stabilizers are then towed from the ends of the poles suspended from a length of chain that allows them to be at about 15' underwater. Some people call this method of stabilization a 'paravane rig', we refer to it as TPS, towed passive stabilizers. If you saw the movie 'The Perfect Storm' you would remember them calling he stabilizers 'Birds'. In the pacific northwest you will see a lot of fish boats with this system, however up there they call the stabilizers 'fish' . We tend to use that name for them at Nordhavn.

Back To Forums