Paravanes 101
As previously described the paravanes help stabilize the boat. A first glance the tall poles and lines on either side of the center mast give a Kosmos a seaworthy fishing boat appearance.
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Yet people then puzzle over what they do and how they work. Here are some videos to show them in operation.
- Video Action
Launching and retrieving is pretty easy. It involves 3 lines for each paravane rig. You lower the poles by hand with one line. You tighten the pole down by hand with another line. You then lower the “fish” (metal gliders) with another line connected to a winch.
The metal fish are pretty heavy at 45 pounds each. It helps to have gloves to lift them out and to guide the line around the boat for retrieval.
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This was our first time launching them. Maybe later we will make a complete how-to video on the subject someday.
November 16th, 2006 at 5:51 am
[…] Later we put out the paravanes. When deployed at anchor the paravanes are called “flopper stoppers”. They reduce the roll of the boat. All we can say is “Wow!” they really make a huge difference. The next day some fishing boats went by at full speed and their accompanying wake. We braced for the wave to hit, and as it passed under us we barely could feel it. It was amazing. Next time we will deploy the paravanes right away. […]