Bow Rollers?

[farotherside]

Hey folks,

I've been reading, and everywhere I read seems to be in agreement - on a multihull, store your heavy things as low as possible, or it will affect how the vessel sails.

I can get behind that, but I can also really see how a bow roller would be a nice way to store an anchor up front, ready to deploy. I currently store my anchors in a side locker, and take them out as needed. 40-odd feet of chain and a 35lb Delta aren't too much for me to handle now, but I can certainly see why people love their windlasses when it comes time to pull up anchor!

So what's the real scoop? If I wanted to store my anchor up on a bow roller, and my chain rode and rope in a through-deck fitting down in my bow bilge somehow, what are my options? How much will this really affect the way the boat handles?

[Palarran]

All of the cat's I've seen have the anchor stored just in front of the mast. They use two different methods of deployment. One is to use a bridle that is connected from the inside of the anchor compartment then let out and the other is to have a gangway which guides the chain to an anchor roller that is attached to the front crossbeam. You still use a bridle with this set up.

Use Yachtworld and look at some pictures and you will see both setups.

[kiapa]

to get the best of both worlds...
set up a bow roller on the forward beam (cat) or the bow (mono or tri).
have an anchor & chain locker as close to the mast as possible (common on cats, less so on the others).

when coastal cruising or approaching far off ports, hook up the anchor & chain on the roller so it's ready to go on a moment's notice. when preparing for a blue water passage, disconnect the heavy anchor and store it amidship. then haul chain into the midship locker. we've done this on our cat, AND on our last two monohulls. works great, not that much work.

[Intentional Drifter]

Our set up is like Kiapa's. You get the convenience of just dropping if off the bow when you're actually going to be using it often, but then it is also fairly easy (except for that moment of fear when grabbing the heavy thing and trying to get it around the crossbeam stay) to store it amidships when going out for awhile.

I've never liked the arrangement of many cats where the anchor is stored and dropped from under the bridgedeck. That could be a big hassle when something fouls the anchor, the bridle gets awry, etc. And, you know that it is just a matter of time for those things to happen. Not to mention having you hands and fingers in close quarters to the windlass down in the locker. That's a bit scary to me, I've always liked trying to keep myself a decent distance from the gypsy when pulling in.

ID

[kiapa]

we chartered a catana47 with the anchor rode deployed under the bridgedeck, but through a roller UNDERNEATH the forward beam. i guess the idea is that you keep the (potentially dirty) chain off your nice clean trampolines. in any case, in very breezy conditions, we SOMEHOW managed to get a knot tied in the chain rode by dropping the anchor thru a loop in the catenary of chain between the windlass and the forward beam.
i like going over the top, now.