Been cruising my
Orana for six months now. All the
Fountaine Pajot and quite a few others (Leopards too I think) has the
anchor coming up just in front of the maststep and not at the forward beam.
When retrieving the
anchor, especially when its windy and anchored in shallow waters, its so easy that the
boat turns 90 deg and the chain come up and touch the bottom on one of the hulls. Not good.
One night a thunderstorm come into the anchorage. 25+ knots
wind, unprotected anchorage. Most
boats dragged but fortunately not me. Retrieving the anchor in the middle of the night, in that
wind and waves, would have been a nightmare with the anchor coming up where it is. I was very nervous to be honest.
Also, when on a
Med mooring when you cannot use the
bridle, the load on the anchor is much higher than if it would be mounted on the forward beam.
I understand the benefit, lessen weight forward. But there is 600 liter of
water around the
mast on my
boat. Talked to an owner of an
Antares, and on that boat the
generator is in a forward compartment in one of the hulls. Where is the consistency.
I saw on a big
Fountaine Pajot cat the other day, they put an additional anchor roller UNDER the forward beam, with the chain then going under the forward netting and into through the original anchor roller.
Thinking of doing the same thing. Cannot think of any drawbacks on top of the weight forward issue.
Being new to
catamaran cruising, have I missed something.