adding a wider bow roller and some other project ideas

[Marceline]

Hi - just wondering - our new swing mooring fo 2025 is going to have a chain strop rather than rope and we need a wider bow roller

is it a horrible job to replace a bowroller ? Its the kind of thing (especially with strong storms/strong tides) thats very crucial that I don't want to get wrong and so almost certainly going to find a professional to install it, but it'd be good to know about how big of a job they usually are.

There's also no fairleads on the boat so we might ask to have some of those installed too

We're also wondering about adding a 'Hunter Legend' style arch over our cockpit - we crewed on a Hunter a while back and I loved the arch for holding on to while clambering around/standing for a better view etc and that it takes the main sheet out of the cockpit. Again, guessing this is the type of thing that'd be very bad to get wrong installing (if its even a thing people do) so we'd be looking for a pro to install. But are those kind of arches things (some) people install that can handle a mainsheet ? Or is this generally a bad idea re: the pressures and strains from the mainsheet (especially for an accidental gybe)

If we can add some small solar panels/use it as davits that'd be a great bonus (as would being able to order a cockpit tent enclose to extend our spray hood - that wold be a very nice feature to add) - but I'm guessing it's not easy and would be a custom job (and expensive). If so we'll give this one a miss

Our boat is a small Jaguar 24

 

[vyv_cox]

We kept our boat on a swinging mooring for many years. The pick-up attachment to the buoy was 1/2 inch galvanised chain. Our bow roller at the time was about 2.5 inches wide with a shallow arc profile. This worked fine. Changing the roller is easy, simply a long bolt with a nut at the inside end.

 

[Tranona]

You can buy substantial bow rollers ready made. Looked at some photos of your type of boat and there seems to be space to fit a larger one. good that it is not used as the forestay attachment like some boats. Expect you will need to beef up the deck underneath so look at access there.

An arch to be of any use on your size boat would be out of all proportion apart from being horrendously expensive to do properly - think thousands rather than hundreds. You rarely see arches on boats less than 30' or so. Apart from the cost and practicality putting that amount of weight particulrly if you add solar panels will have a negative effect on stability.

 

[Marceline]

thanks Tranona - really appreciated (and I never even thought about forestay headaches - glad we might not have that problem at least)

I'd not thought about the weight/stability either - tbh we can manage without adding solar panels, but yet another year of poor weather made us wonder about some kind of cockpit enclosure and if so we'd need to take our mainsheet out of the cockpit somehow. Ah well - we've got our waterproofs/factor50/hats so its no biggie if we don't do this

 

[Marceline]

We kept our boat on a swinging mooring for many years. The pick-up attachment to the buoy was 1/2 inch galvanised chain. Our bow roller at the time was about 2.5 inches wide with a shallow arc profile. This worked fine. Changing the roller is easy, simply a long bolt with a nut at the inside end.

ah nice to know it might not be too bad a job we'll ask to get this done at the boatyard when we haul out

many thanks