Stemar
Well-Known Member
Jissel (Snapdragon 24) lives on a swinging mooring with a substantial chain mooring pennant that comes up over the single bow roller and has a loop that I drop over the samson post. No problem there, but we anchor a lot and our anchor serves us well, so I'd prefer not to change it. For the last couple of years I've had an idea wandering around my brain and an illness this winter that has weakened me significantly has brought it to the surface again.
Having to hump the anchor from its storage chocks, round the forestay and onto the roller is hard work, so I'd really like to have two rollers at the bow, one as a permanent home for the anchor and the other for the mooring. There's an issue because the anchor is likely to get tangled with the mooring chain unless one roller projects the best part of a foot beyond the other.
It seems to me that the mooring will apply the highest strain, as it has to put up with the sort of mid-winter weather that no sane person would be anchoring in, so it should have the roller that's already on the bow. That means I need to make the projecting roller strong enough to take any strain the anchor might inflict on it. I have a 10kg Delta - well oversize for the boat, but we sleep well on board - plus 17m of 8mm chain and 60m of octoplait. In the unlikely event that I don't put out all the chain plus a few metres of octoplait, I use a snubber to reduce shock loads.
Plan A would involve a U-shaped "bowsprit" consisting of two pieces of "mahogany" - the red wood sold in the likes of Covers - 4" high by 2" wide with a piece of 2 by 2 joining them, projecting far enough that there's no danger of the anchor fouling the mooring pennant - say 12", and about 3-4 feet long, bolted through the deck plus 15mm ply backing 6" or 8" epoxied under the deck. There's just enough room that the forestay isn't in the way.
However, I'm not an engineer and have no knowledge of the calculations that would tell me how much force the anchor and chain will put on it, nor of the strength of the bowsprit. Any thoughts from those in the know?
Thanks in advance
Having to hump the anchor from its storage chocks, round the forestay and onto the roller is hard work, so I'd really like to have two rollers at the bow, one as a permanent home for the anchor and the other for the mooring. There's an issue because the anchor is likely to get tangled with the mooring chain unless one roller projects the best part of a foot beyond the other.
It seems to me that the mooring will apply the highest strain, as it has to put up with the sort of mid-winter weather that no sane person would be anchoring in, so it should have the roller that's already on the bow. That means I need to make the projecting roller strong enough to take any strain the anchor might inflict on it. I have a 10kg Delta - well oversize for the boat, but we sleep well on board - plus 17m of 8mm chain and 60m of octoplait. In the unlikely event that I don't put out all the chain plus a few metres of octoplait, I use a snubber to reduce shock loads.
Plan A would involve a U-shaped "bowsprit" consisting of two pieces of "mahogany" - the red wood sold in the likes of Covers - 4" high by 2" wide with a piece of 2 by 2 joining them, projecting far enough that there's no danger of the anchor fouling the mooring pennant - say 12", and about 3-4 feet long, bolted through the deck plus 15mm ply backing 6" or 8" epoxied under the deck. There's just enough room that the forestay isn't in the way.
However, I'm not an engineer and have no knowledge of the calculations that would tell me how much force the anchor and chain will put on it, nor of the strength of the bowsprit. Any thoughts from those in the know?
Thanks in advance