Installing a Lofrans Royal

[jimbojan45]

I want to fit a Lofrans Royal to my 29 ft boat but the bow roller is 1ft higher than the deck onto which the windlass will be installed resulting in there being less than a 90 degree grip on the chain. Does anyone know of a chain roller that could be fitted between the bow and windlass that would bring the chain down level with the windlass? I suppose the obvious answer is to raise the windlass but I dont really want to do that as is would end up looking somewhat "unsightly".
Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[billskip]

I had same problem (not 1ft tho) and the chain would jump about.

I solved my problem by making up a hard wood "guide" to ensure the chain retained more than 90dg on the "loose" end. I had space to modify maybe you cant. just a thought

 

[samwise]

I guess you could make up an intermediate custom bracket bolted to the deck and fitted with a guide roller to hold it down, but at anchor it would be imperative to rig a shock absorber from the chain to prevent it snatching and stressing the arrangementI.

 

[damo]

I dare say you could get something fabricated easily enough, but I would think that the changes in angle as the chain goes past 2 sets of rollers would put a lot of friction in the system.

If your bow roller is on the top of a coaming could you put it through a hawse hole cut at deck level?

 

[jimbojan45]

Thanks all for your input. I guess I'll have to raise the windlass. If I raise it about 6 inches it will bring the top of the windlass almost level with the bow roller.

Many thanks