New bow roller, what is important?

[ShipsWoofy]

What is important to consider should I be thinking of replacing my bow roller, I am tenuously thinking about it as one of my winter jobs.

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[VicS]

A double roller perhaps. Definitely provision for a pin (drop nose) esp. if you are on a mooring. Flared cheeks esp if you moor with a rope. Rollers on the cheecks even? Larger than the original perhaps but not so large that you'll have to shorten the forestay!. Strength above all else.

 

[Anonymous]

It's got to be man enough for the job. If it looks right it probably is right.

 

[Clyde_Wanderer]

Yes consider a big enough bow roller to be able to take a 1" mooring rope with a heavy wall pvc tube on it.
The bow roller I made is 40mm wide (inside width) and just takes my mooring rope/hose.
Also consider how high above the base the drop pin hole is for the same reason.
Side plates on this one are 8mm thick, that hose is 45mm dia.

 

[TiggerToo]

Do you have one? (rocna - no H).

Check that there is not too much "play" between the roller and the cheeks: the shaft of the rocna might get wedged in it - the only fault I have noticed on it!

 

[Salty John]

Make sure it is wide enough to take the anchor shackle at it's widest point. A bow shackle is best because the pin head is within the widest dimension of the shackle whereas a 'D' shackle has the pin head protruding beyond the width of the shackle body. When a bow shackle encounters the bow roller cheeks you stand some chance of it rolling over and continuing through whereas the pin head on a 'D' shackle will often jam against the cheek plate.

 

[rogerthebodger]

Below is the one I designed for my new yacht

I included 3 drop nose pins. The lower are to be used to retain the anchors and all 3 are attached with light chain so if I drop it it will not be lost. The rear pin is to pass through the anchor chain to allow the anchor and chain to be pad locked in place.
The rollers have a square notch to guide the chain and as someone else said minimum gap between roller and side plates. The bollard pin can be fitted with a roller or larch to help if the cahin needs to be recovered by hand. I fitted plastic ware strips to help cut down noise and ware on the base where the chain runs. I can also fit a boarding ladder to the bow fitting to belp with getting on and off when the bow to jetty mooring is used as in the med

 

[Dipper]

If I had to choose 4 significant factors for a single roller they would be:

Strength - both the inherent strength and the strength of the deck fittings.

Width of roller - mine is 2" on a 26ft boat. You never know what you might have to moor up on.

High cheeks - to reduce the risk of the mooring warp/chain jumping out and to allow you to fit a pin (see below).

Drop nose pin hole

Most of these have already been mentioned by others.

 

[Poignard]

That is very impressive and looks as if it would stand up to anything.

[Mind you, I wouldn,t like to meet it on a dark night overhanging the pontoon! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif]

 

[Blueboatman]

Lot of bits there to catch the chain and rope(and hence fingers)--Imo I am not convinced by the forward samsom post.

Like the way that it has been extended aft so that it can really be tied in to the boats structure.

I had an angled web with a notch built across the 2 cheeks of the only one I have ever had built-the beauty when singlehanded was that you could drop the chain when under load and it would 'lock' into the notch while you did something else(like take a breather whilst lifting anchor !)

 

[rogerthebodger]

Thanks

In my crusing area there are very few marinas so anchoring would be the norm and when an Indian ocean cyclone hits you, you kind of notice it.

 

[rogerthebodger]

The forward samsons post is more for the attachment of a roller to help guide the chain if I have to manually pull up the anchor. I also have a swinging latch that will locate in the chain to allow me to rest and retain the chain in the current position. This ratchet type latch can fit on either the cross bar of the samsons post or on the drop nose pin at the bow to perform the same function.

 

[Blueboatman]

Sounds good.
Do you do your own welding and polishing ?-the stuff on your webpage all looks like immaculate engineering .

 

[rogerthebodger]

I do do a lot myself but I do have a frend in Durban who did do some for me when I did not have time.

The main problem with my frend is Durban is 600 Km away from me and he cannot always do it quickly.

I started in engineering over 40 years ago so have built up a nice workshop and the skills. My main problem is time, but hope to retire and go sailing in about 2- 3 years time.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Something as far forward as poss to take a snatch block through which the cruising chute tack strop can lead. Or which will take a prodder to act as a chute bowsprit.

 

[gandy]

On our boat there's a double roller, with the forestay connected to the middle plate of the roller. If I were making from scratch, I'd make the middle plate taller than the sides so that the rigging connector and toggle don't interfere with the chain or strop.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I do intent to attach a snatch block to allow me to run a line from the end of the boom to the bow then back to a cleat on the opersate as a gybe preventer.

I do have a full spinaker but never used one on my yacht.

Pls explain your suggestion for spinaker lines more

 

[rogerthebodger]

I extended the high part of the center section further aft for that reason.

 

[graham]

Have large radius on the inside edges of the cheeks where a mooring rope could chaffe. The double roller job above looks fine for chain but would soon eat through a mooring rope.

 

[sarabande]

On the rare occasions when you have an UPWARD lead from the roller structure, it's important to make sure that the pin can take a good bit of UP pressure. Also, a design feature that would enable the pin to be released relatively easily , in case of a jammed rope.