Retrieving the anchor is a pain

[Irish Rover]

A boat that has a minimum speed under power of 3.2knots must be a bitch to handle in some situations.

Might another, albeit expensive, answer to the problem be variable pitch propellers? Always assuming they could be fitted to this boat.

My boat is as manoeuvrable as I could wish, once I'm at the helm position. For berthing, tight turns etc, and recovering the anchor when I have someone working the windlass, I have the rudders straight ahead and totally ignore the wheel. Everything is done on the throttles. I'm as confident as I would be parking my car. Speed is not an issue - throttle forward, idle, reverse to slow/increase momentum as required. I can approach a dock at slower than 1 knot.
Speed became an issue when it was suggested I point the boat at the anchor position and put it in forward while I leave the flybridge and go below to operate the windlass.

 

[Irish Rover]

I found a photo (it is not mine) of the view taken by a Balance catamaran’s "anchor" camera.

See here:
Balance Catamarans
View attachment 180753

I'm really confident an under bow IR camera will be a big help. If I think it's working it would be another "justification" for upgrading to an Axiom 12+ MFD.V

 

[thinwater]

All this because they couldn't just bring the anchor up to the front beam? Just dumb. A design error that has become fashionable. I saw a cat with a spiral staircase the other day. Just retarded.

 

[bignick]

I'm really confident an under bow IR camera will be a big help. If I think it's working it would be another "justification" for upgrading to an Axiom 12+ MFD.V

Heading all the way back to your original post…
Raymarine is now part of Teledyne FLIR, who are a major manufacturer of IR cameras.
Raymarine offer the CAM210 bullet camera, which you can get an IPx7 (ie waterproof) housing for.
The Raymarine cameras are designed for direct integration with the Axiom MFDs.
I would have thought it should just be plug and play, if you already have an Axiom.
An enquiry direct to Raymarine should get you a very quick answer.

 

[Irish Rover]

Heading all the way back to your original post…
Raymarine is now part of Teledyne FLIR, who are a major manufacturer of IR cameras.
Raymarine offer the CAM210 bullet camera, which you can get an IPx7 (ie waterproof) housing for.
The Raymarine cameras are designed for direct integration with the Axiom MFDs.
I would have thought it should just be plug and play, if you already have an Axiom.
An enquiry direct to Raymarine should get you a very quick answer.

Thanks, but before parting with an arm and a leg to Raymarine, I think my tech savvy son will be able to do this along the lines suggested by @AngusMcDoon at #3, at a much cheaper cost.