Should your anchor always be on the bow roller?

[Nostrodamus]

Do you always keep your anchor on your bow roller ready to be deployed or do keep it in the anchor locker.

I can understand it being on the roller on a short sail in calm weather but what about a longer sail where there is a possibility of bad weather. Bashing into waves with a Manson or spade hung over the front cannot do your fittings much good or could even bend the pin making it impossible to deploy.

Also how many anchors do you see hung over pontoons when bows in making them a hazard?

Where do you keep yours?

 

[Twister_Ken]

Do you always keep your anchor on your bow roller ready to be deployed or do keep it in the anchor locker.

I can understand it being on the roller on a short sail in calm weather but what about a longer sail where there is a possibility of bad weather. Bashing into waves with a Manson or spade hung over the front cannot do your fittings much good or could even bend the pin making it impossible to deploy.

Also how many anchors do you see hung over pontoons when bows in making them a hazard?

Where do you keep yours?

You're right. It shouldn't be there on longer voyages in deeper water. It puts weight right forward and will increase pitching, and as you say may lead to damage. Plus they've been known to catch lines on spinnakers, with inconvenient results.

Journeys in shallower water, where deploying an anchor in a hurry might save bacon presents a different case. As most of us do the latter rather than the former, that maybe explains the plethora of anchor hazards on dark nights on marina pontoons.

As an aside, many race instructions demand that anchors be removed from bows, to minimise damage in collisions.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Its in its locker in the marina, on the stem head fitting when entering or departing the marina and other harbours, stowed away when at sea and departed. For short weekend sailing it stays on the stem head fitting.

 

[Robin]

The crunch factor is the weight and size. It is fine and dandy to lift a tiddly anchor off the roller and put it away but that isn't realistic when the weights get bigger IMO. Don't just rely on a pin to hold it in place, lash it into the roller. I fitted a couple of cleats on the foredeck either side of the shank and used a line snaphooked to the anchor tripline eye then cleated tight and crisscrossed between the two cleats. I also had a 3 eyed bow fender tight under the roller into which the anchored was pulled and this not only locked the anchor in place it stopped any lines getting hooked on it as well.

The weight forward is not an issue IMO on cruising boats unless titchy and then the anchor weight and removal is not a problem anyway.

Anchors on rollers are normal. Anyone walking into one in a marina should look where they are going just as they should in order not to trip over a line or a cleat. That said boatowners should try and berth without anything overhanging, be that pulpit, bowsprit or anchors.

 

[sailorman]

Do you always keep your anchor on your bow roller ready to be deployed or do keep it in the anchor locker.

I can understand it being on the roller on a short sail in calm weather but what about a longer sail where there is a possibility of bad weather. Bashing into waves with a Manson or spade hung over the front cannot do your fittings much good or could even bend the pin making it impossible to deploy.

Also how many anchors do you see hung over pontoons when bows in making them a hazard?

Where do you keep yours?

always stowed in a locker

 

[AngusMcDoon]

I don't have a bow roller. But then I'm strange like that.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Bashing into waves with a Manson or spade hung over the front cannot do your fittings much good or could even bend the pin making it impossible to deploy.

Also how many anchors do you see hung over pontoons when bows in making them a hazard?

You're right there. My Rocna bent the pin several times last year and it was a PITA to straighten the pin and get the anchor out. Unfortunately, my pushpit has a central support which makes if equally difficult to get the anchor out of the locker and into the roller.

If I find an acnhor badly overlapping the pontoon I always complain to the marina or the club mooring officer and get them to move the boat on its ropes.

 

[ukmctc]

Ours is ready to deploy at all times and stays that way (Main Anchor). Our aft anchor is in the rope locker in the centre cockpit ready to go. Ours is an older boat so can take the weight and strain on the bow, not so sure it would be there on a modern lighter style boat where the fibreglass and steel is thinner.

 

[Conachair]

Where do you keep yours?

2 of them live on the bow roller ready for action. Well tied off and hawse pipes blocked for offshore passages.

No room anywhere else.

 

[whipper_snapper]

Offshore brought inboard and lashed down on deck.

Inshore in the bow roller held by windlass chain and a lashing backup.

In any 'risky' situation when it might need to be deployed for bacon saving purposes, it is 'made ready' which amounts to leaving it tipped on the roller with a bit of slack in the chain and held by a sail-tie with a slippery hitch and if it is choppy backed up with a turn of chain, still slack, around a post.


I am a little obsessive about this having been 'brought-up' to do it and having seen a large vessel saved from catastrophe by having its anchor ready to go in an instant.

 

[Seajet]

As I have a relatively small - 22' - boat, the Bruce anchor lives secured in its' locker under the foredeck.

Note 'secured' ( by an elastic sail tie ); a loose anchor there will damage the hull sides when beating into waves, and I fitted an alloy bash-plate to the locker floor & sides as well.

However it is always ready to let go quickly, with the warp & chain flaked ready which means flaking carefully when recovering the anchor; as Twister Ken says, an anchor ready to deploy quickly can most definitely save ones' bacon.

This is particularly the case during launch & recovery days when the mast is down, so anchoring is foremost Plan B should the engine hiccup, rope go around the prop etc.

Larger boats should most definitely stow the anchor somewhere vaguely central on long trips, but I'd reckon 'long' means more than just cross-Channel.

 

[jordanbasset]

Mine stays on the bow roller, very secure with a large diameter pin/bar in a place designed to keep it safe. See no point in moving it to another part of the boat and trying to jury rig it to keep it there.
If in a marina ensure we do not overhang the pontoon.

 

[NealB]

Three anchors, all stowed in lockers at after end of foredeck as routine. Taken out only when required.

(34 foot catamaran, East Coast based).

 

[GrumpyOldGit]

How lazy

How lazy to leave an anchor overhanging the bow 'Just in case', as most yachts carry their anchor forward, is it not a matter of going forward to deploy it ?
the additional 15 seconds to get the anchor from the foredeck and over the bow roller is unlikely to make any real difference to the outcome of an engine failure etc.
Carrying an anchor overhanging the bows which in the majority of cases is never used anyway is pointless, dangerous and generally rude. Most of the boats here on the East Coast actually drop their hook on about 2% of their outings, the rest of the time marina hopping or daysailing from-to their home port.
As a racing sailor I have been on the receiving end of a ' Just in case' bow hung anchor that has only been used TWICE in the current clumsy owners five years of use !
Luckily the damage received was fairly minor but strong words were certainly exchanged...
Keep it on deck or in the anchor locker where it will not bother anyone else.

 

[Fourbees]

We always have our main bower anchor in its locker on the foredeck. It's a bit of a hassle humping it onto the bow roller to deploy (especially if SWMBO insists on doing it) but it's safer in there. Also, you don't really want all that weight hanging on the stem all the time, do you? We keep our kedge in a cockpit locker. Boat is 32' sloop.

 

[Billjratt]

I altered a cleat to neatly fit the anchor and hold it securely, while clearing the bow roller for use on mooring buoys. The anchor is a bit too big to sit comfortably on the roller anyway. It's secured by a lanyard on rough days.

Also note the guard to stop the swivel etc. catching on the forestay turnbuckle and furling drum.

 

[Conachair]

Carrying an anchor overhanging the bows which in the majority of cases is never used anyway is pointless, dangerous and generally rude.

Dangerous & rude?

How on earth did you get there?

2 of my 5 live on the bow roller, never overhang a pontoon and would look awful and pointless lying around on the deck. No where else to put them. Takes about a second to deploy single handed without leaving the cockpit with a wireless remote.

But dangerous and rude? Strange comment.

 

[ukmctc]

How lazy to leave an anchor overhanging the bow 'Just in case', as most yachts carry their anchor forward, is it not a matter of going forward to deploy it ?
the additional 15 seconds to get the anchor from the foredeck and over the bow roller is unlikely to make any real difference to the outcome of an engine failure etc.
Carrying an anchor overhanging the bows which in the majority of cases is never used anyway is pointless, dangerous and generally rude. Most of the boats here on the East Coast actually drop their hook on about 2% of their outings, the rest of the time marina hopping or daysailing from-to their home port.
As a racing sailor I have been on the receiving end of a ' Just in case' bow hung anchor that has only been used TWICE in the current clumsy owners five years of use !
Luckily the damage received was fairly minor but strong words were certainly exchanged...
Keep it on deck or in the anchor locker where it will not bother anyone else.

Hmmm, mine is designed tobe on the roller and it sits perfectly snug there, doesn't overhang the pontoon or anywhere else. Funnily though I've been hit by racing boats/yachts eagar to leave the berth for a race or catch up with friends in the race, no damage to me, though some to them as they struck my bow, no words exchanged or angry looks just a wave as they head off embarrassed to lick their wounds, and tell stories of their racing adventures that weekend. It annoys me more when they try to run off and not appologize, accidents happen, that's life.

 

[Bobc]

Mine lives on the roller because it's too big and heavy to do anything else with, but on long passages, we tie it down so it can't break free.

On my old 36fter, we always kept it in the bow locker because we could.

 

[Leighb]

Mine lives on the bow roller, no anchor locker available, very awkward to stow a Bruce on deck even if there was a suitable space.

I do my best to moor on in marinas so that the bow does NOT overhang the pontoon, but as said elsewhere there are lots of other hazards in marinas to watch out for, one should always keep a proper lookout even when ashore.