I am fed up with lugging chain and anchor forward every time I want to anchor up. I keep everything I need in the cockpit locker so as not to also have to lug it through the cabin. My current anchor is a 15lb CQR and it does not fit in the bow roller without a large overhang. I’m not sure what other F21 owners do but certainly I find this less than ideal as I like to fish as well as sail.
I have a chain locker in the bow unused, so I have decided to add a chain pipe and get a new anchor that I can fix either in the bow roller or to the pulpit. I have ordered a Fortress FX7 anchor at 4lbs. They are a tad expensive over here, but that will have much less weight in the bow roller or maybe clipped to the pulpit stanchion. I need to size it up to see which.
I’ll post some pics as I get it all sorted out in case anyone else has the same issues.
First I fitted a cleat on top of the chain locker for the bitter end.
Then drilled through the deck, which has a pronounced curve. Decided to place it here rather than just behind the stantion, where it is flat, as the rope will flake better if the pipe is centralised.
I had to fettle the hole and pipe a little to get a firm fit, then bedded it down with some marine silicone and bolted through the deck.
The fortress anchor has arrived and I had some time today to assemble it and figure out how to mount it on the pulpit. Have been looking online for stanchion anchor mounts but the only mounts I could find were “Bluewhale” and “Wind line”, both from the US and at around $80 with another $50 in shipping and import duties. After a little thinking I came up with a simple but effective bracket that I put together with odds and ends from my workshop: a stainless steel rail clamp, 2 M6 bolts and an offcut of 4mm aluminium plate. I just place the flukes over the mount with the mud palms hard against the pulpit and then pin the shank to the bow roller… total cost £/$0!
The only reservation I have is whether the stock will interfere with the deployment and retrieval of the spinnaker. If so I’ll just lower the clamp and drill a hole further up the shank, although that may void the lifetime warranty.
Today I marked off the rode in 10m lengths with coded strips of sailcloth poked through the plait.
I then hauled it all onto Rockin and was and pleasantly surprised how easily it all flaked into the locker. I did check and compact the pile after the first 50m but the 10m of chain compressed the last 50m of rope nicely. So I now have 110m of rode stowed away in my chain locker. I’m well pleased with the result.
