Anchor Roller on an H25

[L and W]

We've anchored our '79 H25 a few times so far, and each time is a pain! There is no anchor roller or windlass, etc. and I'd like to add a roller to make things a little less of a hassle, not to mention making it easier to drop a bow anchor in case of emergency. There is very little space available in front of the anchor locker hatch for mounting anything (see attached crude sketch). Does anyone have a suggestion for easing the anchoring process? I've considered hanging the Danforth from bow pulpit-mounted hangers, but I've been told that doing so is not very "yachtie", probably due to the danger of snagging a foresail on the anchor. What have you other H25 owners done?Thank You!

 

[Tony Kriz]

Look At Pics Of The 25.5

I'm considering the same thing for my '83 H25 and was looking at a picture of a 25.5 which appears to have an anchor roller mounted at an angle to the right bow. If there is enough room between the cleats and the bow light this might work (if you could find a roller small enough to fit.I'm going to the boat over lunch and then to West Marine to see what they have for rollers. I'll post back if I come up with something.Tony Kriztkriz@tkriz.darkhorizons.org

 

[David Foster]

Custom solution

I went through this issue for our '77 h27, and found two good alternatives:Have a stainless steel shop do a customer design to build a bow roller that incorporates (or fits around) the forestay attachment and one or more ot the bow cleats. A key part of tis design is good backing, and tying into the toerails which are the real strong point on our hull design. This was the best alternative.There are also people who will custom mount a roller on a forespit structure. This gets it out, away from the bow, and would also give you a good point to attach the luff of an asymetric spinnaker. There was a guest forum for a fellow in this business sometime in the past couple of years. The advantage of this approach is that you don't have to modify anything else on the bow.Both alternatives (and others) are very well discussed in the archives - it's really worth learning how to search for them. Both of them add weight forward, but are reasonable propositions if I understand your sailing plans. That's especially true since you already have an anchor locker forward (Our Lady Lillie does not.)The bow pulpit hangers are a good alternative to allow you to set up the anchor before arrival at an anchorage, or before departure on a daysail to a lunch hook in good weather. The issues are security of the anchor in rough conditions, and interference with the sails as you mention.We ended up doing nothing! I am still comfortable carrying an anchor bag forward as we approach an anchorage. We carry our lighter Danforth in the cockpit locker, and a heavier Claw under the bench seat in the cabin. In an emergency, I would deploy the Danforth off the stern from the safety of the cockpit - a very seamanlike approach, by the way. We did lose the engine on our first cruise to deliver Lady Lillie to Mentor as we entered the Lorraine harbor. We did have time in that case to walk the anchor to the bow, and anchor in our normal way until the tow boat arrived. What was key was that we had practised anchoring on our first outing on the boat two weeks before!Finally, you are lucky that John Cherubini II, son of the designer of our Cherubini Hunters, (who helped his Dad with some of the designs) was just bought an h25, and is refitting it for offshore racing. He may spot this post, or you could try to e-mail him for a thoughts from the design perspective.DavidLady Lillie