I'll piggyback onto the photo day thread here. So I had a "discussion" with the delivery captain about the anchor situation aboard our boat. He was very unhappy that the Danforth was resting in the anchor locker and not mounted on the bow ready for deployment. His answer was to rig it on the bow roller and tie it to the toe rail with a sail tie.

As I ponder my setups on previous boats, I made a concentrated effort to install a bow roller that allowed mounting the anchor of the day, ready to deploy. However, on each of these only one had an actual anchor locker with a hinged lid and that was so small any anchor in it would be too small to do much. I have used the claw types with great success, the Fortress on the C27 was a favorite for weight and also performance. The CQR was the least friendly and most difficult to retrieve because it was the heaviest especially full of mud and grass. I have also used the "Danforth style" which work OK for lunch and light winds in our area.

So now I have a boat with a factory anchor roller and a really nice sized anchor locker, also, my first Danforth brand anchor. First thoughts when looking the boat over prior to purchase were that this is pretty cool. I can now stow anchor and rode in the locker and deploy when needed. Nice clean bow, nothing to snag lines or the occasional dock pole. Good theory, however in actual practice I am having second thoughts. When we ran out of diesel it was in an area with rocks and shipwrecks that were in easy drifting distance. Wind was non existent so having sails raised did nothing but bang around in the powerboat wakes. I decided to drop the hook and call the towboat rather than prolong the agony. Turns out that the Danforth does not fit under the bow rail so required deploying over the bow rail hand over hand to keep the chain from chewing things up. In rougher conditions this would have been totally unsatisfactory. Then the rope rode needed to come under the rail and tied off to a mooring cleat because there is no centerline cleat with the roller.....another question mark. While sitting on the bow drinking a beer waiting for a tow, I was pondering this whole deal and decided something needed to be changed to make it work better.

So, I think in order to do this I would need to add an access to the locker to allow the rode to be attached to the anchor. There is currently nothing but a smooth lid and small hand hold to open the lid. Trying to shackle a rode to the anchor before deploying is not an option. I would also need to add a hold down and a cleat mounted on the centerline.

Am I missing other options?