Help Design my Anchoring System

I want to design an anchoring system for the Skoota. It is not something I want to bother Richard with, so please don't suggest it.

The boat is heavier to starboard right now, so I'd like to go to port with anchoring.

The boat is 35' long and 17' beam and design for anchoring must be 5 tons which will he close to vessel weight, although I am hoping for less. I digress.

The challenge. All designs have challenges and this one does as well.

I have 5 lockers across the front of the vessel. Each hull has a considerably large forward locker that is design to hold golf clubs. But we only need one for clubs, so the obvious one is the port hull.

The fronf of the cabin has 3 lockers which are all large enough for anchoring equipment. Trouble is the one to port is the propane locker and I don't want anchor lines in it, so it is out. The center locker has a diesel tank in half, but might work. So there are only really two easy choices, but another design issue looms.

If I put a bow roller up the middle of the boat, I split my rather small trampoline in half and ruin what is a rather pleasant looking sunning area. The net is about 11.5' and a one foot wide board down the middle means each section would be a bit under 5 feet.

All of this means the most obvious places for the anchor is either under the center locker or in the port hull locker. If the anchor is rolled from the center locker; it is not accessible for cleaning and under the trampoline, although might be able to get at it a bit. But not handy.

I also have a cleat for tying the boat on the port hull and so the cleat would need to be moved perhaps.

I will get pictures and a drawing uploaded.

Here is a starter picture. Does anyone know how the anchor is held in this type of drawing?

 

Would it be feasible to have everything located on / in the port hull, with a windlass, a roller on the bow for the anchor to self stow on, and a free fall chain locker under the windlass?
OK, it might look a bit obzocky, but once you have set the anchor, then you hook up the bridle to take the load.

 

I am not worried about obzocky. Function is all I care about and load balancing a bit with weights to port.

I will go get some pics.

 

If money is not an issue, look at EZ Anchor Puller (out of maybe Florida) Various models, various drum capacities, some are free fall others not. Mount it on the port side and you will not require an empty locker. You would have to design a short bowsprit to hold the anchor. After letting out what you need, you would only have to put a short rope with say a bowline loop around the anchor rode and pull it across to a stbd cleat top center the pull. Two options here, one tie it off to the stbd cleat or run the end through the cleat and take the tag end and tie it to a cleat closer to the cockpit. So in case, you slip your anchor, and are in a panic or in BIG waves you can merely untie the cleat from the cockpit and lit it go, hit the up button and everything will spool on the drum.

Or you tube has some DIY'ers putting the drum into the bow anchor rope locker.

And if you go with a Dyneema synthetic rope chain combination you can get several hundred feet on a small drum.

 

Thanks Barry. I went to their website. Ouch on $$$$. I plan on anchoring rarely, so 3-4k is just not working for me...also, I can use half the wire if 24v systems..

Here are some pictures. Nets are not all done.

 

Gonna maybe need to roll the anchor off here....gonna conflict with my lifeline design...might require some custom welding again cuz the deck is super narrow here..I'll add a drawing tomorrow with some dimensions. I saw a good youtube from lonestar marine in australia. I really liked the mini hawse he makes.

 

Lonestar mini deck hawse.

 

Plastic crate for the rode, bucket for the anchor, stow them where convenient and lash to the tramp on one of the rare occasions you are going to use it.

 

@fallguy in view of how you will be only anchoring rarely, Rumars makes a valid point above - what sort of anchoring will you be doing?
And in what sort of locations / conditions typically?
Even if it is overnight, you should be able to use a chain / rope cable, rather than all chain, depending on depth of water and if there is anything to chafe the rope on the bottom (?)
And if you have a new generation high holding power anchor along with chain and rope, then you probably would not need to have a windlass - especially if somebody can drive the boat slowly forwards while the anchor is being retrieved, so that you do not have to haul the boat up to it.
Would it be feasible to install an anchor roller on the port side of the crossbeam, and stow the anchor and cable in a bucket in one of the forward bridge deck lockers, or would they be too small?

 

I plan to keep the boat until age 75, God willing. So, need some help lifting the anchor. Boat is 24v.

I can spend 2-3k comfortable for it all. But 3500 for the winder seems a bit much (against Barry's rec). Anchor, rope, hawse, chain, winder...the anchor locker is deep and big and impractical to manually operate. The bow is very narrow and impractical for lotsa manual work, although the tramp is there.

Here is a sketch of the dimensions to the cleat.

 

If you want an electric windlass there is not much choice. The windlass needs a certain position to properly feed the chain in and out, and that dictates where the roller will be. Assuming the windlass is behind the cleat, you need a bow roller parallel to the hull centerline, wich I would make from a steel U channel with a wooden (or hdpe) plank on top, cantilevered beside the bow. The anchor would sit parallel with the bow, just over the front beam socket.

 

45 pound anchor?

Huh?

The front beam socket? That is like 6' back on a Skoota.

So, the mini hawse, then a bow roller, then an anchor roller that'll hold the anchor? So, down inside the locker is the winder and the lines..

 

I expect that you when you say winder, you mean a power windless though? Depending on pull capacity, they cost a lot of bucks anyway so that you would only be paying the difference between the two.
With a deck mounted horizontal hawse type, you do need quite a bit of space below the windlass to permit the rope to self store. Before pulling the pin on say a Lofrans Maxwell or other, pull the installation instructions off the net and see what
they say about space below the drum for rope storage. Many gypsies will take rope and chain, matched of course but the rope will kind of pile up as compared to automatically lay flat. Your hull profile if you are looking at a self storing
system looks a little narrow to be able to accommodate much rope before the volume below the windlass becomes filled

I am sure that you aware that the marine chain costs an arm and a leg due to its link length and the windlass manufacturers make their gypsies fit only the marine grade/specs. Ie a normal galvanized chain picked up from an industrial supply
house will not match. The Ez Puller can take anything regarding rope and chain. So the combination of an Maxwell windlass, specific marine chain and matching rope may not be much difference than the Puller with any galvanized chain and pretty well any rope and the drum self stores. Just another view

 

I mean of course the front trampoline beam, not your main beam under the cabin.

The windlass (vertical, horizontal) sits on deck over the locker (plus foot controls if you want them, I would opt for a wireless handheld remote) and determines where the havse pipe will be (some have it integrated). The locker is either self draining or can be automatically pumped, or you have some type of watertight closure on the hawsepipe. The chain goes to the roller over some kind of deck protection. The roller sits on a platform allowing the anchor to be securely stoved without moving underway. A nice to have is pressure saltwater on the bow to clean the chain and anchor.

You can put everything in the starboard cabin locker, mount chocks for the anchor there for stowage, and move it manually to a small roller on the beam when needed. No plank at all over the tramp, when under tension the chain is clear of the tramp, otherwise it just sits there. When you get to old to shift the anchor from the cabin wall to the beam roller you can fit a platform to hold the anchor. The tramp would still be usable, the anchor and chain are offset.

 

Well, Rumars has made it feel real. Thanks.

I had some malady two Aprils ago and coughed so hard for two weeks that I damaged something in my chest wall near my sternum. It may have been Covid, but so early in the pandemic, I couldn't even find a test and they said go to ER on low oxygen and I only went to 92. And it hurts on heavy use. I imagine pulling a 45 pound anchor up 150 feet or 40 feet for that matter may cause some irritation.

And my front locker is pretty big; probably too big to keep a rope pule tidy.

While Rumars idea is truly tempting, I think I ought to use some sort of winder.

This one looks like it'd keep all the line on a spool nice. I have to measure the locker space and add a picture. I am really worried my cleat is in the way for a bow roller, but perhaps if I plan well enough, the anchor rope/chain can go right over it and even lock to it.

It is all going to portside....to repeat.

Thank you all for contributing; it is helping me frame the needs.

As of now, I see the need for a bridle rope, some type of bridle mounts, perhaps a 316 eye on each side of my netting beam sockets? Some keeper for the bridle. I am planning a lifeline forward; it may work to clip the bridle to it; although that sounds noisy and my line may sag. An anchor roller, a chain lock, a deck hawse, and a drum roller. But crickeys, $3500 for a drum roller hurts a lot.

I will add some pictures of the port hull this time @Rumars and maybe a sketch of the locker.