[Topic split by Nigel]
My idea ..........is to extend the roller forward. I plan to have a plate roughly 15 cm x15 cm welded at the base of the existing fitting so a pre-made fixed roller can be welded in an extended position.
Any thoughts about this before I commit?
Think about the forces involved and the extra loading on where your bow roller is secured to the deck that will result from this extension. Wanting a bigger anchor is not necessarily the same thing as actually needing a bigger anchor. A more efficient anchor does not necessarily need to be bigger than the standard size anchor that Bavaria provide. Indeed at last years Southampton boat show, there was a stand there where several different types of anchor were compared with a new type, and all were of the same size for a fair comparison. The new type of anchor, and I'm sorry I can't remember what it was called or who made it, was very considerably more efficient than the Bruce pattern anchor my boat was provided with and which I still use. When I was at sea and when at anchor, we always kept an anchor watch, and if there was any chance of the anchor dragging, we either paid out more chain which sorted the problem, or we up anchored and steamed around until the weather conditions improved or a more sheltered anchorage was found. Part of the secret of anchoring is to put out enough chain to ensure that the shank lays parallel to the sea bed where the anchor then serves to secure the end of the chain. In those days it was the length of chain on the sea bed that held the ship, not the anchor.
