Anchor Roller with Quick cleat 210 FSH sport

[FSH 210 Sport]

So, besides the fact the anchor locker hatch opens the wrong way, using the anchor is, well, a bit of a pain. So my friend who has helped me with the other projects came up with an idea and today was the first mock up. The bow cleat is only used really for anchoring, and the 6” pop up cleat is small for my 3/8” rode, so we decided to remove it and make good use of that spot.

Removed bow cleat:


Bow roller with wooden mock up adapter: The final adapter will be made of an aluminum block, but the wooden piece will serve as a good template.





Top view:







Once the anchor locker hatch is set up to swing to the left, deploying and retrieving the anchor should be a pretty easy affair. The quick cleat is rated for 500#. What is not shown is we are going to run a piece of aluminum flat stock from the bow eye mount on the inside of the anchor locker up the bow line and tie in with the roller mount on the back side, there will be an 8 inch standard cleat mounted on that bar that will be a place to tie off the rode to.

@Can0n11 @fatboyroy @lazergeek @bubbasuwannee

 

[zipper]

Send it to production. Nice job! Does the mounting location need a backing plate or reinforcement to handle the force? I like the jamb cleat.
Any room in there for a windlass?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Send it to production. Nice job! Does the mounting location need a backing plate or reinforcement to handle the force? I like the jamb cleat.
Any room in there for a windlass?

Thanks!

The bow cleat has a piece of wood molded into the fiberglass for a backing plate so we don’t think an added backing plate is necessary. We are going to mount a piece of aluminum angle on the lowest bolt on the inside to make a tie in point from the flat stock coming from the bow eye.

The quick cleat will make working with the rode every easy and convenient, being able to put the anchor and chain overboard and catch the rode off in the quick cleat, move to the helm, maneuver the boat into position, start backing down and be able to release the rode with a quick tug (shorsey would be pleased) and snap of the wrist then pay out the rode from the helm will make sure the anchor and chain lay out nicely on the bottom. Once there is enough rode out, a few steps forward then pull the rode across the quick cleat to secure the rode to set the anchor. This should make anchoring by myself so much easier.

We did a couple of mini retrieves yesterday and it’s so much better than stock, you can easily pay the rode into the locker while retrieving, something that was very difficult with the way the stock anchor locker hatch opened, with the added bonus of not worrying about pulling the rode / chain across the rub rail or gel coat.

You could probably mount a windlass up there if one was bound and determined but that would add a lot of weight all the way forward. Not sure it could be mounted inside, but the hatch could probably be modified to do so. If anything, I’d like to get some of the weight on the boat biased more rearward, just enough to get the bow up at bit more at rest to aid in the water flowing out the deck drains.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Got the Aluminum block back from the machine shop.







Bolted it on today.









I still need to do some shaping on the block and sanding before painting. I think it’s going to work out well!

 

[HawaiiBreeze]

Very cool and super-useful DIY. That stainless jam cleat is ooh-so-nice. I use two el-cheapo's for holding the stern fenders in place. Nice clean design too.

Do you anchor in any high winds where the leverage and mass of the boat may torque it out of position? I twisted a danforth anchor shank during a squall while anchored in a rocky shallow area. The wind swung the boat around hard for about 20 mins. The anchor line was strung from the starboard side bow cleat down through the bow eye so the angle was low but the shank came out severely bent to one side.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

In this pic you can see the mounting holes for the oem pop up bow cleat, those holes are much larger in diameter than the 3/8” SS mounting bolts I’m going to use to secure the aluminum adapter block, so, I’m going to use a hole saw of the correct diameter on the 2x6 scrap piece left over from cutting the wood prototype piece and take those slugs out of the hole saw and use them for bushings in the oem mounting holes. I’m going to glue them in with 5200, let that cure then come back and drill out the hole saw pilot holes to 3/8”. Those bushings along with the clamping force should keep the whole thing from moving, and the mounting block will get a liberal dose of 4200 under it. I’m probably going to use a piece of 1” x 1/4” flat stock as a backer across the whole bow cleat mounting area with the 3/8” bolts running through it to give the greatest amount of strength. The 3/8” mounting bolt closest to the water will also get a piece of aluminum angle that will run left to right on the inside of the locker, this will be the upper landing point for the 1” x 1/4” aluminum flat stock that will go down along the inside of the bow and get secured to the bow eye bolts. This flat stock will be the mounting point for an 8” aluminum cleat where the rode will get secured to as a backer to the quick cleat. This should be a fairly burly set up.

To answer your question yes, we get very high winds here. We could have used this set up last April during a walleye tournament where the event organizer on Sunday said, basically, go out at your own risk. My trolling motor in spot lock was running at 80% all day with regular excursions to 100%. We could have anchored and just payed out rode to get over different areas on the submerged island we were fishing with great success.

Last year I stayed out overnight a couple of times in pretty nice conditions, and when I was at Lake Powell two years ago I anchored every night for a week and one night was very very windy-my boat was full of sand tge next mornin- and had tied off the anchor rode to the bow cleat. When we went to remove the bow cleat we found the 1” (?) nuts were only finger tight, so it had worked loose. This year I’m planning on a lot more overnighters provided the weather isn’t too abominable, and that’s where this set up will hopefully shine.

 

[zipper]

I think your modification is very nice. I did one similar for our Beneteau. I designed, cut and drilled the 304 s.s., a friend took it to work and TIG welded the 1/4" material together without warping it. It's a game changer when used with a windlass with our heavy ground tackle. I used our old aluminum bow stemhead fitting as a guide to make sure it fit. I did this because a commercial one did not exist for this boat. Necessity is the Mother of all invention.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I think your modification is very nice. I did one similar for our Beneteau. I designed, cut and drilled the s.s., a friend took it to work and TIG welded the 1/4" material together without warping it. It's a game changer when used with a windlass with our heavy ground tackle. I used our old aluminum bow stemhead fitting as a guide to make sure it fit.

View attachment 196652
View attachment 196653

Stainless steel can be a bugger to weld without warping, back stitch welding is the best bet there. I need to get the TIG welder I have set up so I can make stuff, as well as a fab table.

That’s a beefy fair lead and stem head-first I’ve heard of a stem head. Am I looking at the stem head correctly in that it is set up for two fair leads and windlasses ?

Thank you for the kudos! This project is the brain child of my friend that had a marine repair and fab business for a few decades, I’m learning a lot and gaining a lot of confidence about tearing into things.

Also forgot to mention there was no sealant under the pop up cleat. I really should get the correct socket and check the other four pop up cleats for tightness, might even pull them and seal them as well, although I don’t fancy getting at the two stern cleats….that looks like some intense boat yoga. Boat yoga for my friend and I refers to the various contortions one goes through to work on our boats, and the work out you get from being on the boat all day, with the latter being most enjoyable.

 

[zipper]

Yes it can, he said he tacked it to the welding table to avoid it. I have a tig/mig in the garage I need to set up somewhere. A "stem head fitting" on a sailboat is used to anchor the forestry for the mast to the bow, Fairleads are options. Yes, there are two, one on each side of the fore stay mount, but the factory design lacks the ability to hold an anchor or pull one up, without chipping the gelcoat on the bow, as seen in this pic from a previous owner trying to hang one.





I aligned it with the starboard side to facilitate the use of a windlass mouted in the center of the anchor locker.



You are welcome, I enjoy seeing others' beneficial creations.

Edit: That is the prototype, rev. 1 would be shortened a bit, but not a lot of room between the shank and the anchor locker opening.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Made the two wood bushings yesterday with the 1 & 3/8” hole saw, slathered them with 5200 and put them in and left to dry. They will get drilled out to 3/8” for the adapter block bolts. These will make sure the adapter block can’t twist under strain.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Alright, got everything out together today.

I am blown away by how much more roomy the anchor locker feels with it opening to the left instead of straight back. I’m still vexed as to why the boat would have had it open straight back, who ever designed it that way never had to use it. I used 3/4” aluminum angle for the anchor locker hatch supports.


The bow cleat is on for good now, but the roller assembly needs to come back off so I can paint the adapter block.

I think the flat stock tie between the bow eye and the adapter turned out great as well as putting that 8” cleat on it for a tie off point will work well.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Shaped the block and painted it with epoxy appliance paint. Five coats, five mins between coats.

Put down a nice bed of 5200 and attached the Lewmar fairlead roller.





Mounted the block on a bed of 4200. I’ll pick up some outdoor window caulking to put over the top of the 4200 since the 4200 yellows in sunlight.





Looks pretty nice! I’m looking forward to giving it a try, drove past my two closest lakes yesterday afternoon and it looks like the ice is melting fast now with the recent warm temperatures, more on the way next week so the ice should be off those lakes soon.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

The paint I used on the block…perfect match color wise to the white on the boat.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

All done! I’m pretty happy with how it turned out overall, I’m not so sure about the piano hinge for the long haul so we will see. If the hinge starts to become a problem I’ll get a couple of top mount friction hinges from GemLux and surface mount them on the left. Now to get the local canvas guy to modify my mooring cover for the bow roller.

In case you’re wondering, that’s 250’ of rode with 20’ of stainless chain, these lockers are massive.

 

[Dixemon]

Now you need to make a set of these.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Now you need to make a set of these. View attachment 198266

OOOOOOOOO FANCY!