Chapter Four: The Bow Roller
I think this one is going to catch a lot of people off guard. We don't hear a lot or think much about the "bow roller"; most times they're just on the boat when we buy it, it works, and we go with the old adage: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But the bow roller is a very important piece of gear and integral to a very important system on a yacht—the ground tackle system. A sailor should have a serious look at his or her bow roller, consider its applications and demands, and decipher whether it's ready for what's going to be asked of it. Again, the problem is we don't know what we don't know, and that's what this talk is about. A friend once said to me, "Don't go offshore with something on your boat that is bothering you." For one, it will haunt you, but the other thing is, if it is haunting you, it probably also needs to be attended to. So the other side of "you don't know what you don't know" is "when you know... you know!"
Most people go to sea with the bow roller that came on the boat, or maybe with a bow roller they've replaced—that they bought new or used and installed themselves, or had a pro install it. And probably in most cases, that old bow roller or the new one is fine, maybe even great! But maybe not, and it might be downright dangerous. So here are a few things to consider when thinking about your bow roller.
First, it's part of your ground tackle system, and your ground tackle is possibly the most important and integral gear to a cruising yacht and a coastal cruiser. Think about it: if your anchor, chain, rode, and windlass are all that important, think how important that piece of gear is that's responsible for guiding the ground tackle overboard to tie your boat to the bottom and leading it fair back aboard. It's there to not only guide fair the chain and rode but, most importantly, it's likely to be—at least at some point in its career—the strong point that leverages your stuck anchor off the bottom or from around that rock. Or it supports your gear while it's fouled around someone else's gear, or it's the support to your life-saving drag device. There's tremendous force on a bow roller, tremendous leverage on a bow roller, both laterally and vertically, and we need to have enormous trust and confidence in it, so the need for it to be extremely rugged and have an extremely rugged installation and design is imperative! An installation and design that can not only withstand the rigors, loads, and strains regularly demanded of it, but an installation that can assist you—one that you can depend on without the slightest worry or concern that it might fail when you most need it. Tying a really tough, well-designed bow roller in with a rugged, well-built chain stopper, killer ground tackle, and a good, dependable electric windlass with a manual backup, and you'll have the makings for a bulletproof and safe anchor deployment and retrieval system.
On Bella Sera, the sheaves of the bow roller are almost directly over the stem of the boat. There is almost no overhang or cantilever; the weight and force placed on the rollers are directed straight down onto the strength of the stem. That means there is almost no leverage on the fasteners of the bow roller, as there is basically no fulcrum. I love this design and installation. It's extremely rugged and dependable. I can rely on it to leverage almost any situation off the bottom and depend on it for lateral stability too. The "rollers" in it are solid bronze as well, so they will never wear out, they won't rust, and the sun can't destroy them.
Aside from leveraging off the bottom, a bow roller gets leveraged from its sides as well, especially if the boat is yawing a lot or it's caught in cross currents or tides against winds. As well, if heaving to to a parachute anchor is your preferred tactic for heavy weather, there will be an immense amount of leverage on the bow roller as well as any forward attachment points. So besides the loads from leveraging, you want to make sure the sections of the bow roller where the line exits forward through the bow roller—where it might rub against the metal of the bow roller—have a fair and smooth lead out to prevent chafing.
Another facet of bow rollers I often see overlooked is there being—or adding and utilizing—a hole through both sides of the frame, somewhere on the main body, that correlates with an attachment point on your anchor where a pin or other type of very sturdy fastener can be slid through both the bow roller and anchor to effectively and very securely lock the anchor in place. This would be an essential tactic for any coastal cruising where one might leave the anchor in the bow roller. Several times in my career, I've seen anchors slip the roller, unbeknownst to the skipper, drop down to the waterline, and severely damage the bow of the boat by repeatedly slamming into the hull with the force of the speed of the yacht and the pressure of the water. This is such a serious situation! Because the skipper is likely unaware of the situation, it could continue for hours and could actually "hole" the yacht. I've seen this! Fortunately, it was a coastal cruise spanning only a couple of hours, but the boat was considerably damaged just above the waterline. Fortunately, it was not holed! It was quite a nice yacht though, and the damage was extensive and costly. But if the anchor was to slip the bow roller and free-fall to the bottom, there could be even more serious consequences.
And this brings me to securing the anchor for an extended voyage, and something we'll cover more in another chapter: Take it off and stow it somewhere safe. Period! Do not make crossings with your anchor in the bow roller unless yours is too big to remove. And in that case, make absolutely sure it has been positively secured and can under no circumstances get away!
All in all, the bow roller takes a ton of load and needs to be able to be depended on. So I would urge you to have a good look and think about your bow roller and its installation. If your bow roller cantilevers considerably over the stem of your boat, I would either make sure it's a beefy piece of gear and its fastenings are extremely well done so as to be able to handle the rigors it may face, or it's supported very well. And if it's not up to the task, replace it, fix it, make it strong. Whatever it takes, but do not under any circumstances go on an extended cruise to the far reaches of the planet with a bow roller system that is not up to the task. Your yacht, your ground tackle system, and your life depend on that piece of gear.
