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In order to sleep well at night one must be able to trust their ground tackle. Also, during those times when you have to pound to weather, you appreciate when you can keep everything at the point end attached. The Dehler does not use a chain plate like most boats to attach the forestay. Instead it has a 1/4 inch piece of aluminum backing plate installed under the deck in the anchor locker. Unfortunately, It looked as if it may had been “worked on” in the past. Our boat does not have a deck to hull joint as most do using mechanical fasteners and sealants. Instead, The hull is laminated to the deck while the hull is actually still in the mold. This makes a very rigid boat and creates a much better seal from any water intrusion. Not completely trusting what I saw, and knowing the extra stress that would be added to the bow when retrofitting the new anchor roller and chain stopper, I decided to “overbuild” the bow alittle. First, I tore out the old piece of aluminum backing and started sanding the inside of the anchor locker. I filleted the corners using epoxy and then laid carbon fiber across the underside of the deck and ran the carbon down attaching to the hull sides. I then epoxied in a sheet of 1/4 inch G-10 backing plate to the underside of the deck. For the forestay attachment I used a piece of 1/4″ 316 stainless backing plate and for the anchor roller and chain stopper I used another piece of 1/4″ g10 as backing plate. Needless to say, I can honestly say that I sleep much better now at anchor and when the wind picks up.
Right now our anchor selection includes a 15kg Rocna attached to 120 feet of chain and 200 feet of rode. We also have a danforth as a stern/backup anchor with 35 feet of chain and 130 feet of rode. Before departing I went back and forth on whether we needed a windlass. I found a good deal on a new lewmar horizontal windlass and decided to pull the trigger. I have switches mounted at the bow and also a wireless remote so I could control the windlass from anywhere onboard. It makes singlehanded anchoring a piece of cake and also serves as a nice backup in the event of an emergency. It can pull chain up a lot faster than I can!
