Serenity is equipped with a bow mounted Rocna 6 (13.2 lb) anchor which uses a deck mounted hawse pipe & cap to store the rode below deck in a 5 gallon bucket secured at the bow of the vberth.

The anchor type and sizing was chosen to support single handed wilderness cruising in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), where the anchoring depths and holding environments can vary greatly.

The Rocna 6 is an “up-sized” choice from a Rocna 4 which is the nominal selection for a boat of the M17’s size. The Rocna 6 has provided excellent holding performance for the M17 in all manner of circumstances encountered in the past 8 years of sailing in the PNW.

The bow location allows the efficient deployment & storage for 240ft of rode, the length of which is an absolute necessity when anchoring in the PNW. The rode consists of 40ft of 1/4 chain & 200ft of 3/8 3 strand nylon secured in the bow of the vberth.


Bow Roller Placement & Construction Details:

A high quality stainless steel bow roller is mounted on a 1x5x36" teak sprit that is offset just to the starboard side of stem head at the tip of bow, and protrudes 10 inches beyond the bow ensuring the bow roller is placed with good clearance for deploying & retrieving the anchor in rough weather.

The teak sprit & stainless bow roller is secured by 2 stainless bolts in line along the starboard deck/hull fitting through to a re-enforced 6 inch 1/2 x 3/8 aluminum bar tucked on the underside of the deck hull joint. Additionally the teak sprit is secured further back by a 6 inch cleat bolted through the sprit and the deck as well as by the installation of an old school #15 Barlow winch (same mfg & vintage winch as the others on the boat) which serves as a manual vertical windlass that is secured under the deck by a 1/8x6x6” stainless plate.

Serenity has a balsa core deck so to keep the balsa cross section dry within the hawse pipe opening in the deck, the exposed balsa cross section is dremelled back approx ¼" and filled & finished to a flush edge with thickened epoxy and glass matt with the hawse pipe caulked & mounted into the deck opening.

Weight & Balance

The total weight of the anchor setup is 59 lbs (Rocna 6 -13.2 lb, Bow roller – 4.5lbs,Teak sprit - 4.5 lbs, 40ft of 1/4 chain – 30lbs, 200ft of 3/8 3 strand nylon – 7lbs). This is essentially the same as the weight the 5hp Sailpro Merc outboard mounted at the stern.

Additionally as a wilderness cruiser Serenity always has another 300 lbs or so of gear & equipment centrally stowed including food, water, stove, tools, repair materials, inflatable kayak, 12V AGM battery, Radio & Nav electronics, spare anchor, emergency tiller, gin pole, mast crutch, sculling oar etc. As such with Serenity being heavily kitted out for wilderness cruising I find the setup works really well in all sorts of weather and I have not experienced any hobby horse effects resulting from the bow mounted anchor & rode.