J/105 bow roller fitting

[SkyeSailor 0]

Hi folks - first post here. Previously owned J/92s and J/109.

I’m considering buying a J/105 for cruising in Scotland and plan to keep it on a single point mooring to a buoy laid in our sea loch.

Can you good folk please advise me on the roller bow fitting I’ll need for mooring and anchoring?

Jibs are hanked on to a rod forestay.

Thanks, David

[SkyeSailor 0]

Hi - just wondering if anyone can help with details of the bow roller fitted to J/105 please? David

[George Dewey 52]

I’m sorry I can’t help you but I’m curious why you chose a 105 as a cruiser?

[SkyeSailor 0]

I guess it’s my background of years of short handed offshore racing and solo cruising in fast(ish) boats that’s determined my choice. Plus I think that they look nice. 

[Champlain Sailor 286]

Did the J/105 come with a removable bow roller?   On the J/110 we own, and several other J/'s I've looked at, a stainless steel channel with a roller on one end slides over two bolt heads built into a plate at the bow.   This allows the roller to be installed or removed really quickly, so it will not snag on a spinnaker when sailing.  When we bought our boat 12 years ago, it did not have the bow roller assembly aboard, so I contacted J/boats to buy one as a spare part.  They referred me to Garhauler Marine.  They had a person in charge of J/Boat parts and he knew exactly what I was needed, so I bought one from them and it has worked perfectly since then.

If the J/105 was not equipped for this removable style of bow roller, consider that any roller you install that can not be removed is a possible spinnaker shredding point.   If this is a concern, I suppose you could make a canvas cover for it to keep the sharp edges from tearing your chute fairly easily.   

One other note,  we leave our J/boat on a mooring and we do not use the anchor roller for the mooring lines.  We have a two part pendant, and each pendant is lead through one of the chalks on either side of the bow and crosses the bow to the cleat  on the opposite side of the deck.  I have not observed anyone using their anchor roller to moor their boat.   Come to think of it, even when I anchor, I route the anchor rode around the the chalk on the side and to a cleat once the anchor is set.   The sides of the roller are plates of stainless steel.   Their is simply too great a possibility that they will chafe through an anchor rode or mooring pendant to leave one loaded in the roller overnight.    The roller is really only used to lower and raise the anchor, and to store then anchor when underway.    Hope this is helpful.  

 

[SkyeSailor 0]

Thank you that’s really helpful.

I’ve attached a photo of the bow of the boat and there are no attachment points for a S/S roller mechanism.

Could you please tell me what you mean by ‘chalks’ as it is not a term I’ve gone across ... except in the classroom 

David

[exofficio 3]

I'm guessing he means 'chocks'.

[SkyeSailor 0]

[steele 108]

I have a 109 and decided to upgrade the anchor roller as the factory one was undersized for cruising. This involved using the original roller as a template to have a local machine shop make a larger flate base to which I mounted a new roller from Mantus. It used the same mounting bolts as the original to attach to the boat. To clear the bowsprit and my furling drum it had to be mounted off center and at an angle to port.

In your case an otion would be to remove the stem fitting, have a large base made with an extension to port at an angle to mount the roller, and a new fitting welded for the forestay attachment. You have very little room to do this so measure carefully, a plywood mockup would be a good.

[SkyeSailor 0]

Thank you Steele - I’ll dig out photos of my 109 and take a look