When we were considering the purchase of a Tanzer 26, near the top of my wife Jan’s “must have” list was an anchor roller.  “No problem”, I said. “There’s lots of room to add one.”

Well, we bought Tanzer 26 #572 and re-christened her “Somewhere” (as in West Side Story, not over the rainbow).  I began the re-fitting and upgrading process through the fall, winter and spring.  Every once and awhile, I would pause from some other, more urgent job, to stare at the bow and wonder how I was going to squeeze an anchor roller and platform in amongst the forestay fitting, nav lights, stanchion bases and mooring chocks all crowded onto that tiny little flat space.  I studied this spot for months.  No bright ideas emerged. I thought I could possible squeeze in a roller,  but…..

Launch day came and went - without a roller.  I had decided that I wanted to add a small platform for the roller, but still, how do I get the roller in around all the fittings?  I didn’t want to add a platform that would detract from the appearance of the boat, so no big constructions would be possible. I spent a lot of time looking at other boats that have solved this problem – some elegantly, some not so.

Then the light came on.  If I made a simple, flat platform the width of the deck at the point where it becomes flat at the bow,  I could relocate the stanchion bases outward by shortening the stanchions slightly. The nav the lights could then move outboard as well and I would have lots of space for the roller!   To not end up being to boxy in appearance, I would taper the sides slightly for about 1/3 of the length. If the platform did not extend forward  beyond the pulpit, it would not look out of place. It only took me 8 months to come up with this simple ‘solution’. 

The diagram (click below to view) shows the shape of the finished platform.  It is constructed of 2” Honduras mahogany (dressed to 1 ½) . The width was obtained by dowelling and edge-gluing two pieces together.  The rectangular opening around the forestay is offset to one side to allow space to slip a clevis pin in from one side.

The platform is bolted through the deck and secured with four 3/8” stainless steel bolts.  Don’t forget to use a good sized backing plate under the deck .