Spent an hour on the front porch of a coffee place this morn, no computer, just staring. Must do this more often.

It's downright HOT today. Fiddled with docking lines and fenders, getting them right where/how i want them. Added chain to the older anchor, wishing i'd got the next larger size instead of what West Marine (who does well know what it's doing) recommended.

Then analyzed anchor/rode options. A normal config utilizes a hawsepipe into an anchor locker in the bow (what Jon Snow mite refer to as "the pointy end"). But i dont have a hawsepipe hole, and even if i drilled 1, the interior is covered with carpet (walls/floor/ceiling) and i'd also have to drill a drain. Too complicated.

For the 2 anchors' rodes, I could permanently mount Home Depot buckets on the foredeck. No, i dont think so...

So i settled on doing it the way i did in my 1st sailboat. I kept my 2 anchors in the open cockpit astern, tossed them out, fed out the rode, then transferred each rode to secure it on the bow. Trouble is: moving it to the bow was easy on the sailboat, you just walked it up there. But on my present boat, despite its style which they call a "walk-around", as a practical matter: there is no walking around. I tried it for the 1st time today while docked on a calm day, and it was scary. The footpath is narrower than a foot, and the boat heels from the imbalance.

So here's the plan: secure the so-called "bitter end" (the very end of the rode) to the bow, but then feed it back astern where the remainder will reside in a bucket. Upon the desire to anchor: toss the anchor over, feed out the rode, cleat it, give it a tug to hook the anchor to the bottom, then uncleat, go to the bow via the interior+hatch, then pull all the excess rode up there and cleat it off at some appropriate point.

I think this'll work ok.

The mechanic hasnt called yet. :(