Advice on anchor roller design
I'm in the same situation: I have an Albin 7.9, with roller furling installed right at the point of the bow. There's no room underneath, and very little to either side (a little more than enough to run the chain through). I've though about fastening a wooden platform to the foredeck, installing bollards to control the movement of the chain and rode, and mounting a conventional roller, but wood rots, and there's little surface area to fasten the platform to. An alternative is to have one built out of stainless. Yet another is to mount one to one side or the other, but aft of the furler, which would mean having the anchor stick out some distance to the side - that doesn't seem very safe. I wouldn't mind seeing some other ways of dealing with this.