Handling mooring lines from the forehatch
It Opens aft
It is right in the eyes of the boat – so it could hardly open the other way!
You can see from the photo how useful it is. See also the post on handling sails. The anchor and anchor winch are just out of sight behind my wife. You can see the chain leading to and from it. Just turn around and it falls to hand.
Think flying boat
If you ever get to see a flying boat in a museum look at the “for deck”. You will see a very similar arrangement. However they keep the anchor and warp inside the forecastle!
Handling the Anchor
I prefer an anchor winch. I have seen people hurt their backs hauling it in by hand. So fitting it in reach of the forehatch makes sense to me. The only issue is the anchor itself. Calista has her original Danforth pattern anchor (with the name stamped in). It lies flat on deck on the original chocks. Some anchors might be stowed in the bow roller but this type won’t. It could be tied to the pulpit, but that would increase windage, and mean going on deck to handle it. The idea is not to go on deck.
mooring
The above comments apply to mooring. The fairleads and cleats are all to hand when standing within the forehatch.
do you need a pulpit?
Well do you? I don’t think you do if you never go onto the foredeck. If we are not going onto the foredeck then we don’t need to walk along the side decks. We go through the cabin to reach the fore hatch – not over the deck. So you don’t really need a pulpit!