The contemporary anchor locker setup favors clear-deck convenience. This compromise can have some serious disadvantages. As with most things on sailboats, boat owners/buyers have to weigh the pros and cons and find a balance that meets their needs.
1. Hiding windlass foot controls under a locker lid, like these on the Catalina 375, keeps them from being accidentally engaged, but it also leaves the anchor handler in a precarious position, teetering over the open locker, as he weighs anchor.
2. The Hunter 306 has a well-placed anchor rode tie-off; having the terminal on top of the well makes an emergency castoff much easier.
3. This Hunter’s locker and windlass setup leaves the rode-handler totally dependent on the windlass’s enclosed chain gypsy. This does not allow for a chain connection using a thimbled eye-splice and shackle. There’s also no option to work a secondary rode on a warping drum or capstan.
4. This Beneteau 323 locker hides the windlass and its wired hand control, which doesn’t limit the anchor handler’s position as foot controls would.
5. An example of good gear in a bad place. Installing a furler in a locker adds unnecessary bends and twists—and potential fouling points—to the furling line, and unjamming a fouled drum becomes more of a challenge.
