Our current plan is to attach the solent as close to the top of the mast as I can get without interfering with the furler. (I know the furling vs. hank on argument-but I have a new furler and new head sail cut to it so I'm going to use it.) Then put a (what do you call it?) fitting about two feet back from the stem. A line drawn through these two points would intersect a point on the sheer a few inches above the waterline . That point is about as far as I can comfortably reach over the side of the bow. So I think that would be a good place to mount a sturdy 'U' bolt or eye that an anchor chain snubber could be attacted to. The backing hardware for this snubber attachment point could serve as an attachment for even more hardware that would secure the solent's hardware to the hull as well as the deck thereby taking some of the strain off of the deck whe the solent is being used. If we add a couple of inches of teak into the mix for an anchor platform/sprit that should strengthen everything up a little more yet.