Davis Instruments Anchor Snubber

[Richard Bayle]

Quick to complain, quick to praise.
I bought an Anchor Snubber last May from West Marine and regretfully it failed whilst anchored off Dominica two weeks ago. I wrote to Davis Instruments pointing this out and instead of just saying it was my fault as I used to much slack in the chain allowing the full strain to be taken by the snubber; they did point this out by the way, they immediately moved to replace it by asking West Marine to send another.
Due to the high cost of postage to the Caribbean, Niels Kisling of Davis even offered; probably tongue in cheek, to personally deliver it.
Brilliant service, great product despite the issue with it, it actually does work very well. So impressed.
Thought you all should know

 

[Gunni]

Richard; I looked at that Davis anchor snubber and quite frankly I can't see how it would not fail. It is too short and the considerable snatch loads of an chain anchor rode will all be borne by just 20 inches of line. You have to spread the load over something more like 20 feet of stretchable (nylon) line. I also have my doubts about using a halyard shackle as a chain hook, the pins are not designed for those kind of hard shock loads.

Budget Marine can set you up with a chain hook and 30 feet of line for a few EC.

 

[Richard Bayle]

Gunni, I passed your comments to Davis Instruments and I thought you would like to see their response:

"Thanks for sharing the response from your post. Gunni just does not understand the AnchorSnubber which is probably our fault for not telling the story well. Of course the key pin shackles are not strong enough to bear the direct load of an all-chain rode. This is not what AnchorSnubber is intended to do.
As you now know the chain is supposed to bear the load after 8 inches of stretch.
We speak directly to end users at the boat shows all the time who are delighted with the shock loads that are dampened by just 4-8 inches of travel. The progressive tension design means that it takes 100#s of force to pull it the first 4 inches. After that another loop of shock cord kicks in and force required goes up to 150#s".

 

[centerline]

these type of snubbers work well for softening the shock loads on the anchor rode and mooring pendent as well as the dock lines...

on the anchor line they should be made up into a short pendent so one end attaches to the cleat on the boat and the other end attachs to the anchor rode after the scope is let out and the anchor is set....

 

[Gunni]

Davis shows three ways of using this thing.

1. Chain to chain as a 20" section of whatever stretchy stuff it is made - that does nothing to take the load off the windlass, so at best it is a lunch hook solution.
2. As an extra section of stretchy stuff on a traditional long-line rope snubber - you still have halyard shackles taking the snatch loads on the snubber.
3. As a second snubber with a primary snubber shackled to the chain further down. Redundant.

I like and own several Davis products, this one just seems to be product looking for a solution. In a tradewinds anchorage looking for a secure nights sleep I would want a 30 ft. Nylon triple-braid with a forged chain hook that routes to a bow cleat, taking all anchor snatch loads off the windlass.

 

[Charles Erwin]

Gunni

How about - nylon 3 strand bridle to a dyneema soft shackle. Make the soft shackle long enough to Kleimhiest round the rode. Easy to rig, unrig and highly reliable. That way no risk chain hook might disengage.

If you must use a chain hook then get a Mantus or if a Crosby then mouse it shut.

Charles

 

[Gunni]

I couldn't find our snubber recently and ended up lashing a prusik (similar to the Kleimheist) to the chain to effect our snubber, it works but here's the thing - on a larger boat with furler, extended anchor roller, big pulpit, and a bouncy anchorage leaning out and throwing a knot to the chain is not nearly as easy as popping on the chain hook. Chain hooks are very reliable if you set them right. That means hook the chain and then provide enough slack on the windlass side to drape the hook and prevent the chain rode from pulling tight and rotating the hook free. Trust your chain hook/snubber and decidedly take the full load to the snubber and the deck cleat.

I have one of these for when the stink really get's blowing, basically a bridle like the cat boys use. Cleats to both bow cleats. Rarely use it, but it is PlanB.

 

[Charles Erwin]

Yes, I have a sprit and the roller is well forward of the pulpit. So here is a tip

Deploy the anchor. Put the bridle up through the sprit/roller and kleimheist the bridle to the rode with a soft shackle on deck. Then run the rode out (hitch holds the bridle solid to the rode) until the bridle comes up on the load.

To retrieve - roll in the rode so the soft shackle comes back up through the roller and comes on deck, untie the soft shackle, clear the bridle, and retrieve the rode normally. No need to reach overboard to tie/untie anything.

Charles

 

[splax]

I would like to point out the windlass is only meant for the retrieval and deployment of the anchor, that is why the anchor cleat is there.