Anchor chain snubber..... home made
- Thread starter NYSail
- Start date
Prusik Knot with one end short works well. Wrap the chain and bring the long end to your bow cleat after you put proper length and drape to the chain. Remember, your snubber is your shock absorber.
I've found the key is to NOT use thick diameter line. On our 30,000# displacement with a relatively low profile we have 3/8" HT chain and use a 1/2" three strand nylon line. You want it to stretch. Your Beneteau would be similar in terms of it's wind profile.
Don't use a braided line, in my opinion. It would have to be too small a diameter; or it won't stretch enough.
You leave a pretty good loop of chain below. You want that line to be able to stretch over 2' without breaking.
Don't use a braided line, in my opinion. It would have to be too small a diameter; or it won't stretch enough.
You leave a pretty good loop of chain below. You want that line to be able to stretch over 2' without breaking.
I use a 5/16" stainless steel chain hook shackled to 25' of 5/8" 3-strand nylon around a thimble. The 3-strand stretches fine at that diameter. Normally, I let the snubber out about 15'.
Just want to make sure I am analyzing this situation correctly. You guys are talking about a snubber for a rode that is all chain, correct? Where shock loads could do huge damage, as the boat will have to give before the chain will.
If most of my rode is nylon line, I don't need an additional snubber, do I? I own two, but don't use them.
If most of my rode is nylon line, I don't need an additional snubber, do I? I own two, but don't use them.
Yes, I'm talking about a snubber for a chain rode; I believe the others are as well, including the OP. If the rode is all nylon, no need for a snubber, etc. (But see updated comments below in post #10.)
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With a nylon rode, the only purpose would be as bridle, to reduce sailing at anchor. Multihulls do this.
The problem with a chain hook and a long snubber is that it will come off if it lies on the bottom. I've had this happen a few times (a very high percentage of the time it laid on the bottom). The solutions are:
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Part of the risk of chain impact is damage to the boat or ground tackle, but far more likely is dragging anchor.
The problem with a chain hook and a long snubber is that it will come off if it lies on the bottom. I've had this happen a few times (a very high percentage of the time it laid on the bottom). The solutions are:
- Shorten up in light winds (but they could change).
- Use a locking hook.
- Use a prusik hitch, double rolling hitch, camel hitch, or soft shackle.
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Part of the risk of chain impact is damage to the boat or ground tackle, but far more likely is dragging anchor.
Thanks for the replies, KG and thinwater. We do use a bridle at anchor, fashioned from the rode itself, using a fairly long bowline on a bight, run to both bow cleats.
The chain hook is never much below the surface. If (when) it occasionally falls off I can see usually see from the bow. There is also some twist of the snubber line around the chain when "slack", which helps to keep the hook on. I actually have a second one made up that can back-stop the first one although it's not usually on in "normal" conditions. In any event, shock-absorbing is but one function of a chain snubber or any snubber; the other is to spare the load on the windlass from most strain, most of the time. I rarely experience shock-loading at anchor b/c I don't anchor in places where the boat pitches much, or is otherwise facing conditions causing shock-loading. If I needed or wanted to anchor along an exposed coast facing seas, then the shock-absorbing qualities would be very important.
It's awkward on mine, when the chain runs all of the way out (160') and I'm on the nylon rode, to make fast the rode from the windlass (i.e., sparing the windlass) via the deck chocks. This is where you might apply a rolling hitch or Prusik knot to grab the rode fwd of the windlass and stop it off from there to a deck cleat (avoiding roving the rode through a fwd deck chock and then to a cleat). This way you do not have to "man handle" the rode to get it on or off the cleat when it's under load.
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If you properly deploy a chain hook it will not release. Here is a good example of an excellent chain hook improperly deployed - the Johnson Captain Hook. What's wrong, the slack side of the chain is not allowed to drape the hook, locking the hook. If you set your anchor and don't put a generous loop off your windlass the hook will fall of the first time the rode goes slack . If your chain rode is not hanging vertical from you snubber hook on the windlass side...it is too tight.
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Mine is like this one. It's fairly deep; it does fall off occasionally; but you're correct--if set so it has a drape of chain on the inboard side it would not fall off when the rode goes slack. It appears that the Mantus is just a fancy (= $$) "pre-moused" version of this type of hook. I could probably mouse this one quickly using a plastic wire tie if I wished to. 
I moused my first chain hook the old fashioned way aboard ship in 1978.
I moused my first chain hook the old fashioned way aboard ship in 1978.
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I must disagree re. hooks. I've done a lot of snubber and hook testing for publication. That means I have tried a lot of combinations.
a. If the snubber is long enough to absorb shock, it is 25-35 feet long and is way below the surface. When the wind dies, it is on the bottom. If the snubber is so short that you can see it when the wind dies, it is not long enough to absorb much shock. that is a choice, and it is easy, but it is not the question the OP asked, since the Mantus snubbers are long.
b. All of the hooks release when lying on the bottom. I have had both the Captain Hook and Mantus (before the locking plate) release while lying in the mud. It happens at least 30% of the time, regardless of the lazy loop. This is just a fact. None of them release if they are kept off the bottom and there is a lazy loop.
c. I don't understand how occasional failure is acceptable when it is avoidable. Perhaps it is because I sail a cat and use a bridle.
I have many favorite methods--lots of ways work well--but for the OP, a knot will serve.
a. If the snubber is long enough to absorb shock, it is 25-35 feet long and is way below the surface. When the wind dies, it is on the bottom. If the snubber is so short that you can see it when the wind dies, it is not long enough to absorb much shock. that is a choice, and it is easy, but it is not the question the OP asked, since the Mantus snubbers are long.
b. All of the hooks release when lying on the bottom. I have had both the Captain Hook and Mantus (before the locking plate) release while lying in the mud. It happens at least 30% of the time, regardless of the lazy loop. This is just a fact. None of them release if they are kept off the bottom and there is a lazy loop.
c. I don't understand how occasional failure is acceptable when it is avoidable. Perhaps it is because I sail a cat and use a bridle.
I have many favorite methods--lots of ways work well--but for the OP, a knot will serve.
What shock loads are you dealing with? I'm just worried about the shock loads on my windlass, my bow cleats are more than up to the job. I never use more than 15ft of 1/2" snubber and it is always above the water (where I can keep an eye on it). But the B423 (and the B411) typically run with all chain and are not boats that sail about their anchor. If things go to heck in a hand basket I have a Lewmar bridle with god's own SS slotted hook....but it sits unused in the laz. Overkill. If I had to put my snubber on the bottom I would come up with a new plan, like run a braided rode and forget the snubber.
How do you create shock-loading for field testing your various combinations to come up with an optimal, or minimal, length of a viable snubber? My chain snubber is 25 ft of length. I stop it off at the deck cleat that is probably 5 ft back from the anchor roller which is where it goes out. Anchor roller to the water straight down is as least 4 ft, probably more. Assuming I need 3 ft at the bitter end to wrap the cleat, that's only 12-13 ft that can go below the water line. There's only one spot where I anchor in less than 13 ft of water here in CA. I can assure you, the hook is never lying on the bottom; but your points are good ones.
I think I bought it at WM when I took delivery of my boat and realized there was no snubber onboard. I like the over-the-link cradle-style chain hooks.
Dragging is the big problem. A long snubber can reduce the loads by 1/2 or more. The loads, obviously, come from wind and waves.
15 feet of snubber would be on the bottom in most Chesapeake Bay anchorages. For me, 8 feet might be (I only draw 3.25 feet--if you are always in deep water, the issues are different).