Chain Snubber

[Kettlewell]

He inspected the line-ends afterwards and they had melted from the inside, not chafed from the outside.

I have read this and seen it reported, but it must be really rare and under only the most extreme conditions, like not just an ordinary hurricane but a category 4 storm or something. I've personally anchored in several category 2 storms and had no evidence of this on snubbers or nylon anchor rodes, and I used clear plastic tubing for chafing gear, which worked perfectly. I examined many busted mooring pennants after Hurricane Bob hit New England and never once did I observe evidence of this, despite boats being in quite exposed locations that eventually busted the line. Certainly this is not a consideration in ordinary gales and storms, in which I've anchored dozens of times, including an offshore gale on a parachute sea anchor on 1/2" nylon rode which was totally undamaged despite more than 24 hours of rather severe bungie jumping action on the rode. I still carry and use the lines occasionally more than 10 years later!

So, yes, this is a theoretical consideration, but not one that worries me very often.

[jim_thomsen]

We use 30feet of 9mm mountain climbing rope. It's very strong but has more stretch than other choices.
This was a suggestion from Evans Starzinger.
We also use the normal chain hook and have never had it fall off. I think leaving enough slack in the chain solves this and it's nice to be able to take the snubber off quickly if you need to move or let out more chain in the middle of the night.
We did use an expensive Wilard Chain hook, but it bent and came off. See picture: Home Page

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Capn Morgan

Hooks can and do come undone when the boat moves around. I used a hook recently and it just let go when a squall came through.

One way to keep this from happening is to drop a large loop of chain into the water after the snubber has been set. The weight of the chain inboard of the hook keeps the snubber attached.

[Capn Morgan]

Originally Posted by Bash

One way to keep this from happening is to drop a large loop of chain into the water after the snubber has been set. The weight of the chain inboard of the hook keeps the snubber attached.

Yes Bash, that is what I did but for some reason I had the hook let go. I still trust the rolling hitch more. Nick posted a good picture early in the thread and I swear mine looked like that just before coming undone. That is not to say I was not doing something wrong, just that with the rolling hitch I have no worries.

[estarzinger]

[QUOTE=jim_thomsen;694351]
This was a suggestion from Evans Starzinger.QUOTE]

What does he know? He's just the grease monkey and Beth is the brains of the team

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by SV Demeter

Nick why the lashing instead of splicing directly to the hook?

The lashing is because the line is 5/8" which doesn't fit through the eye of the hook. The lashing is spectra.

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

Do be aware that in hurricane conditions a nylon snubber can melt from the heat of internal friction, and chafing gear can trap the heat.

correct, this happened to us during cat 4/5 hurricane Ivan in Grenada. You MUST have a very strong chain stopper in addition to a snubber. The snubber must be considered a sacrificial shock dampener only. You can also use steel cable with hook to create a strong point to hold the chain instead of a chain stopper. You can NOT use the windlass for this.

Originally Posted by Capn Morgan

Yes Bash, that is what I did but for some reason I had the hook let go. I still trust the rolling hitch more. Nick posted a good picture early in the thread and I swear mine looked like that just before coming undone. That is not to say I was not doing something wrong, just that with the rolling hitch I have no worries.

What happened is that the snubber stretched so much that the chain loop disappeared (chain became taut). You must make the loop bigger. And make sure the hook can't touch the sea bed. Those 2 conditions make sure the hook stays on. If you use a thicker or shorter snubber, you get less stretch and can get away with a smaller loop of chain.

Next squall, go out on the foredeck and see the stretching in action. Snubbers stretch MUCH more than most people realize.

ciao!
Nick.

[Unicorn Dreams]

Unless your anchor is hanging at the bottom of the chain, a windlass does NOT have to p/u a lot of weight.

The only weight it has to pull is the weight from the bow to the bottom, let;s say 25' of water under your keel, plus 5' draft, plus 5' to the bow and 5' to the windlass. That's 40' of chain plus anchor. That's all the weight the windlass has to p'u

[Capn Morgan]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

The lashing is because the line is 5/8" which doesn't fit through the eye of the hook. The lashing is spectra.


What happened is that the snubber stretched so much that the chain loop disappeared (chain became taut). You must make the loop bigger. And make sure the hook can't touch the sea bed. Those 2 conditions make sure the hook stays on. If you use a thicker or shorter snubber, you get less stretch and can get away with a smaller loop of chain.

Next squall, go out on the foredeck and see the stretching in action. Snubbers stretch MUCH more than most people realize.

ciao!
Nick.

Wilco, Nick. Thanks!

M