Looking for better snubber securing arrangement for anchor chain.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by Oceanride007

Story: Problem is one night, it was blowing maybe up to 40 knots and between Midnight and 4am the boat upwind of me had moved & was now 2 boat lengths away, my anchor is beneath & fwd of him, best thing to do is let out more chain, problem is I need the engine to motor forward to assist with pulling chain in to get to my knot/s,

Why does the wind always pipe up in the middle of the night?

Having to motor forward before you can let out more chain, as you imply, is not acceptable. There are several solutions:

1. Attach an extension to the snubber line. Be careful you can induce too much stretch with a very long nylon line. The best solution is to use an old halyard as the extension piece. This will lengthen the snubber so more chain can be released while keeping the stretch relatively identical.

2. Release the snubber from the boat end, leaving it attached at the chain end. Attach a new snubber further down the chain. When retrieving the chain in the morning the extra snubber can be retrieved as it still attached to the chain.

3. Attach the snubber at the stern and lead it just over the bow. In most cases You still need to move the boat slightly forward to reach the chain snubber attachment, but the distance will be short. In most cases this can be done with care using the windlass as the boat surges forward when the gusts pass. If not, the engine run time will be short and the process simple.

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned using a dyneema soft shackle: eye splice in end of snubber, soft shackle through a link, done.

I have trialled all the chain snubber attachment options and I agree this is by far the best method. The soft shackle is very kind on the galvanising, it never works loose, but is always easy to undo even one handed. The soft shackle will slide over the bow roller without risk of any damage, and finally, if it ever did jam it can be cut. There is a lot to like. The only real downside is it does not last forever. After about a year (300 nights at anchor) it should probably be replaced or at least inspected for chafe.

[Siberian Sea]

I just use a stainless snap that can go through the chain links on the end of 4 meters of line.

[Nicholson58]

We use a chain grab-hook on dynema port and starboard snubber. Bring in three feet of chain, drop the hook, let it out, re-hook. We leave the snubber set and cleated for this.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Oceanride007

Well I happily had arrangement that worked well for a couple years, I secured my snubber line by a sheet bend on to a prusik knot wrapped around my 10mm anchor chain.


Story: Problem is one night, it was blowing maybe up to 40 knots and between Midnight and 4am the boat upwind of me had moved & was now 2 boat lengths away, my anchor is beneath & fwd of him, best thing to do is let out more chain, problem is I need the engine to motor forward to assist with pulling chain in to get to my knot/s, OK but then the Sheet bend is so tight I spend a inordinate time trying to undo it, then my yacht found his slip stream & did some damage, sad but true.



Lets concentrate on knot, atm now using a stainless steel claw but that won't ride over the roller like a knot & tends to drop off the link before I set it & is a bit difficult to reach fwd of the roller..


Have heard someone else have a problem with a sheet bend directly on chain, the knot tightened up under similar circumstances & they had to cut the knot off.


What U reckon for a solution. Thks

It did not occur to you to let the snubber go (release from cleat) and recover it with the rode later? Easy, and something I have done a number of times in a rising wind. You should always be able to release the snubber and rig a new one behind it (a dock line and rolling hitch work fine in a pinch).



You should also have a knife in your pocket. There could come a time when you would let the whole rode go and will need to cut the lashing.

[Oceanride007]

Op here Thanks, realise now should have just slipped it off Midship cleat, and secured an extension to it. With this method any of the suggested connectors would work.



Anyway I do prefer a endless 3 strand Nylon, that is free to rotate to avoid chafe. Dyneema soft shackle would work as it would run out over roller, but Thimble arrangement would be cumbersome.


At the moment this is my intention.

[Senojev]

A properly sized galvanized chain hook and bridle cleated to allow easy release in an emergency has worked for us for 15 years with the hook never falling off. That translates to over 1500 days at anchor. We have had to jettison the bridle on one occasion and it remained on the chain as we let another 50' of chain out. A Mantus chain hook may be better but we will stick with the trusty chain hook.

[Tudorsailor]

Lots of physics in this thread on snubbers

https://forums.ybw.com/index.php?thr...5#post-7799520

FWIW, I use chain hook and stretchy line back to midships cleat

TS

[Happ]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned using a dyneema soft shackle: eye splice in end of snubber, soft shackle through a link, done. If that doesn't seem adequate (although many folks are using such successfully, a much longer soft shackle tied as a Prussic and then made through the eye splice is pretty chafe free, easy to undo and strong as hell... you can use as large dyneema as you wish with the Prussic.

Jim

Jim I had never heard of a Prusik Knot before so looked it up. You hit the nail right on the head. Great idea!

[nofacey]

Kong makes a chain gripper that secures quickly & easily. Used one of these for years on our snubber, perfect for the job - wife & visiting crew could set it up, no special knowledge required.
https://www.kong.it/en/product/chain-gripper/

[Pegu Club]

We too use a Mantus chain hook, attached to thirty five feet of line, easy on easy off, lots of solutions available to you, go with what works well and doesn’t take lots of time to install or remove.

Because as we all know, it happens at night in forty knots of wind,

Fair winds,

[pendragon]

KIS--> Use a Chain hook spliced to a heavy nylon line . The line runs next to the chain over the bow roller and ties to the samson post --> Nylon stretches a lot

Used this for years without any problems

[sailoray531]

I agree with the rolling hitch suggestion. A great knot for this kind of usage.

[tp12]

I’ve been using a rolling hitch for this over the last few months. I finished it with a half hitch and that seemed to minimise twisting, too.

[JebLostInSpace]

I regularly use a rolling hitch as well. However, I have had instances that the rolling hitch bound down so tight that I could not remove it later. This may have something to do with my choice of line - I use a retired climbing rope rather than the more usual nylon 3-strand. But FWIW, the rolling hitch can result in the same issue of not being able to remove it quickly. I actually bent my little folding marline spike trying to get it off after 3 days of gales...

[michaeld]

I just today finished making this as the pennant to the bridle. It will attach to the chain/rode with a Prusik knot. It's Dynema with chafe covering and Brummel lock splices for the loops.