Your best bridle recipe?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by OS2Dude

To my understanding, the hard rubber bones do not dissipate wave energy so much by stretching as by twisting. In a storm, it is possible to twist them too much and tear them apart, especially if there are too many turns. As they age and get harder, the amount of twist required to destroy them becomes less and less.

I see! That would make a lot of sense. I anchor through some pretty crazy stuff. For instance I’m anchored out right now. In the middle of a big bay. It’s pretty gusty today. Florida has some pretty good weather going through. Tell me it’s nothing. I’m used to being anchored in this type of stuff. But it does put it quite a strain on my anchoring tackle.

[CaptainRivet]

my tip would be have a standard bridle attached to the bridle eyes of the cat, that is what you are using 98% and have it ready all the time. no time and money order the mantus bridle, proven and no need to reinventing the wheel.
poor mans bridle: take a as thick as possible line from your local shop twice the beam+1m, often the have cheap leftover. have a 1" thick braided for a 7t 40ft cat. stick 3 pieces of hose 20cm long on the line as chafe protection, i use an old firebrigade hose. make a u and just tie a loop with approx 20cm at the U with a piece hose in the loop. the end of each with a bowline/piece of hose to bridle ring. done. line chafed cut 30cm off and reattach with bowline.
to connect i use a) chain hook lashed with 4mm dynema line to the eye to quickly set it up. b)the mantus snubber with a bit of slack as 2nd protection in case the chain hook disconnects or for use with the line.
for heavy weather the 2%, i connect the standard bridle as last line of defense. first line are 2x 20m swimming lines with an eye and stainless insert as chafe protection. they are my universal lines for towing, shore line, docking etc. the eye get connect via a massive galvanized shackle. to that shackle i connect the mantus snubber to the chain or line. then let it out as long i have room to swing. tie the end to front cleats. being swimming lines they will never go to ground and in this situ i will have all 85m of 10mm chain out if possible plus a 12kg anchor weight after 10m chain. so the upwards force of 15m swimming line under water is no problem and that setup absorb huge shock loads and let you swing as less as possible.

[UFO]

Originally Posted by CaptainRivet

poor mans bridle: take a as thick as possible line from your local shop twice the beam+1m, often the have cheap leftover. have a 1" thick braided for a 7t 40ft cat.

Damn I must be doing it all wrong...


At those figures my bridle would be 17M long and probably a 2 inch thick line. (7.8M wide and approx 13T)


I've been pretty happy with 16mm Line at 8M long - Been in 40Kts with some very ugly chop for a few days with no issues. Being only 16mm though it loses its elasticity after about 9 months to a year anchoring full time, so I simply replace it.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by UFO

Damn I must be doing it all wrong...


At those figures my bridle would be 17M long and probably a 2 inch thick line. (7.8M wide and approx 13T)


I've been pretty happy with 16mm Line at 8M long - Been in 40Kts with some very ugly chop for a few days with no issues. Being only 16mm though it loses its elasticity after about 9 months to a year anchoring full time, so I simply replace it.

If you want a longer lifespan, you could go to maybe a 20mm line and increase the length to 10 - 12 meters to maintain the same stretch distance (at the same load). The line would be loaded less in a relative sense, so it should last longer (and have more safety margin for really bad weather).

Of course, there's a limit to how big you can go before the necessary stretch requires an impractically long bridle.

[team karst]

Consider the water depth. It is rare for Bahamas anchoring to occur in greater than 10’. The bridal sweeping across hard pack bottom is sub optimum, especially in changing tidal currents. My second pass at the bridal reduced its length.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by team karst

Consider the water depth. It is rare for Bahamas anchoring to occur in greater than 10’. The bridal sweeping across hard pack bottom is sub optimum, especially in changing tidal currents. My second pass at the bridal reduced its length.

One of the many reasons I just use my bow cleats.

Infinitely adjustable length

[smj]

Originally Posted by Chotu

One of the many reasons I just use my bow cleats.



Infinitely adjustable length

Exactly

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Chotu

One of the many reasons I just use my bow cleats.



Infinitely adjustable length

We have our bridle lines attached via spliced eye and soft shackle to the pad eyes the manufacturer placed on the inside of each hull just in front of the front beam. They are relatively thick line (22mm for a 55’ 12ton cat) and long (9m eye to eye). They have two sets of Dyneema sleeve chafe protection - where they touch the bow pole stays and where they go through the bow roller when stowed. We also use stainless thimbles and Dyneema cover on the lower eyes in case they rub the chain or bottom.

Full length when depth allows and/or when stronger winds are forecast or present. We shorten them down to 50% by leading them up to the bow cleats in shallow water.

They need replacing every 12 months of full time anchoring - the 3-strand gets stiff as it loses elasticity. We reuse all the hardware and chafe sleeves, three times so far. The soft shackle and climbing slings used to attach to the chain are disposable items that get remade and rebought when needed - about half the frequency of replacing the bridle lines.

[El Pinguino]

Just in from a grueling day and no time to read the entire any of the thread but this is a pretty good bridie recipe
https://myplaidheart.com/bridie-recipe/
enjoy

[CaptainRivet]

Originally Posted by fxykty

We have our bridle lines attached via spliced eye and soft shackle to the pad eyes the manufacturer placed on the inside of each hull just in front of the front beam. They are relatively thick line (22mm for a 55’ 12ton cat) and long (9m eye to eye). They have two sets of Dyneema sleeve chafe protection - where they touch the bow pole stays and where they go through the bow roller when stowed. We also use stainless thimbles and Dyneema cover on the lower eyes in case they rub the chain or bottom.

Full length when depth allows and/or when stronger winds are forecast or present. We shorten them down to 50% by leading them up to the bow cleats in shallow water.

They need replacing every 12 months of full time anchoring - the 3-strand gets stiff as it loses elasticity. We reuse all the hardware and chafe sleeves, three times so far. The soft shackle and climbing slings used to attach to the chain are disposable items that get remade and rebought when needed - about half the frequency of replacing the bridle lines.

Put your "Stiff 3 Stranded bridle" in a Bucket with handwash soap, add generous amount of softener and let is soak overnight, rinse it off and its elastic again for another year. Better do it all 6 month with the bridle. No need to replace till it's chuffed or damaged.
Reminds me it's time for the bridle to do it...added to the list.
That's what I do with all the running rigging once a year, pure lines go into washing machine, lines with a lot hardware in the bucket.

[Chotu]

Here is my quick and dirty bridle solution doing its thing.

I don’t think I’m going to update it. I like it.

That’s a Prussik with a bowline tied to it. Dead simple. Easily substituted and replaceable. No need for hardware. Cleated right onto the bow cleats.

It will remain to be seen what I can do with the rope road as I get into much deeper waters. But I might also be able to tie a loop into a rope rode to attach to, then use a couple bowlines. Something to experiment with.

Yes, I know. My lazy loop is a bit tight. 30MPH winds have it all stretched a bit. It was a good loop at lower wind speeds.

[smj]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Here is my quick and dirty bridle solution doing its thing.



I don’t think I’m going to update it. I like it.



That’s a Prussik with a bowline tied to it. Dead simple. Easily substituted and replaceable. No need for hardware. Cleated right onto the bow cleats.



It will remain to be seen what I can do with the rope road as I get into much deeper waters. But I might also be able to tie a loop into a rope rode to attach to, then use a couple bowlines. Something to experiment with.



Yes, I know. My lazy loop is a bit tight. 30MPH winds have it all stretched a bit. It was a good loop at lower wind speeds.

Good thing you have a bridle taking the loads of the anchor chain to the hulls as you have no forestay to combat the downwards forces of the anchor chain on the crossbeam. Not a big deal if the seas are calm, but could be a disaster in a big chop.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by smj

Good thing you have a bridle taking the loads of the anchor chain to the hulls as you have no forestay to combat the downwards forces of the anchor chain on the crossbeam. Not a big deal if the seas are calm, but could be a disaster in a big chop.

Definitely!

Still out here waiting on that forestay.

There were some custom fabrication pieces that delayed things.

It’s pretty lively out here today actually. It would definitely have put quite a strain on the Crossbeam.

[Chotu]

I finally found the knot I used to use. This is what I used to use. This is what held through the little hurricane.

I don’t know the name of it.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Chotu

I finally found the knot I used to use. This is what I used to use. This is what held through the little hurricane.

I don’t know the name of it.

Camel hitch with a half hitch added. Very good choice on rope or chain.


Basically it is a rolling hitch with one turn reversed, and that one change is a big deal.