Chain Versus Rope Scope ?

[zeehag]

my oat has a sprit which creates a different sort of problem for raising anchor in weather,as well as the fact that one sola cannot get the damnable thing up in strong winds. i need to find neighbors who help. i used a snubber 2 times, and required aid for raising anchor both times, and winds were only 25 kts . i anchor sans snubber now and make sure the neighbors are helpful, just in case.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by zeehag

my oat has a sprit which creates a different sort of problem for raising anchor in weather,as well as the fact that one sola cannot get the damnable thing up in strong winds. i need to find neighbors who help. i used a snubber 2 times, and required aid for raising anchor both times, and winds were only 25 kts . i anchor sans snubber now and make sure the neighbors are helpful, just in case.

Do you use a chain hook? If so, you can just lower the snubber until it drops free. Then take in the chair the same way you normally do.

[zeehag]

is all good-- my dink doesnt row well in seas or winds over 17 kts, so is a lil limiting. i dont pole dance on sprits in seas and weather either....so i avoid roadstead anchorages now. is all good. many anchorages are protected--just not in 2 places i went so far--i look at them now to decide where i will go.

with a crew i am limitless, however.....

[Bash]

Originally Posted by zeehag

is all good-- my dink doesnt row well in seas or winds over 17 kts, so is a lil limiting. i dont pole dance on sprits in seas and weather either....so i avoid roadstead anchorages now. is all good. many anchorages are protected--just not in 2 places i went so far--i look at them now to decide where i will go.

with a crew i am limitless, however.....

todos bien

[zeehag]

todo es perfecto...buen dia

[wolfenzee]

Originally Posted by Bash

I'm sure there is an ideal formula, and I'm equally certain that we'd all disagree on what it is.

I consider a snubber a disposable piece of gear. I use about 20' of 1/2" three-strand nylon, end-spliced with a simple galvanized chain hook. This on a boat that displaces 15 tons! The reason I use such undersize line is that I want it to stretch.

I wish I'd recorded how long ago I built my current snubber. It easily has several hundred nights of use behind it, with no evidence of chaffing.

That said, I think it's important to keep a back-up snubber aboard. Just don't be surprised if it's a long time before you get to use it.

As a rule you are less likely to need a back up (for anything) if you have one available and/or are more likely to need it if one is not available.

[sailorchic34]

More times then not anchor dragging is the problem in an anchorage. Poor anchoring skills and lack of scope being an issue too. While rope rode can chaff, I at least check the rode every time I deploy it for chaff.

I've seen more boats with chain drag in the anchorages I've been in. I've yet to drag in any anchorage.. BTW...

[wolfenzee]

I have seen alot of boats up on the beach here, useually it is because people put down a "lunch hook" with a light off shore breeze and not enough scope frollowed by the 180 wind shift and 20+knot wing with a long fetch and accompanying waves. Another common reason is a light anchor dropped on top of seaweed with little or no chain attached.
If you want to know the best method...look at the pros, ALL of the commercial vessels here use all chain.

[NorthPacific]

Bash cheap, simple and effective is very appealing to my cruising aspirations. So for a 7 ton boat, lighter line for the same stretch effect? So once the snubber is attached, you have 20ft, for much slack chain to you have 4 to 5 ft say?

[NorthPacific]

Wolf, have you ever seen fishing vessels that use Wire as a rode tied to the anchor? On Many of the commercial fishing boats this is the preferred method. As to using commercial as an example of extolling one method over another I dont agree. I watched a tug stand by a freighter for 2 days that has being blown across Rupert Harbour this weekend. Another was constantly using his engine to take the strain.

Factors of why Sailboats "sail" at anchor are varied and complex and it is wrong to casually appropriate blame to one pet peeve. Most of the Sailboats here on the North Coast of BC and South East Alaska use a combination chain and rope anchoring system. Depth of Anchorages and the inability to Sail worth a dam if you are bow heavy being too reasons that come to my mind.

In an area like ours if you overnight you are going to anchor. Within a 100 miles North South East and West I can think of only 5 docks. Yet in 25 years I can not remember a single instance of a local boat ending upon the beach. Maybe because of the remoteness of our "backyard' we use better technique or is it something in the water that makes us Northern Sailors better:-)

Now as I get ready for the South Pacific I am going to add more chain, because down in the coral heads chain makes sense. But I still need to have a balanced boat!

[Bash]

Originally Posted by NorthPacific

Bash cheap, simple and effective is very appealing to my cruising aspirations. So for a 7 ton boat, lighter line for the same stretch effect? So once the snubber is attached, you have 20ft, for much slack chain to you have 4 to 5 ft say?

Sometimes I set it so that the hook is just out of the water, and sometimes I set it so that the hook is just a bit submerged. You don't want to be too consistent in this regard because then you'll always chafe in the same spots.

The more chop/swell/surge/wake action you expect, the more snubber you put out. That said, it's always good to have a bit of reserve so that you can put out just a bit more if chafe is starting to show. However, 20' provides for plenty of reserve.

[NorthPacific]

Bash, so the chain to the windlass is just a little slack?

[wolfenzee]

In the late summer and fall we often have two or thre boats a weekend on the beach...a combination of noyoriously bad holding and incompitant boaters.
My paricular boat (designed by William Atkin in 1936) has alot flair to the foredeck, the intention is to keep the cockpit dry. Without the additional ballast from 300' of chain in my chain locker my boat has a tendancy to be "saucy" in heavy weather, the chain smooths things out.

[NorthPacific]

Wolf, That is amazing, the number of boats that come to grief. Having said that, fall hits early here and with a vengeance. That means that we take careful stock of the weather forecasts.

Balancing a boat is a forgotten art. My Dufour has great storage forward and a large chain locker behind the collision bulkhead, because of a fine entry too much weight forward can can make it very difficult to steer. For me adding more chain means having to lighten something else

[wolfenzee]

The boaters that have the problems are useually "weekenders", though alot of boats were taken out by a nasty winter storm a few years back...initially a cateramaran whose owners lived in Seattle and did not attend to it dragged anchor onto another boat and this ended up snowballing.