Advice on Snubbers!

Zagato

Zagato

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These strong winds we are having has prompted me to ask about snubbers as I am hoping to keep my Crabber on a swinging mooring all year :eek:

How do people use snubbers and are there any alternative systems - thanks... Boat is 24' 3.5 tonnes if that makes any difference!

Snubber_zps14826db6.gif

SnubberCloseup_zpsea73ca22.gif


Not sure about the first picture, it shows all the strain on one cleat. The rope may also rub against the bow more. Anyone used those rubber blocks that go in the chain links?
 
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Wouldn't it be stronger simply to take a continuous rope round the thimble at the chain-hook, and seize the eye in there? If you worried about it coming undone (which wouldn't allow the boat to break loose, anyway), you could make an eye by threading the rope through itself prior to sizing it together. I would worry about having the weak point caused by the Y-splice (I suppose it's half a cut splice!).
 
That's the arrangement we use. Seems to be fine and can also reduce shearing around in very strong conditions, although that behaviour depends on your boat.

I'd recommend putting some pvc sleeving or canvas over the nylon bridle where it passes through the fairleads to minimise chafe - if there's any chop in very strong winds the hobby-horsing can saw through the rope.

By the way this is a 10 ton Island Packet, although not on a mooring we use this all the time at anchor with an all-chain rode - keeps the chain quiet on the boat at night where it goes over the bow roller.
 
AntarcticPilot said:
Wouldn't it be stronger simply to take a continuous rope round the thimble at the chain-hook, and seize the eye in there? If you worried about it coming undone (which wouldn't allow the boat to break loose, anyway), you could make an eye by threading the rope through itself prior to sizing it together. I would worry about having the weak point caused by the Y-splice (I suppose it's half a cut splice!).
Click to expand...

We use a continuous line
 
That Y shaped bridle is for use if you have two mooring cleats as opposed to a central cleat or post. Not usual to use a chain hook for a permanent mooring, it is more commonly used for anchoring to relieve the load on the chain that might be taken by a windlass otherwise. On some boats in some situations it can also reduce the amount of swinging at anchor by lowering the pivot point of the boat relative to the water.

There is no universal "best way" of using snubbers or different set ups - just a range of choices to deal with the way your boat behaves.
 
I think you have to consider what happens in a wind against tide situation. The tide flows quite strongly in a lot of Chi harbour, it can get quite lumpy.
different things work well for different boats in different places. What worked best for me in Prtsmouth harbour was to haul the buoy up fairly tight to the bow. I found most other arrangements resulted in lurching snatching motion at some state of the tide.
You may also find that your boat always rotates one way every tide, so anything other than a single line with a swivel in it may not work well.
Chafe is enemy number one. I found the best approach was to have a cleat very close to the bow roller, so the rope was not moving over the bow roller as it stretched with every wave or gust.
If you are using a single line, you have to trust it, but 'redundant' lines just take a bit longer to chafe through, and often need to be smaller than a single line.

Personally, I would only leave my boat afloat all winter because I was able to check it virtually every weekend, and I was in a club where others would check it too.
It also helped that I sorted the mooring out through the year, so come the autumn, I knew I'd eleiminated the chafe and achieved a set up where my boat would sit comfortably through a bit of a gale.
I've rambled on this subject before, a search of the form should dredge up a variety of advice.
 
Further to lw395 advice, which I agree, I was shown a mooring using 1/2 inch chain on which a small motorboat was left afloat all winter at the northern end of Menai Strait. Most of the links on the chain had worn through to about 1/3 or less of their original thickness. The chain was new in September. Conditions on the water in winter are very different from summer in strongly tidal, exposed areas.
 
snubber?

We have no specific snubbing arrangement on our swinging mooring - though I use one when anchored. The difference is in the weight of the chain below the water I guess?

Despite using all-chain, strong winds/tide can pull the anchor chain off the seabed and snub it tight when anchored. A nylon rope snubber relieves the shock load somewhat and also quietens the chain on the roller.

But a swinging mooring has much thicker heavier chain below the buoy, designed therefore not to pull tight off the seabed in anything but extreme conditions. Most swinging moorings I see manage without anything extra for snubbing? We prefer to use a nylon rope strop (pair) sheathed in plastic hose rather than chain, which adds a bit of "give" in the system, but others use chain for its reliability against chafe.
 
Last year I changed my mooring strop to a Y strop with the separate legs of the Y coming through the bow fairleads protected by heavy plastic tubing. As she sails a lot in the breeze I found that the stem became quite marked as first one side rubbed against the hull and then as she swung around the other rubbed. This year we changed to a single chain strop over the bow roller (protected by a heavy plastic tube) and looped over the windlass but the strain taken by a short Y strop to the cleats.
In Ardminish bay this summer I used a subber in the same way as our old Y strop (and as shown in the drawing in the OP) but found that the noise of it rubbing on the stem meant that I got up in the middle of the night and brought both ends of the snubber through the starboard fairlead and across to both cleats.
The only way I thought I could protect the stem with the original rope Y strop was to have a stainless steel bow plate made - chain was an easier option and the short Y strop on deck is easier to work with (I still have the chain loop over the windlass as a backup).
 
Thanks for the replies, I think I'll stick with chain coming over the roller to the sampson post and put in some kind of shock absorber. Maybe try one of these rubber snubbers...

http://www.force4.co.uk/3782/Force-4-Rubber-Snubber---Up-to-3-Ton-12mm-rope.html

Although these mooring compensaters get very good reviews

http://www.force4.co.uk/8229/Force-4-Bungy-Mooring-Compensators--2-Pk-.html

Perhaps I should have asked the Harbour Master if I need one at all - could just sheath the chain in something rubber to stop wear and noise!
 
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vyv_cox said:
Further to lw395 advice, which I agree, I was shown a mooring using 1/2 inch chain on which a small motorboat was left afloat all winter at the northern end of Menai Strait. Most of the links on the chain had worn through to about 1/3 or less of their original thickness. The chain was new in September. Conditions on the water in winter are very different from summer in strongly tidal, exposed areas.
Click to expand...

The Menai Strait is a wicked place to have a mooring, even in summer.
 
Thanks all, I'll need to look at it all properly and get some advice. I have a CQR at the front and I don't think the bow rollers are particularly strong - one guy had his bent out of shape in a big wave when anchoring in the Thames, luckily one weld just held but he has had something stronger made since.

IMG_2912.jpg


The CQR goes on the port side but the starboard side roller doesn't have pin to stop chain jumping out - don't think it's that strong either, I may have to take the anchor off each time, wot a PITA!

Yes and I've taken all that horrible brown stuff off the bowsprit!!

IMG_2925.jpg
 
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vyv_cox said:
Further to lw395 advice, which I agree, I was shown a mooring using 1/2 inch chain on which a small motorboat was left afloat all winter at the northern end of Menai Strait. Most of the links on the chain had worn through to about 1/3 or less of their original thickness. The chain was new in September. Conditions on the water in winter are very different from summer in strongly tidal, exposed areas.
Click to expand...

I kept my boat on a mooring outside my house in Beaumaris.

Don't know how he managed to keep it on it's mooring all winter. The Council Regulations are that all moorings must be vacated by 1 October - for very good reason.
 
chinita said:
I kept my boat on a mooring outside my house in Beaumaris.

Don't know how he managed to keep it on it's mooring all winter. The Council Regulations are that all moorings must be vacated by 1 October - for very good reason.
Click to expand...

I assume that is a recent regulation. When I had a mooring on the Straits, something like 8 years in all, there was never a stipulation of this type. I never hauled out until late October. The boat in question was in Friars Bay.
 
We use exactly the same arrangement as shown in the picture - admittedly only for short term anchoring! It works fine.

The Y-splice is half a Cut Splice - though, as Wikipedia will tell you, the automatic censoring software on this board will not allow us to post the correct name! :)
 
I've been on moorings for 18 years now. Will not use chain due to potential for damage and the noise, also seen 10mm chain fail. Have found that leading the 25mm strops (kept as short as possible) over the bow rollers causes far less chafe than when through fairleads. Used to use nylon but have found over the last 5 that polyprop lasts longer and no problems with snatching. Our riser, still good after 8 years, is 30mm polyprop to swivel and 19mm long link chain from there to the concrete block.
 
I wouldn't use a stainless anchor hook for snubbing a mooring, the stainless would corrode and wear the chain link where it was attached. It is fine for anchoring but not permanently. Also if the hook comes off when you are at anchor you can sort it out, on a mooring it could come off and you not notice for weeks. I would use strops directly to the mooring buoy but it really depends on the situation.
 
I keep a shrimper on an exposed swing mooring for the season. The ground chain to the mooring buoy is very heavy, the hippo is very large. Both act as shock absorbers. I use heavy anchor chain from the buoy to a shackle on the stem at the water line. The chain is twice wrapped round a heavy rubber snubber, to act like a spring. Spliced to the chain end is heavy nylon with a pick up float and soft eye going to the Samson post. As a safety I have an all rope line from the buoy to the Samson post. Not let me down yet. But I'm glad I'm not out there today !
 
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