anchor chain with rope and chain hook snubber - why?

[Burnham Bob]

In the dim and distant past I remembered a chain hook with a rope at the bottom of the chain locker from when we bought the boat When we anchored over the weekend I pulled out all the chain to find it. There are about six feet of rope attached to the hook.

I have 25 meters of 8 mm chain and a further 25 metres of 16 mm 3 strand warp. Round here I rarely need to anchor with the full chain out let alone the warp as well. Should I use the chain hook as a snubber? I run the chain over the bow roller and secure to a cleat. I don't get any snatch problems or noise but would I be better to use the hook, allow a loop of chain to fall below it and use the rope on the hook to attach to the other cleat thereby making sure the actual strain was taken by the hook and rope? And should the chain hook rope or the chain run over the bow roller with the other out of the fairlead with the chain on one cleat and the snubber rope on the other?

Advice would be appreciated if only to stop proper sailors looking at me askance.........

 

[sailorman]

In the dim and distant past I remembered a chain hook with a rope at the bottom of the chain locker from when we bought the boat When we anchored over the weekend I pulled out all the chain to find it. There are about six feet of rope attached to the hook.

I have 25 meters of 8 mm chain and a further 25 metres of 16 mm 3 strand warp. Round here I rarely need to anchor with the full chain out let alone the warp as well. Should I use the chain hook as a snubber? I run the chain over the bow roller and secure to a cleat. I don't get any snatch problems or noise but would I be better to use the hook, allow a loop of chain to fall below it and use the rope on the hook to attach to the other cleat thereby making sure the actual strain was taken by the hook and rope? And should the chain hook rope or the chain run over the bow roller with the other out of the fairlead with the chain on one cleat and the snubber rope on the other?

Advice would be appreciated if only to stop proper sailors looking at me askance.........

i use a chain hook to stop growling / rumble from the chain. i usually bring both slack chain & rope from the hook over the bow roller. if the pull from the hook is via a bow fairlead it tends to impart a sideways pull
For East Coast sailing i have 20m x 8m/m chain + 30m x 18 m/m anchorplait

 

[prv]

I've just made myself a snubber, but that's more to take the load off the windlass than to damp down snatching or noise. In Kindred Spirit I had a nice sampson post to wrap the chain around, and never thought of using a snubber.

If you're currently securing to a cleat, and it works for you, then I reckon keep doing it.

Pete

 

[Rivers & creeks]

After a very sleepless night on the Alde with the chain rumbling as is swept across the stones on the bottom we starting using one. Let it go over the bow roller and then the weight is taken by the snubber; I reckon a cantenary curve is a good shock absorber but the snubber makes it much quieter.

 

[jerrytug]

i have to use a snubber and chain hook every time. No windlass,just a big cleat in the middle. The snubber allows me to tie a knot round the central cleat properly,because in my view,tying knots in chain is a load of cock. I believe using a snubber also reduces the stress on the cleat,so it is less likely to be ripped out of the foredeck. A chain hook was the best thing I ever bought for the front end of the boat! I am going to get another one for flexibility as well,all the best Jerry.

 

[chewi]

And if you cant break out the anchor you can hook it on and lead a line to a winch..

 

[KellysEye]

We always used a chain hook, the rope makes less noise than the chain on the bow roller.

 

[TQA]

I would never cleat off chain.

If the wind pipes up it can get jammed. Ask me how I know this.

Now I leave the chain on the windlass with the strain being taken by hook with an elastic line, the 'snubber', which runs over the bow roller and is cleated off. I tried using a V bridle through the fairleads but it was noiser in the front cabin that way.

 

[DanTribe]

In the dim and distant past I remembered a chain hook with a rope at the bottom of the chain locker from when we bought the boat When we anchored over the weekend I pulled out all the chain to find it. There are about six feet of rope attached to the hook.

I have 25 meters of 8 mm chain and a further 25 metres of 16 mm 3 strand warp. Round here I rarely need to anchor with the full chain out let alone the warp as well. Should I use the chain hook as a snubber? I run the chain over the bow roller and secure to a cleat. I don't get any snatch problems or noise but would I be better to use the hook, allow a loop of chain to fall below it and use the rope on the hook to attach to the other cleat thereby making sure the actual strain was taken by the hook and rope? And should the chain hook rope or the chain run over the bow roller with the other out of the fairlead with the chain on one cleat and the snubber rope on the other?

Advice would be appreciated if only to stop proper sailors looking at me askance.........

Bob
Just near where you were anchored on Sunday, a motor boat anchored [at the 5th attempt] then decided to use a rope snubber as you describe.
This would have been a sensible and seaman like practice, except that he fastened the warp to mid-ship cleat and couldn't seem to work out my his boat wouldn't lie comfortably.

 

[Leighb]

I use a chain hook with a nylon rope as a snubber, it stops the noise at the turn of the tide, which as I sleep in the forepeak can be alarming. I did not not fit it once when we anchored in Stangate Creek in a thunderstorm thinking I will do that later when the rain has stopped. I was woken by horrid grinding noises in the early hours and took some while to be certain we were not dragging.

 

[Delfin]

In the dim and distant past I remembered a chain hook with a rope at the bottom of the chain locker from when we bought the boat When we anchored over the weekend I pulled out all the chain to find it. There are about six feet of rope attached to the hook.

I have 25 meters of 8 mm chain and a further 25 metres of 16 mm 3 strand warp. Round here I rarely need to anchor with the full chain out let alone the warp as well. Should I use the chain hook as a snubber? I run the chain over the bow roller and secure to a cleat. I don't get any snatch problems or noise but would I be better to use the hook, allow a loop of chain to fall below it and use the rope on the hook to attach to the other cleat thereby making sure the actual strain was taken by the hook and rope? And should the chain hook rope or the chain run over the bow roller with the other out of the fairlead with the chain on one cleat and the snubber rope on the other?

Advice would be appreciated if only to stop proper sailors looking at me askance.........

99% of the time the snubber is useful to reduce noise and transfer the load from the windlass to a cleat or bit. The idea of looping chain around a bit or cleat is particularly dangerous, as anyone following this practice will find out sooner or later. The other 1% of the time, the snubber can increase the margin of safety whilst anchoring in a blow because of the reduction in force both the anchor and the boat have to contend with during snatch loads. This article from MarineSafety on the importance of elasticity in mooring lines applies to anchor snub lines as well. Rule of thumb, if the snub stretches 5 feet during shock loading, the force the anchor or vessel has to contend with is 1/5th what it would be otherwise.

http://www.marinesafety.com/research/documents/dynamicload.pdf

 

[Burnham Bob]

lots of useful advice but if putting the chain round a cleat is not a good idea how do I secure it? i don't have a windlass or a samson post. surely i can't simply rely on the chain hooK?

 

[Leighb]

I think that windlass manufacturers usually state that the windlass should not take the anchor load directly in any case. Without a samson post your only alternative is to transfer the load from the chain to a rope either using a hook or a rolling hitch, and make that fast to a cleat.

 

[Delfin]

lots of useful advice but if putting the chain round a cleat is not a good idea how do I secure it? i don't have a windlass or a samson post. surely i can't simply rely on the chain hooK?

If by relying on the chain hook, if it is attached to a length of 3 strand nylon or equivalent, then yes, that is what you rely on. I don't like chain hooks myself, prefering a soft shackle that is a whole lot stronger and doesn't beat up the topsides and never fall off. Either way, attach the snub line to the chain, let out 10' more of chain than the snub line, cleat the snub line off somewhere other than on the windlass as relax. Make sense?

 

[Stemar]

Bob
Just near where you were anchored on Sunday, a motor boat anchored [at the 5th attempt] then decided to use a rope snubber as you describe.
This would have been a sensible and seaman like practice, except that he fastened the warp to mid-ship cleat and couldn't seem to work out my his boat wouldn't lie comfortably.

Apart from not usually needing five tries, I have been known to do that when the wind and the swell are from different directions. It can take a bit of fettling, but usually works well enough. The day before I figured that trick out, we'd had to sleep across the forepeak so we didn't end in a heap sliding from one side to the other. That was in Omonville La Rogue. Not a good place in an easterly swell.

 

[pmagowan]

I always use a snubber and have recently made a new one from some PP rope with a dodgy looking rubber thing on it. I spliced in a loop just big enough to go round the Sampson post so that it can't slip off. At the other end I spliced in a snap shackle. I run it along side the chain over the bow roller with a loop of slack chain. I do wrap chain around the Sampson post but it has no weight on it because of the snubber. The snubber makes for much more pleasant nights.

 

[pdur]

I am about to fit an anchor winch to my Mirage 2700 but there is limited space between the roller and the centre cleat. As it is I will have to move the fairleads aft so that the winch does not obstruct the path from the fairleads to the cleat but the winch will also obstruct the path from the roller to the centre cleat. That means - in the context of the current thread - that the snubber or at least the rope to which is attached will have to be laid around the winch in order to be cleated off. Does that matter? Is it a problem if, as will sometimes happen, it comes under heavy load?

 

[dunedin]

lots of useful advice but if putting the chain round a cleat is not a good idea how do I secure it? i don't have a windlass or a samson post. surely i can't simply rely on the chain hooK?

I use the hook to take the primary strain off the anchor winch - and on our boat with two slide cleats, this is spliced in a V such that the ropes lead to both sides.
But overnight I don't rely on the hook alone, but also take a chain wrap around the cleat - should never jam, unless the hook has detached - in which case a jam is better than the chain running free!

In fact I now have two hook setups - a short one where the hook stays on deck - the original one which simply takes the load off the windlass.
This year have added a longer one which goes to near the waterline - and put a rubber snubber in it as well. Better to reduce rumble and snatch, but more hassle to use for short stops.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Rule of thumb, if the snub stretches 5 feet during shock loading, the force the anchor or vessel has to contend with is 1/5th what it would be otherwise.

Five feet of stretch? How long is your snubber, for heaven's sake?

 

[Delfin]

Five feet of stretch? How long is your snubber, for heaven's sake?

You can get 5 feet of stretch out of 15 feet of 3 strand. But to answer your question, mine is 30', which is typically recommended if what you are looking for is surge load protection as well as quieting the chain.