Bahamian mooring - stop the twists?

Much simpler.

Keep a secondary rode that is modular on length (~ 25- 50-foot sections with double eyes). When you set the secondary, attach it to the main rode with a sling, soft shackle, or locking chain hook, making CERTAIN to attach this rode to the main rode about 5-20 feet from the bow. In this way, only the main chain twists, which it can absorb. Since the secondary rode ends at the junction, any tangles are trivial to unwind.

In my case, since I nearly always anchor in 5-8 feet of water, my secondary rode is fixed at 50 feet. Remember, since it is not coming all the way to the bow, the scope is more than the 50 feet. Never had a tangle since I started doing it this way.

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GHA said:
Doesn't the main rode still end up twisted?
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No more than normal, if I understand it correctly, the bow shackle is swivelling around the tubular up-stand on the upside down saucer shaped clamp.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
No more than normal, if I understand it correctly, the bow shackle is swivelling around the tubular up-stand on the upside down saucer shaped clamp.
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'normally' it doesn't seem to be a problem with somehow the boat rotating different directions , though a few anchorages ago it was. Where the boat is now it is a problem(or will be), no idea if that's just odd local tidal current or if the restricted movement makes a difference. Or maybe even it's just been bad luck here past couple of days... .

(though not really obvious in the first post, sorry)
 
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GHA said:
The problem is even over short periods of time the main chain can't cope with the twists, 2 tides a day over even just a couple of weeks is 28 twists, right old mess..
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Basically true, But I have done this for 2 weeks. First, if the chain section is long, a dozen twists is no big deal; they come out when the anchor clear the bottom, so lon as you stop hoisting for a minute. Second, why assume the boat will spin with each tide? Although it will certainly alighn with the flow, there is no reason to believe it will do a 360, when the wind may well keep it to one side. Less than half of the tides should cause a spin... though I've been places where the boat could spin 5 times on one tide.

Yup, if you are going to be there for weeks, one of the mooring options with a swivel is the answer. I presented the simplest 1-3 day solution.
 
thinwater said:
Basically true, But I have done this for 2 weeks. First, if the chain section is long, a dozen twists is no big deal; they come out when the anchor clear the bottom, so lon as you stop hoisting for a minute. Second, why assume the boat will spin with each tide? Although it will certainly alighn with the flow, there is no reason to believe it will do a 360, when the wind may well keep it to one side. Less than half of the tides should cause a spin... though I've been places where the boat could spin 5 times on one tide.

Yup, if you are going to be there for weeks, one of the mooring options with a swivel is the answer. I presented the simplest 1-3 day solution.
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Hard to guess what will happen with the boat spinning, so much to do with local winds here I suspect. Been living mostly constantly on the hook for years so not a new thing, just that almost always it's not a problem. Already a load of twists in a couple of days when I was away from the boat but today with a little breeze coming up from the south before the tide turned it's been OK. The breeze here will sometimes go right round the clock during the day though. I've been pondering ways to get the boat to always swing to the same side each time so no twists which I'm sure would be possible with a 3rd hook to the stern and a weight but it all just gets too complicated, and complicated with anchors often means some unwelcome excitement at 3am when a big squall comes through :)
 
Well, given up trying to force the boat to spin different ways each tide, can't see any way to do that which isn't too complex. So instead rope rode soft shackled to main chain with an apline butterfly, even if the main chain will get twisted at least it's easy to get rid of any twists the rope gets round the chain, pull in the chain a bit and undo the soft shackle then reattach and let out again once the twists have been taken out, easier than hanging off the bow trying to feed the rope under. Rope tied off again to the bow for now just to see how it behaves.

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My method with the bow shackle on the tube upstand from the inverted saucer, means that the rope cannot get wound round the chain. I've been doing this for a month every year, for ten years or so, without any problems. Probably a few turns build up on the chain, but with 40 metres out, it is insignificant.
 
NormanS said:
My method with the bow shackle on the tube upstand from the inverted saucer, means that the rope cannot get wound round the chain. I've been doing this for a month every year, for ten years or so, without any problems. Probably a few turns build up on the chain, but with 40 metres out, it is insignificant.
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soft shackle probably wouldn't either if the excess rope was coiled hanging loose. Great having a load of dyneema onboard, this sort of thing takes just a few minutes and is outrageously strong for a bit of 5mm string.
 
Quick update on the off chance anyone is interested...

Now we have the 2nd anchor attached to the main chain with soft shackle going all the way round the chain then to stop it riding up or down the chain another big long soft shackle through a chain link and the first shackle.

Seems to work OK but downside is you need to untwist the 2nd long shackle every few days unlike Normans method, plus side is easy to make and if you need to get away in a hurry there are no nuts & bolts to have to deal with.

Keeps the boat well out of the channel away from the fisherman & water taxis though!

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