Catamaran Anchor Bridle

[SeamanStaines]

Sorry about the long post, I need to explain this as I am not sure the best way to do it.

I have a 12.6mtr Catamaran with a Manson Supreme Anchor. This has attached 50mts of chain which is sufficient for normal use. There is a permanently rigged rope bridle attached to strong points attached to the hull end of the forward crossbeam which is attached to the chain with a snap shackle. In very strong winds (as the snap shackle is a weak point obviously) I use a short length of chain with two shackles as a backup. Even if this where to fail the main chain stop in the anchor would hold the chain, albeit without the bridle whilst I sorted it out.

To the end of the chain is attached a further 100mts of Octoplait for use in either deep water, or if I need a lot more scope as I am reluctant to put any more weight forward (we are in 'cruising' form so already a 'tad' heavy). I also have another short length of rope attaced to the attachment point in the anchor locker, again with a snap shackle to stop me accidentally using the anchor line, all I do is to back up the chain a little and release it if I want to go onto the warp. The Bitter end of the warp is also attached to the strong point in the anchor locker.

When I go onto the octoplait I need however to rig the bridle. I have a number of options, I am really not sure the best way to do it.

1. Form a 'figure of eight' in the octoplait and shackle the eye that is formed onto the existing bridle.

2. Take one side of the line to a forward cleat (these are not as strong as the main bridle attachment as they are aluminium, welded to the forward cross beam and use a second line with a rolling hitch back to the other cleat.

3. Attach two additional lines, both with rolling hitches back to the two forward cleats

4. Use two additional lines with eyes spliced in them back to the main bridle attachment points with rolling hitches onto the octoplait

5. Use a jammer of some description on the octoplait and shackle that to the existing bridle.

Clearly, option one is the simplest, I am not sure though how much damage that will do to the octoplait as clearly this will pull very tight both on the knot and onto the shackle.

There must be another way?

 

[bbg]

How about a single line with an eye in it, attached to the octoplait with a rolling hitch. Then attach the main bridle shackle to that.

 

[oldsaltoz]

How about a short length of chain secured to the warp at any required length and use the existing bridle.

Works for me.

 

[SeamanStaines]

How about a short length of chain secured to the warp at any required length and use the existing bridle.

But how do you attach the chain to the warp at different points along its length?

 

[bbg]

Splice some line onto the chain, then use the line to make a rolling hitch around the octoplait.

You probably only need about a meter of line and half a meter of chain, or less.

 

[crisjones]

We use a length of rope with spliced eyes each end, overall about 5ft long, this is attached to the main warp using a prussik hitch. Then we clip our bridle to the spliced eyes, one to each eye in our case but you could use your snap shackle to both eyes together.

An alternative to the Prusik is the Klemheist hitch - have a look at www.animatedknots.com/indexclimbing.php for details of the knots. Both knots give more area of contact than a simple rolling hitch and hence should be kinder to the main warp.

 

[Adonnante]

Anchoring preferences tend to be very personal but you seem to be carrying a lot of chain for a 12m multi. As a comparison on our Azuli (11.8m 5ton) we have a 20kg Spade attached to 20m of chain attached to 80m of octoplait. A bridle is fixed to two forward cleats, one on each hull and is made off to the anchor cable with a modified rolling hitch (just a couple of extra turns to pull against). The anchor locker is in the main beam to keep the weight more central, to avoid hobbyhorseing, and the anchor is lowered and raised from this position. the bridle is attached and dropped over the bow approaching the anchorage and recovered from a small opening in the forward trampoline.

We have used this method for 20 years in multihulls, anchoring typically 30/40 nights a year in up to 12m of water. I'm tempting fate here but since fitting an increase in chain (12 to 20m) and upgrading to a Spade we havent dragged or failed to anchor at our first attempt in 5 years.

Hope some of this will be of use.

Peter.

 

[SeamanStaines]

Very many thanks for that. A couple more knots to learn but that will certainly resolve the issue for me

I know 50mts is a bit long but it has been on the boat from new and it is so much easier to handle on the winch than moving to the warp. With all the weight I have on board I suspect it is no that significant!!! (arghhhh, design speed has long since gone!). It is at least well back on the boat, not on the bow.

I have made up a suitable length of rope with two eyes and that seems to work well once I can tie a Prussik knot without having to run a laptop at the same time! :-S