Rope link at end of anchor chain - Necessary?

[John100156]

I recently rebuilt my Sprint 1000 Windlass and when unloading the chain, I noticed a small section of rope linking the anchor chain to another short section of chain fixed securely to the boat.

Now I expect this rope link is to allow the chain to be quickly released if snagged, the rope link easier to cut. This must be a very rare occurrence I expect.

My question therefore is, is the rope link really necessary? Would a shackle be OK? Clearly the latter would be more difficult to remove in an emergency, a rope can be easily cut. I would welcome pros/cons/opinions on whether to retain the rope link, to help me make an informed choice!

Many thanks.

 

[volvopaul]

I recently rebuilt my Sprint 1000 Windlass and when unloading the chain, I noticed a small section of rope linking the anchor chain to another short section of chain fixed securely to the boat.

Now I expect this rope link is to allow the chain to be quickly released if snagged, the rope link easier to cut. This must be a very rare occurrence I expect.

My question therefore is, is the rope link really necessary? Would a shackle be OK? Clearly the latter would be more difficult to remove in an emergency, a rope can be easily cut. I would welcome pros/cons/opinions on whether to retain the rope link, to help me make an informed choice!

Many thanks.

Unfortunetly the rope link was a god send a while back on a mates boat, he had to give away his full chain and anchor to the sea bed off sea view last year as it was snagged under a rock somehow, if it was chained to the boat it would have been a hacksaw job. That's what it's there for.

 

[kashurst]

as per VP - if you find yourself having to cut the chain you may need to do it quick. Hopefully it will never happen, but you never know with boats....

 

[SpottyDog5]

Been there, got the tee shirt....
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=296908

 

[rafiki_]

You are talking about the "Bitter end"

 

[Bav34]

On a boat once ... wind came up ... dragging onto a lee shore ... tide falling.

Buoyed the chain with a fender, cut the rope, cleared out QUICKLY, came back next day and retrieved anchor and chain.

Consensus was we would have lost the boat if we couldn't have dumped the chain easily.

 

[Searush]

Just imagine trying to undo a shackle on a pitching foredeck, with it snatching & slacking, throwing your tools around trapping your fingers, blood all over the place. Yeah, you may never need the rope link, but you won't half be glad if you do. But don't forget the fender/ bouy or whatever so yo can get the chain & anchor back later.

The above situation is also why we carry kedge anchors, so we can re-anchor somewhere else more sheltered.

 

[SpottyDog5]

Just imagine trying to undo a shackle on a pitching foredeck, with it snatching & slacking, throwing your tools around trapping your fingers, blood all over the place. Yeah, you may never need the rope link, but you won't half be glad if you do. But don't forget the fender/ bouy or whatever so yo can get the chain & anchor back later.

Searush is spot on...

Don't make the rope link too heavy, I would much rather loose the anchor/chain than having to go up on the fore deck with a knife in heavy seas.

 

[Mike k]

I do have a rope 50m connection on the end of 8mm of 50m chain but I do carry bolt cutters in the event of a insolvable snag. I recently had a unpleasant experience when the windlass failed in a retrieval situation and had to manually haul in the anchor 30m in a huge swell and spray condition- due to exhaustion I nearly had to resort to just cutting the chain with the croppers but only half of the 50m was out so even though i have an anchor plait as well that connects the chain to the boat - bolt cutters for me any time.

 

[benjenbav]

I carry bolt cutters too, but I worry that if I dropped them in the briny (only carry one set and am quite capable of losing them over the side) I'd be glad to be able to cut the rope away with a knife - of which I have several.

 

[fireball]

Have you tried to use the bolt croppers?

I used ours to cut a rusted shackle - I wouldn't want to have to do it in an emergency - it took all my weight on the handle - the other on te foredeck and a couple of goes to cut it.

Rope for me - easy to cut or undo

 

[Elessar]

I recently rebuilt my Sprint 1000 Windlass and when unloading the chain, I noticed a small section of rope linking the anchor chain to another short section of chain fixed securely to the boat.

Now I expect this rope link is to allow the chain to be quickly released if snagged, the rope link easier to cut. This must be a very rare occurrence I expect.

My question therefore is, is the rope link really necessary? Would a shackle be OK? Clearly the latter would be more difficult to remove in an emergency, a rope can be easily cut. I would welcome pros/cons/opinions on whether to retain the rope link, to help me make an informed choice!

Many thanks.

A Sealine oversight AFAIK on all of them.
Small bit of rope, not long enough to reach the windlass IMO essential.

 

[John100156]

Thanks for the responses, very informative and much appreciated.

I understood the logic why it was there, just wondered how frequently you might be confronted with a situation. I reasoned that if the chain is on a strop anyway, to take the weight off the winch, even if the strop broke, the winch might still be used to weigh-in some chain and hold it long enough to allow a decent carbine hook to be released. However in rough conditions I am now convinced that even if never used, it is a sensible must have. To prevent loss of fingers! So rope link it is with a suitable implement for cutting securely stored close by! I was aware of the fender marker.......

Now, can anyone remember an old saying about cutting the rope link? I am sure there is one.....

 

[oldgit]

...and the beauty is that anything can be pressed into service to cut the rope,be it your bread knife or that rusty old vitrually blunt mini hack saw normally lying forgotten in bottom of tool box.

 

[John100156]

Well the weather out here in Sant Carles has been excellent this week; having completed the windlass maintenance, we took the boat out for a run down the coast then dropped the hook in the lagoon, winch all working well, as it normally does!

Within minutes, we were joined by our neighbours Leicester and Gale aboard 'Notorious' a Targa 40 with two other neighbours on board Antonio and Anne, Catalonians who cannot speak a word of English! We had arranged to launch the tenders and all meet up for lunch on the back of the boat in the lagoon.

It's amazing with the common ground of boating, how you can have so much fun regardless of the language barrier, one of those really good days! Just a few images from my iPhone, some better ones later perhaps if I find time to download them from my Cannon:-

 

[Wiggo]

Have you tried to use the bolt croppers?

I used ours to cut a rusted shackle - I wouldn't want to have to do it in an emergency - it took all my weight on the handle - the other on te foredeck and a couple of goes to cut it.

Rope for me - easy to cut or undo

Get bigger bolt croppers. Mine go through 8mm chain in one smooth cut. I had to take out a 10mm 316 stainless shackle yesterday, and even that took only three heaves before it went. Plan B is to undo the bolt holding the bitter end down...

Thinking about it, though, what's the scenario? SteveE of this parish snagged an underwater cable, and we saved most of his anchor rode by cutting the chain just below the hawse pipe with my croppers. If we hadn't had them, he'd have had to let all the chain go as well (having unbolted the bitter end). And my windlass gearbox failed recently, jamming solid, so I couldn't have let the chain go to get to the rope then, either. I had to tie the anchor off on deck and use the croppers on the chain after it was clear of the windlass. And would a rope-chain splice go through the gypsy?

 

[Bandit]

Assuming one has all chain and not a chain and rope combo.

The opposite end to the anchor is called the bitter end this is normall attched to a D ring attached to the bulk head in the chain locker. The D ring is often the same type a boat trailer wire ring on the bow of small boats.

It is normal to have two or three metres of rope between the chain and D ring.

Firstly the D ring would probably not take too much load before it is pubbed through the bulkhead.

Should your chain get snagged and you are forced to leave it to recover another day it would be very difficult to undo a shackle under load 18 inches down in a chain locker say if you were in a tideway.

You may have to release it in a hurry. Quite easy if you are going to cut a 15 mmm rope with a knife or an axe.

Firstly most motor boats dont carry bolt cutters and my chain is 3/8 so you need a bl***y big pair of bolt cutters we have 5 foot bolt cutters at work and you need one arm on the ground while you push the other arm of the cutter downwith your body weight, at work we generally cut 3/8 chain with an angle grinder or a hack saw with the chain held a vice as its easier. You need to cut both sides of the link. Somehow I dont fancy doing the above in bad weather on a heaving deck with a chain under load.

With a pice of rope a swipe with a axe or a knife will suffice.

Also with rope if you are able to attach a fender and line to retrieve it later its somewhat easier.

 

[PaulGooch]

<snip> And would a rope-chain splice go through the gypsy?

Yes it would. I have part rope and part chain, spliced together with a tapered chain splice, goes through fine, but on retrieval the splice slips on the gypsy so needs someone at the bow. Actually, i have to be at the bow anyway, because the rope tends to jam otherwise, the chain is fine.

 

[Elessar]

Well the weather out here in Sant Carles has been excellent this week; having completed the windlass maintenance, we took the boat out for a run down the coast then dropped the hook in the lagoon, winch all working well, as it normally does!

Within minutes, we were joined by our neighbours Leicester and Gale aboard 'Notorious' a Targa 40 with two other neighbours on board Antonio and Anne, Catalonians who cannot speak a word of English! We had arranged to launch the tenders and all meet up for lunch on the back of the boat in the lagoon.

It's amazing with the common ground of boating, how you can have so much fun regardless of the language barrier, one of those really good days! Just a few images from my iPhone, some better ones later perhaps if I find time to download them from my Cannon:-

I recognise that tower

 

[fireball]

Get bigger bolt croppers. Mine go through 8mm chain in one smooth cut. I had to take out a 10mm 316 stainless shackle yesterday, and even that took only three heaves before it went. Plan B is to undo the bolt holding the bitter end down...

Thinking about it, though, what's the scenario? SteveE of this parish snagged an underwater cable, and we saved most of his anchor rode by cutting the chain just below the hawse pipe with my croppers. If we hadn't had them, he'd have had to let all the chain go as well (having unbolted the bitter end). And my windlass gearbox failed recently, jamming solid, so I couldn't have let the chain go to get to the rope then, either. I had to tie the anchor off on deck and use the croppers on the chain after it was clear of the windlass. And would a rope-chain splice go through the gypsy?

It was a 10mm shackle!

Underwater cable - one option is to let out all your chain then turn the boat round 180 and reverse out the way you set it - keep going till its clear then recover - don't ask how I discovered that trick !,