When anchored, do you..?

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I am totally amazed at how many trust a chain hook / claw.

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Many years ago I used a S/S reefing hook but even with a rubber snubber in the nylon line it straightened, despite the hook being about 10mm thick when we had a Vent Solaire one night and the wind blew straight onshore F6 with a 15ml fetch. I couldn't bend the hook straight again so what the loads were I hate to think.

We now have two snubber lines, both with proper heavy duty cast S/S chain hooks spliced in but one is heavier nylon and has a heavier rubber snubber. I have never had a chain hook detach itself as the weight of the loop of slack chain keeps it in tension but there are Wichard ones now with a safety spring loaded pin if that is a concern. However if the snubber line fails the chain is still there as a backup and in bad conditions yes would have been transferred off the windlass to the other deck cleat. Normally however I'd leave it on the windlass ready for action should we need to move in a hurry.
 
I've used one for years, and never had it jump off, even in some pretty "interesting" conditions. I think that the weight of several metres of chain straight down would keep enough tension to keep the hook engaged, and that's before you add in whatever load the boat is applying.

I do see your point though, but if the hook is used as the main method of attachment with a back up - which could be as simple as the windlass gypsy with a brake on (and the bitter end made off of course) then I don't see any great risk, and you're quite likely to notice if the loaded part passing through the bow roller changes from warp to chain aren't you?
 
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I agree Nigel.... I use a rolling hitch on mine.....

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Nothing wrong with that and also cheaper! Only slight caveat is that in a hurry in bad conditions the hitch will be pretty tight to release?
 
I once tried a chain hook on a length of nylon rope to act as a shock absorber. the chain was, of course, made fast around the samson post. All was well until slack water, when the hook fell off the chain and the boat then rode to her chain with the resultant sleep-disturbing noises. Since then I've always used a rolling hitch.

Incidentally, I once had a few days holiday on the sailing barge "Reminder", and at anchor she had the load on her chain taken off the windlass by a claw attached to a short length of chain. The claw was also used to hold the chain when it had to be shifted along the windlass drum every few turns.
 
Hmm, is it me or am I wrong in my belief that chain hooks have a SWL stamped on them?

As for falling off, I've never had that occur. The weight of a chain loop keeps it in place. I wonder if people have been using the right size for their chain? The one that we use is a relatively tight fit on the link.
 
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Nothing wrong with that and also cheaper! Only slight caveat is that in a hurry in bad conditions the hitch will be pretty tight to release?

[/ QUOTE ]Not a problem... if it gets that urgent, I carry a razor sharp knife on my belt..... a matter of 5 seconds work, and i'm free!
 
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I agree Nigel.... I use a rolling hitch on mine.....

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Nothing wrong with that and also cheaper! Only slight caveat is that in a hurry in bad conditions the hitch will be pretty tight to release?

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But that is when you use the claw ... to bring the chain onboard enough to release from the hitch. Easing back when hitch released, chain on gypsy to be hauled in. That is actually the reason and design for claws - to handle chain - not to BE the means to hold it fast ....

I know that this cannot happen on a yacht - unless of sufficient size to use these particular ones :

Chain hooks were discouraged on ships - where they were used to pull chain across in chain lockers. They looked more like long handled meat hooks or in some cases short handled. The seaman would stand at open entrance to locker and drag the chain as it fell in to assist it not piling up. Seaman often lost grip of the hook and it remained in the chain. On anchoring later - hooks could fly out with the chain when running free causing serious injury or even death. It was therefore many shipping co's standing orders that rope bights were to be used and no hooks.
Even on modern ships you could hear the chain toppling over in the locker as it piled up and when ship moved over it would go ... I sailed on ships built in the 50's / early 60's and hanging in forepeak stores - Chain hooks. Horrible things, more suitable to slaughter houses / abbatoirs than ships.

Anyway - just thought you'd like that little fred-drift !! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
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Hmm, is it me or am I wrong in my belief that chain hooks have a SWL stamped on them?

As for falling off, I've never had that occur. The weight of a chain loop keeps it in place. I wonder if people have been using the right size for their chain? The one that we use is a relatively tight fit on the link.

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Yes the proper chain hooks do have a SWL on them, they are made of cast metal and they will not bend like the reefing hook made of round S/S rod that I used did.

I have also never had one fall off. In no wind and no tide there is enough weight in the chain to hold the hook firmly in place and as you rightly say it is a snug fit on the chain if it is the right size.

I think the butcher's hook type Nigel mentions is an entirely different beast, we used to use something similar when loading heavy chain on a club morring barge.

Wichard's little spring pin jobby exists for those with no confidence in the traditional chain hook.
 
For anchoring or picking up a temporary chain mooring strop, I simply let the windlass take the nominal strain & loosely figure 8 the chain around the cleat. The windlass is as well secured as any cleat and, as long as the pawl is properly engaged, there is little risk of failure.

Different matter if it's a bit windy or choppy. I use a rolling hitch & sacrificial warp to take the strain straight to the cleat, but the chain is underneath in case the rope breaks or frays. Much quieter night then.
 
I have used a double stainless steel hook in conjunction with a nylon snubber line for many years. The chain is left in a loop, made off to a cleat or very occasionally left on the windlass alone.

For the past five years we have spent almost half the year at anchor, using this arrangement. The hook has never fallen off, as it is always loaded by the chain, even in no wind and tide. It has never straightened out either. Perhaps more interestingly, the nylon snubber is a length of 1/2 inch double braid used singly and it has never broken, in recorded wind strengths of up to 52 knots.

Even if anything were to fail, the chain is still made fast to the boat and no disaster would occur. The big advantage of the hook is that when the windlass is wound in the hook is tripped off the chain at the bow roller, whereas a knot would need to be untied or cut off.
 
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I have used a double stainless steel hook in conjunction with a nylon snubber line for many years. The chain is left in a loop, made off to a cleat or very occasionally left on the windlass alone.

For the past five years we have spent almost half the year at anchor, using this arrangement. The hook has never fallen off, as it is always loaded by the chain, even in no wind and tide. It has never straightened out either. Perhaps more interestingly, the nylon snubber is a length of 1/2 inch double braid used singly and it has never broken, in recorded wind strengths of up to 52 knots.

Even if anything were to fail, the chain is still made fast to the boat and no disaster would occur. The big advantage of the hook is that when the windlass is wound in the hook is tripped off the chain at the bow roller, whereas a knot would need to be untied or cut off.

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I'm not saying it doesn't work - I just don't feel comfortable with it. I know I wouldn't be able to sleep easy.

The slacking chain to keep weight on a hook ... mmmmmm not comfortable with that either, a little slack to pass strain to a rope made fast to the chain OK, but not a bight as some suggest with the hook. Wind gets up ... chain starts it's dance ... hook comes adrift ... boat falls back that bight - SLAM all that weight additional to the snatching ? At least if chain is only partly slacked to a rope - there's no scope enough to add to the snatch ...

My tuppence worth anyway.

Like many things on boats and various - we all develop ways of doing things - and as with most human activity - none of us alter our ways till S hits fan !! And here I don't mean YOU are wrong and I'm right ... I may be adding in a worry that is unfounded ....

To the other post about "butchers hook" - I only told the story for interest - not because it has actual relevance to the Chain Hooks here.
 
Use a ss hook and nylon rope. Used to use a rolling hitch but find the current arrangement much easier. Never felt any danger of becoming unhooked and have been at anchor everyday for the last 2 years in a variety of conditions (in NZ now). The chain is also wrapped around the foredeck cleat and also locked off at the windlass.
We had to move when we used a rolling hitch as a boat was dragging down on us in the middle of the night. I had a knife but still felt a little tense getting rid of the rolling hitch as it was very tight and had to lean right over the bow to release it (very windy night so couldn't haul to chain in first as the hitch would get, well, hitched on the bow roller).

Whatever works for you I guess but wouldn't be worried about the hook as long as it is a pukka one.
 
I'm of the rolling hitch and loose chain school but .....

If you have the misfortune to drag, you can hear it if you are lying to the chain but not if lying to a rope. Never really trusted the GPS anchor watch gizmo!
 
Like everyone who has posted here so far who uses a chain-hook on a warp to ride to, I have never had it detach under load (one morning I did find that two of the three strands of the nylon warp had parted in the night, but that is a different story and anyway the chain was safely secured to a cleat).

The only time I have been let down by the chain-hook slipping off is when I have not let out enough chain to ensure that the strain is always taken by the hook and warp. Before I properly got the hang of it the hook would sometimes come loose, but that was because I was deploying the chain via one bow fairlead and the warp via the one on the other side. When the pull from the anchor was straight ahead, the bight in the chain ensured the strain was taken by the hook and warp, when we sheered one way the bight got bigger, so no problem, but when we sheered the other way the bight in the chain was all taken up, the strain was taken by the chain and the hook dropped off. Once I realised what was happening it was easy to fix, and now I always have both chain and snubber going over the bow-roller.

Alan
 
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We had to move when we used a rolling hitch as a boat was dragging down on us in the middle of the night. I had a knife but still felt a little tense getting rid of the rolling hitch as it was very tight and had to lean right over the bow to release it (very windy night so couldn't haul to chain in first as the hitch would get, well, hitched on the bow roller).

[/ QUOTE ]I once let the anchor and chain go, with a fender attached as a float, and came back later to retrieve it when the conditions had improved.
 
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