Dave Gerr - Boat Mechanical Systems Handbook-How to Design, Install, and Recognize Proper Systems in Boats

PART SEVEN: ANCHORING SYSTEMS

All three methods give good results. The

anchor bend (also called the fisherman’s

bend) has proven to give somewhat more

strength than the anchor bowline and is pre-

ferred. When using an eye splice on an

anchor warp, you must use a heavy-duty

stainless or galvanized thimble—not nylon

or plastic. To ensure that the thimble doesn’t

twist out sideways, it should be seized to

the rope at either side of the thimble’s ends

and around the throat of the splice. Alter-

natively, you can use a closed-base thimble

with hoops.

Rope-to-chain splices can appear weak

but have proven up to the job when prop-

erly done. To ensure adequate strength for

a rope-to-chain splice, however, you should

always increase the rope diameter by one

standard size over the rope size that is

usually used for the anchor warp. Some

sources recommend inserting heat-shrink

tubing on the rope splice where it bears on

the chain link. I know of no tests that con-

firm that this is actually stronger, however.

Most rope-to-chain splices do not have the

heat-shrink tubing and work well. Figure

23-14 shows a devil’s claw chain hook

attached to a nylon chain snubber, using a

rope-to-chain splice.

Storing Long Lengths of

Anchor Warp on a Spool

We’ll discuss chain and rope lockers in the

next chapter, but in addition to a chain or

rope locker, there’s another way to store long

lengths of rope anchor warp neatly: on a rope

spool (Figure 23-15). Though you can store

Figure 23-13.
Tying an anchor
bend (From Field
Manual No.5–125
“Rigging
Techniques,
Procedures, and
Applications,”
Department of the
U.S. Army)

Figure 23-14. Devil’s claw used as on-deck

chain snubber

Figure 23-15. Rope spool

Figure 23-12. Yale
Brait rope (right)
versus three-
strand nylon rope
(Courtesy Yale
Cordage)