Chain Stoppers, Tensioners, Locks

[sparty]

I just purchased new, all chain, rode. I see there are chain stoppers, chain tensioners, and anchor locks. All seem to perform, in one manner or the other, the function of holding the anchor in the bow roller or taking tension off the windlass. Which is preferred or are two or more used together?

[vacendak]

Chain stopper is a-must; tensioners, like Devil's Claw, are highly recommendable.
Using 2 of these together is a good practice.

[Cheechako]

Only used a chain stopper on one boat, although I 've considered it more. Most of my bow layouts would have required the stopper to be mounted up on a riser in order to lead to the gypsy without undue chafing. usually the top of a horizontal gypsy is maybe 6" off the deck. With the stopper up on a riser, the loads at the deck looked too extreme to me for the stopper to do much good. (I visualized a substantial hole broken out of the deck!) The stopper could be put up just aft of the roller, but then it interferes and rattles etc on the anchor shank..used a snubber instead.

[s/v Jedi]

I think a chain stopper is one of the most important parts of your anchor gear but many times it's only feasible to use one if a vertical-shaft windlass is used for reasons like Cheechako explained. For this reason alone I would change windlass to a vertical-type but then again, our chain stopper saved the boat during a hurricane. But an experience like that shouldn't be needed to understand the importance of this piece of gear. A snubber will fail in bad enough conditions.

cheers,
Nick.

[Randy]

In my experience Sparty's terms are refer to virtually the same gear. I guess a tensioner is referring to a snubber though.

The American Merchant Seaman's Manual illustrates the use of a devil's claw, a pelican hook and a riding pawl. I'm not sure what creates the problem of implementing a pelican hook with a regular windlass. And there is no question that the section of deck around the windlass and stopper (called what you will) along with the chocks have got to be as stout as any thing on the boat.