Single Line Bridle Rigging

[belizesailor]

Replaced my tired old bridle lines today. Previously had two lines, but decided to go with a sigle line bridle this time. Rigged it using an "Alpine Butterfly" knot and siezed a thimble into the eye.

Curious how others rig their single line bridles on cats.

[savoir]

What do you mean by "single line bridle" ?

Anchor chain snubber ?

[Benz]

It might be important to note that knots, even an excellent one like the alpine butterfly, weaken a rope. By far the best method is splicing. Though if your line is sized big enough to account for strength loss from knotting, it should be OK.
Ben

[deblen]

[deblen]

KatieKat 2003 Cruise Chapter Eleven

Explanation of wooden bridle device.

[Benz]

Hi. The wooden bridle device would traditionally be called a "toggle", though that is the fanciest carved one I've ever seen. They have hundreds of other uses. That little wooden pin has an astonishing amount of strength--Evans Starzinger broke a far smaller (about half-inch) one for me at over 5,000 lbs, if I recall correctly.

[mikereed100]

I use a single line bridle with a Spectra loop fixed with a Prusik hitch to the center. My hope is that the Prusik will not weaken the bridle the way a knot would. I then use the rest of the loop to tie the bridle to the chain with a rolling hitch

[deblen]

I have mostly 3 strand rope rode-20ft chain @ anchor (ducking my head now)
I have only 2 mooring cleats-one / side & nothing center deck inline with anchor launcher. So I wanted a simple/quick way to "bridle" my rode without knots.Have made up a 15' length of 3 strand with thimble spliced in outer end.I will cleat the inner end to one side cleat,put the rode thru the thimble & toggle,& cleat the rode to other side. Will try it this summer-sounds good,but time will tell.
As far as using 3 strand,it is a medium lay nylon from my local fisheries supply & is what is used by local fishing fleet.
The soft lay stuff sold by yacht shops chafes terrible,tho it is soft to handle.
I've had same chafe trouble with "braided" & plaited rope also,Yes-I use chafe guards.
No yacht shops in my area,so I will stick with what works for commercial guys for now.

[deblen]

mikereed Anchor Snubber for the DIYers | Bosun Supplies

there are several different ss metal "grab" systems for all chain rode.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Benz

It might be important to note that knots, even an excellent one like the alpine butterfly, weaken a rope. By far the best method is splicing. Though if your line is sized big enough to account for strength loss from knotting, it should be OK.
Ben

True, but I've got oversized line, and the alpine butterfly should weaken it much less than many other options (though dont know of any break tests data on it). After all we bet our asses on knots such as bowlines all the time with a high rate of success...and climbers bet their ass on this and the more common pursiks hitch often too.

Also, I didn't find much in the way of midline loop splices that seemed suitable. Ideas?

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by savoir

What do you mean by "single line bridle" ?

Anchor chain snubber ?

Catamarans are normally anchored with a "bridle" attached to the anchor rode. This bridle forms a "V" shape with the apex of the "V" being attached to the rode and each leg of the "V" extend back and attaching to strong attachment points at or near the ends of the forward beam (essentially the bow of each hull). Its puprose is to distrubute the load away from the forward beam (on which lateral loads are a bad thing) and square the boat into the wind.

A bridle can be rigged with two separate lines or one line.

It is not normally refered to as a snubber, but does also serve the same puropse.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by mikereed100

I use a single line bridle with a Spectra loop fixed with a Prusik hitch to the center. My hope is that the Prusik will not weaken the bridle the way a knot would. I then use the rest of the loop to tie the bridle to the chain with a rolling hitch

Nice clean solution.

A rolling hitch used to be my method of choice too, but when I replaced my chain last year I got a fancy chain grabber. This was one motivation for going to a single line bridle.

A prusiks hitch tail, with appropriate chafe protection, could be connected to a chain hook also.

[savoir]

So what's wrong with one like this ?

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by savoir

So what's wrong with one like this ?


Attachment 95512

Nothing, but my chain grabber has single eye and I didn't like the idea of a gaggle of shackles to attach it (also didnt have enough of the right size shackles and cannot get more locally).

[colemj]

We used to have a single line bridle and I just put a figure 8 bight in the middle of it. I don't know how much that decreases the strength of the rope, but I can't imagine that it is a significant enough loss in practical use - our 5/8" nylon has a 12,000lb breaking strength. Even cut in half, that is a lot for a bridle.

Mark