Chain Stopper Vs Devil's Claw

[conachair]

I just use a chain hook on a dyneema loop round the (extremely strong) Samson post. Works fine, if you're really worried about chain hooks bending then go industrial and soak it in phosphoric acid once in a while to clean it up. All the industrial "devil's claw" type chain grabs I've seen can only be put on slack chain. A chain stopper seems a bit over the top - why bother? Another thing to fix to the deck, chance of more leaks, something else to bang your toe on... So I go for a chain grab., use that to take the strain off the windlass when bedding the anchor, after that you can sort out a snubber if conditions warrant one. Then leave it attached as a back up. Why try harder
(Ps, dyneema loop through the chain works great on a snubber instead of a rolling hitch - no messy tight knot to undo. And must get round to making up a big long soft shackle so nothing to untie)

Sent from my SGP511 using Tapatalk

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Sure that's true regarding simple old school snubber systems, but if you build yourself a new school snubber similar to the Ultra system pictured, then put it on steroids... oversizing it for your boat, these issues will be a problem of the past.

Looks like a fantastic snubber!

But why would you give up the chain stopper?

It's like getting rid of your axle, just because you have an excellent shock absorber.

Besides the issues of chafe and energy absorption (certainly reduced, if not eliminated, with this great setup), how do you set the anchor? Do you set the snubber every time you back down on the anchor?

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Looks like a fantastic snubber!

But why would you give up the chain stopper?

It's like getting rid of your axle, just because you have an excellent shock absorber.

Besides the issues of chafe and energy absorption (certainly reduced, if not eliminated, with this great setup), how do you set the anchor? Do you set the snubber every time you back down on the anchor?

Yes, I set the snubber every time when backing down. But now you've given me an idea of how I can back down without setting the snubber each time.

From now on, I'll use a chain hook on deck tied to a deck cleat when setting the anchor. Thanks

[wrwakefield]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

First time I ever heard of anyone having this problem with a horizontal windlass. So that's a useful data point -- anyone else experience such a thing?

I had a horizontal windlass on the previous boat (exactly the same one as on Snowy Petrel's boat; can't remember the name). Never any trouble.

Hi DH,

Like many of us here, I have had both vertical and horizontal winches on different vessels. Both perform well if the chain is fairly led...

Our present boat has a new horizontal windlass I installed a couple of years ago. As long as the chain wraps a solid 90° around the chain gypsy all is well. Less than 90° can cause the chain to hop occasionally under load. [Assuming perfectly matched, ISO chain and gypsy.]

As we all know; to improve the lead-in angle, one can either raise the windlass:



...Or lower the chain:



The above is from our blog post about replacing our windlass in 2014.

In case this is useful to anyone.

Cheers!

Bill