Waterline led snubber

[_wason_]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the advantages to having a snubber led to a block at the water line is?


Here is the link to the boat in question.http://http://www.yachtworld.com/boa...s#.WL8Ij_krKUl

[tenchiki]

There have been a number of threads about snubbers, so you might try searching.

Attaching the snubber at/near the waterline can reduce the amount of rode (and swinging room) for a given scope. However some boats will tack around the anchor more.

Another option is to attach the snubber at the end of the bowsprit. This provides more leverage to keep the boat more pointed into the wind. It uses more rode (and swinging room) though.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Having a snubber down low like that essentially reduces the depth that you're anchoring in. As the height from the deck to the WL no longer needs to be factored in when doing the math to figure out how much rode to let out.
And having the snubber led through a block near the WL vs. just shackling the snubber to a fitting down there allows you to adjust the snubber's length without needing to pull in the rode between the snubber's chain hook, & your bow roller first.

[Dockhead]

As others have said -- scope is based on the distance between the bottom and the height of the point at which the rode is attached to your boat ("scope = length of rode/(water depth plus height of the bow roller)"). So if you lower that point, you improve your scope.

[Paul L]

My experience is that it reduced the boat sailing at anchor somewhat.

[Suijin]

It can also prevent the snubber (and chain) from sawing against the topsides and hull in conditions where current and wind are at odds.

[Schooner Chandlery]

Reasoning -- for us it is about 6' from anchor roller to water. So using a snubber at the waterline lets us take that 6' out of the scope equation. Very nice when in a tight anchorage.

We have two fittings at the waterline -- one is "officially" there for a mooring pennant but we use it as others do for a snubber at anchor. The other fitting is for the bobstay. In our case, we have a running bobstay and we pull it up out of the way when anchored so the chain doesn't chafe against the stay.

Top pic, you can see the running bobstay is pulled up out of the way of the chain off the anchor roller and bottom is a pic of the bronze double fitting in the boatyard.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

As others have said -- scope is based on the distance between the bottom and the height of the point at which the rode is attached to your boat ("scope = length of rode/(water depth plus height of the bow roller)"). So if you lower that point, you improve your scope.

Put more simply, you can use 10-20 feet less rode, depending on scope and the size of the boat.

The down sides are:

1. You must be diligent in avoiding grinding the snubber under the chain when recovering. That will cause hidden, internal damage, that has led to early failures.
2. Unless you want the snubber in the sun 24/7/365, you will need to reach WAY down an disconnect when you are done.

Sometimes the the befits are worth it (chafe, bobstay), and sometimes they aren't.

[Rick]

A better solution is to elimbyinate the block attach a polyester line where the block used to attach making the polyester about 15 feet long with a eye and its end. Makeup on nylons number at least 10 feet long with an eye at one end. Join the polyester eye with the nylon eye. Attach The Bitter End of the nylon snubber using a prusik hitch either to a chain or a rode it does not matter. Make this attachmzeeent on Deck by running the nylon snubber over the roller and deployment in such a manner that you never have to reach outboard of the boat either to deploy or retrieve this snubber combination.

[s/v Jedi]

Not mentioned yet is that the attachment point is the strongest point of the boat. Also good for towing.

[roverhi]

We used the 2nd eye on our bobstay fitting for the anchor snubber. Boat seemed to wander less at anchor. The real reason we did it is the anchor rode used to get out of synch with the pitching of the bow. The chain would be going down as the bow rose causing one hell of a bang that shook the whole boat like we'd just hit a rock. Having the snubber down low took care of that problem. Used a 5/8" line tied to the chain with rolling hitches, worked a great. Did have to haul in a bit of chain to untie the rolling hitch if we wanted to change the length of the 3/8" chain out but almost never did that.

[Schooner Chandlery]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Not mentioned yet is that the attachment point is the strongest point of the boat. Also good for towing.

It is a very strong point -- however it's suitability for towing depends on the fitting design and the construction of the boat in question.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Schooner Chandlery

It is a very strong point -- however it's suitability for towing depends on the fitting design and the construction of the boat in question.

Indeed. Traditional designs often have this fitting thru-bolted to the keel-member of the hull, while the most impressing design on a modern hull that I saw was a tunnel much like a miniature version of a bow thruster tunnel just above the waterline of about 1.5" diameter which a huge Dyneema soft shackle through it :-)