Pardey bridle for sea anchor

[Mg451]

Must confess I have limited off shore experience as of yet.....so in my plans for extended off shore voyaging I've picked up a para tech sea anchor and 300ft of 5/8 double braid. I'm gathering the tackle and odd and ends needed. I have a question about using the pardey bridal method to hold the bow slightly off the wind.. I plan on using 300 ft of nylon attached to the end of my anchor chain rode (5/16) that I will have shackled to the bow. I have a bowsprit and hawse openings through my bulwark that would be prime pickings for chafe so I intended to use 35 ft of chain attached to the bow then attached to the nylon then to the sea anchor. Reason being I will use breakaway ties to tie the chain along the side of the boat to the cockpit where I can attach and deploy the sea anchor from the cockpit.I intend to use a snatch block on a bridle led to the cockpit to keep the bow slightly off the wind.before I dump a bunch of money on a snatch block and bridle any guessstimates how long this bridle will need to be? Will my 35 ft of chain render the snatch block useless? And all I'm seeing are snatch blocks with a snap shackle will the snap shackle be ok to use here? Ps. The boat is a downeaster 32 long keel cutter rig 1700 lb displacement.

[Benz]

Unless I misunderstand the bridle setup, you're going to wind up running CHAIN though a snatch block, most of which are designed for rope. Don't even worry about the snap shackle before you've decided how, 1: to fit chain into a snatch block, and 2: to keep the chain from destroying the sheave in under five seconds. Once you've sorted that out, you can work on how to keep the chain from chafing your hull to shreds.

Dear me, if you want a non-stretchy leader for your rode, use a length of dyneema--it won't saw around in the hawsehole like nylon; it won't beat your boat to a pulp, and you can safely put a snatch block on it to direct the lead. At that point you will find that the snap shackle on the snatch block is, after all, just fine.

If you must use chain, take the redirecting tail directly to it and tie it on. The reason to use a snatch block is to have the nylon rode move back and forth though it as it stretches, which chain simply won't do.

Are you using the system where the rode is attached to the aft end of the boat and the angle of the bow is adjusted by a snatch block with a tail that leads aft along the deck to the cockpit as well? If so I simply don't see where the anchor chain comes in at all: keep that system separate, and keep chain out of it entirely.

[Mg451]

Yes that's what I was wondering If 30ft of chain would negate the snatch block bc it would need to fall with in they 30 ft where my chain is. Wasn't sure how long the bridle leg would need to be. The reason for the chain is I'm out of room to store more rode etc. Plus my ground tackle gear is set up to hold the chain. And with my bobstay and Murphys law I'm sure I'd be snagging my bobstsy or bowsprit some how some way.