Hard at work splicing Madrone’s new snubber
One of the most important safety systems aboard Madrone is a strong anchoring system, and the unsung hero of our anchor setup is the snubber. Essentially a long, stretchy piece of nylon line, the snubber is attached between the anchor chain and a strong point on the boat. As the boat bounces around from wind and waves in the anchorage, the snubber absorbs shock loads so that they’re not transmitted directly to the boat or the gears in the anchor windlass.
Using a knitting needle to help guide the strands through for each tuck
When we bought Madrone, we found an anchor snubber onboard that looked to be more or less unused (like nearly everything else on the boat). So we started using it, and it served us well for 6 years. But the strong galvanized steel eye and chain hook on the end started to rust, and rusty metal is not strong. Since the entire force of the boat at anchor is held by the snubber, it’s not something we want to skimp on.
Putting some tension on the snubber with a winch to snug up the splice
Making a new snubber is not hard. We bought about 50 feet of 3/4″ nylon 3-strand rope, a new galvanized steel eye, and a new chain hook sized for our 3/8″ Grade 43 anchor chain. Then, it’s just a matter of splicing the steel eye into an eye splice at the end of the rope, attaching the chain hook with a high strength shackle, and then wiring the shackle pin so that it can’t inadvertently spin open. A typical eye splice in 3-strand will have 5 or 6 tucks, but our snubber has 10 – it’s hard to imagine the splice coming out.
The result is great – no more rust on deck, and the snubber is long enough that, if needed, we can let out more anchor chain to increase scope without first having the pull in the snubber, detach it, and then reattach it.
Attaching the chain hook with a shackle
Anything that helps us sleep better at night at anchor is worth it!
