On Morgan’s Cloud we are always looking for new and better ways to minimize the chance of damage when riding out storms or hurricanes at anchor or on a mooring. And given that we have spent a lot of time in the high latitudes and further that I kept boats on moorings year round in Bermuda, where it blows like the hammers of hell in the winter, never mind a pretty good hurricane strike every year or so thrown in for good measure, we have had a lot of opportunities to experiment with gear and techniques.
Storm Preparation, All Chain On Deck
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More Articles From Online Book: Anchoring Made Easy:
- Introduction
- 4 Vital Anchor Selection Criteria and a Review of SPADE
- SARCA Excel Anchor—A Real World Test
- SPADE, SARCA Excel, or Some Other Anchor?
- Rocna Resetting Failures and Evaluation of Vulcan and Mantus
- Some Thoughts On The Ultra Anchor, Roll Bars and Swivels
- Specifying Primary Anchor Size
- Kedge (Secondary Anchor)—Recommended Type and Size
- Third Anchors, Storm Anchors and Spare Anchors
- Anchor Tests—The Good, The Bad, and The Downright Silly
- Making Anchor Tests More Meaningful
- We Love The Way Our Anchor Drags
- Things to Know About Anchor Chain
- Selecting a Chain Grade
- Anchor Chain Catenary, When it Matters and When it Doesn’t
- Anchoring—Snubbers
- Anchor Rode Questions and Answers
- Q&A: Hybrid Rope And Chain Anchor Rodes
- Anchor Swivels, Just Say No
- A Windlass That Makes The Grade
- The Perfect Anchor Roller
- Install A Wash-down Pump—And Save Money!
- Anchoring—Kellets
- Anchoring—Chain: Stoppers, Termination and Marking
- 20 Tips To Get Anchored and Stay Anchored
- Choosing an Anchorage
- Choosing a Spot
- 15 Steps To Getting Securely Anchored
- One Anchor or Two?
- Two Anchors Done Right
- It’s Often Better to Anchor Than Pick Up a Mooring
- Yawing at Anchor, The Theory and The Solution
- Yawing at The Anchor, an Alternative Cure
- How To Use An Anchor Trip Line
- ShoreFasts—Part 1, When to Use Them
- ShoreFasts—Part 2, Example Setups Plus Tips and Tricks
- ShoreFasts—Part 3, The Gear
- Gale And Storm Preparation, At Anchor Or On A Mooring
- Storm Preparation, All Chain On Deck
Great article. I agree that the mooring line over the bow is an often neglected weak point. Anchoring for Hurricane Gloria (if I recall the name correctly) in 1985 I backed up the rope hawser with a piece of chain shackled directly to the mooring chain, led through each hawsepipe, and back to the mooring. I figured if I was going to find my (then) 32 footer ashore it would be from dragging its 500# mushroom through mud 23″ thick!
I’m curious as to what material is the blue chafing gear in your pictures. I usually use a heavy firehose, but it is sometimes difficult to work with and hard to get an eyesplice pulled through..
Hi Max,
We will do a short post on the chafe gear.
I too have read of the theory that plastic water tubing of some sort will cause an anchor or mooring line to heat to the point of melting, and I have read also of nylon line heating up. However, having anchored successfully in a couple of hurricanes, numerous gales, several parachute sea anchor sessions, and many other big blows I have never experienced either of these phenomena, and I have never seen it documented by a reliable source. My nylon rodes have clear plastic PVC tubing slid over them permanently, and I just slide this gear into place and it has perfectly protected my rodes through lots of storms. Maybe one reason is that I use fairly large diameter tubing and lines. I inspected a lot of boats that washed ashore after Hurricane Bob, and most were due to chafe exacerbated by not enough scope and indadequate lines in the first place. In most cases I would consider the chafing gear used inadequate, but on the other hand I can’t imagine being tied to a mooring with chain only during a hurricane. We had six-foot seas in Cuttyhunk harbor during Bob and the snatch loads on chain would have been horrendous.
Hi Kettlewell,
Here is some solid data on the problems with nylon.
As to having all chain to the boat in the event of the pendant failing, I still feel that a Dacron, or even Nylon pendant actually has very little spring effect due to its relatively short length. That is why we have a truly massive ground chain that provides at least some spring.
Of course it is vital, when expecting very high winds, to search out a harbour which will not be subject to any swell at all. I think that if for some reason I was caught out in an open area subject to swell it might be the one time I would consider anchoring on a very long rope rode.
The one time I was aboard the boat for a Cat 3 hurricane I was amazed to find that the chop size was very small even though the fetch was about 1/2 a mile. The water was simply blown flat
That material from Dashew is interesting, but mostly anecdotal. Any number of things could have made those lines give way where they did. Were they chafed at those spots? Caught on something as they went over the side? Who knows? Yes, I too have seen that rope companies now tout their very expensive polyester mooring lines as superior, but I’m not sure that counts as proof. Like Dashew noted in that article, one of my personal data points is a 3/8″ nylon snubber line that I used for close to 10 years on the bow of one of my boats. It became a matter of interest to me when or if the thing would ever fail. Prior to it being used as one leg of my anchor bridle on a cat it had been used as a chain snubber for a number of years on another boat. It was used in numerous gales, one hurricane, several sea anchor sessions, etc., and most of the time with absolutely no chafing gear whatsoever! The fact that it never failed made me rather confident in the strength and durability of my 5/8″ nylon anchor rode used on that same boat with vinyl tubing as chafing gear. On my mooring pendant I use enough hose to cover the entire length from the cleat to well over the bow roller. Having observed the pendant under load in some pretty severe blows I am rather amazed at how much it does stretch. If a storm is expected I always back up the main pendant with several back ups of equal strength in case one should fail.
Dear John
My mooring has no swivel. No problem. The mooring is a 6 ton concrete block buried in mud / large ship’s chain / 2″ diameter polpropylene / two floating 1″ bridles that come on board port & starboard.
You could get rid of the swivel. If you go sailing now & then, that will let the mooring unkink itself while you are away.
Or get a massively oversized stainless steel mooring, eg 1″ diameter. Massive to reduce probability of failure of the swivel. Stainless to optimize swivel function. Galvanized swivels tend to be sticky, and rust easily at the swivelling part, ie they don’t swivel well & I do not really trust them to do this. To avoid electrolysis, attach the SS swivel to SS shackles & rope, not galvanized shackles or chain. For easy inspection, keep the swivel at the top of the mooring.
Nick
Hi Nick,
Thanks very much for the solid real world data on not having a swivel. I think I’m sold on removing my mooring swivel—just one less thing to fail.
One point on your SS swivel suggestion. I think that I’m right in saying that stainless steel should never be used in an application where it is permanently immersed in salt water.
As to swivels, I suppose it depends on where you moor your boat. For many years I’ve been moored in tidal rivers, which means my boat changes direction at a minimum of twice a day, but often more times depending on the wind direction and what the current is doing. Without a swivel you could very soon wind up that chain until it is very tight. Also, I’ve anchored with more than one anchor numerous times, and I’ve noted that it almost always requires a couple of unwinding sessions per day or else the lines get seriously wound together. Even after hanging on only one anchor for a week or two in some places I note that the chain is hockled up when I pull it (no swivel on my main anchor). Murphy’s Law seems to rule, or maybe it’s the Coriolis effect! Whatever, lines and chain twist up and cause problems.
Hi Kettlewell,
Thanks for the input. I think you are right, the mooring swivel or no swivel decision is one that there is no hard answer to, it just depends where you are moored.
Ditto on the effect of anchoring without a swivel, in that we spent most of a winter two years ago anchored with just 80 feet of chain for up to a month at a time—we were working on our guide to Norway—without any hockling at all in the chain.
Like so many things in cruising, it just depends!
John and Phyllis,
Thanks for a very interesting topic.
We prepared for H Bob in Chatham, MA. with 1 1/8 three strand nylon, polyester chafe. Then hauled the boat at the last minute! Now it is time for something new
Does anyone have an opinion on the new Dyneema mooring system from N E rope. 12 strand. They claim it is horrendously strong 68,000 lb at 3/4 dia. Very light, floats and chafe resistant to boot. Looks and feels like something one might find at K Mart! Thinking of attaching a bridle of this to a 10 ” piece of 1 1/4 nylon, for stretch, or just skip the nylon? Might not need the chain.
cheers, Eric and Sue
My feeling on something like Dyneema is that it is probably a great answer to a problem that doesn’t exist. Use a big diameter nylon pendant with good chafing gear and it won’t fail. Back it up with a second pendant if you’re worried. I bet you can put together two 3-strand nylon pendants for less than one Dyneema.
Hi Eric and Sue,
I think the Dynema idea is very interesting for mooring pendants. We use spectra lines for shorefasts on “Morgan’s Cloud” and found Dynema to work very well when boat sitting Polaris in Greenland last winter.
I guess though, when all is said and done, if storm force winds are coming, I still like our chain backup to any pendant. But then I’m a belt and suspenders kind of guy.
If you do have any nylon at all in the system, make sure it is massive. I still think that this melting when cycle loading problem is real with nylon. In my years in Bermuda I saw way too many boats on the rocks with the remnants of a nylon pendant, or even two, hanging from the bow.