Anchor Bridle

This was easy to put together after some internet advice. Has done a nice job so far and is a breeze to take on and off.

I think I will go without the loops and stay with bitter ends on mine.

Sampson sells a great ring bound manual on splicing. Purchase a good set of fids and a rigging knife. You can get a marlin spike or get a rigging knife with a marlin spike on it. I use a Davis Instruments rigging knife with a marlin spike on it. I'm not splicing 3 inch line, so it works just fine.

This will allow you to do 3 strand, or anything else. 12 strand hollow-core (dyneema), 8 strand plait, etc. splice in loop ends or eye splices wherever you want.

Nothing better than sitting on the back in a nice anchorage drinking a cocktail and splicing lines with a little music in the background.

fryedaze said:

This was easy to put together after some internet advice. Has done a nice job so far and is a breeze to take on and off.

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Dave, I can't quite tell from the pictures what you did there. I can see you have a spliced loop on either end, an eye with a thimble in the middle and the center part of the line is wrapped around a rubber snubber but I can't tell how you spliced or incorporated that eye in the middle?

menzies said:

I think I will go without the loops and stay with bitter ends on mine.

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In hind sight I would agree. No loops would allow more flexibility with the length. Luckily I designed mine his right so the Mantas hook is below the water at slack.

Tom.B said:

We had Parks at Hopkins-Carter (active member here) make one that is 100% to our spec and it is great. Not expensive either. He does the braiding himself (probably while he watches Grey's Anatomy) and really did a fine job. He gave us options, sent pictures, and was very helpful in helping us get what we wanted.

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Tom, I'm sure Parks is a great guy, but ACE or Crystal Coast Cordage in Morehead do that kind of custom rigging all the time at very good prices and high quality. Just an FYI for future needs, be it dock lines or whatever.

menzies said:

I think I will go without the loops and stay with bitter ends on mine.

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Worked for me. I varied the length I used depending on whim and conditions (more length when things might get gnarly). In going either route, make sure the boat end has plenty of chafing gear, be it adjustable or permanent. Given the stretch and horsing around that takes place in poor conditions, you can grind those suckers down pronto. I liked the "velcro on" stuff; when it wore out it was easy to replace, and allowed a variety of lengths.

Another very important use of these rigs I would like to remind everyone of is when having to break out a stubborn anchor, so that's a short length; not that Dave's good looking rig won't do that handsomely as well.

dhays said:

Dave, I can't quite tell from the pictures what you did there. I can see you have a spliced loop on either end, an eye with a thimble in the middle and the center part of the line is wrapped around a rubber snubber but I can't tell how you spliced or incorporated that eye in the middle?

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Its made of two lengths of line. The first one is longer, has a spliced eye on one end, is wrapped around the rubber snubber and then has a thimble eye on the end to attach the hook. The second length is shorter. It has the spliced eye on one end and then is spliced into the longer length to create the "V"

fryedaze said:

Its made of two lengths of line. The first one is longer, has a spliced eye on one end, is wrapped around the rubber snubber and then has a thimble eye on the end to attach the hook. The second length is shorter. It has the spliced eye on one end and then is spliced into the longer length to create the "V"

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Thanks Dave, that makes perfect sense.

dhays said:

Thanks Dave, that makes perfect sense.

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Dave ...so I get this right. One side of the bridle wraps around the snubber then connects to the hook. The other side just connects directly to the hook to form the V.
If so...why only one side "snubbed"?

Personally I'd lose (and lost) the rubber snubber. 3 strand line serves well enough.

At this point, I paid for it, it works well and I plan to continue using it. If and when it fails, I'll probably do just that...replace it with a single nylon 3-ply 1/2 inch line of 25-30 ft. I have a large 'bucket-o-rope" on the boat for uses like this whenever needed.

mbevins said:

Dave ...so I get this right. One side of the bridle wraps around the snubber then connects to the hook. The other side just connects directly to the hook to form the V.
If so...why only one side "snubbed"?

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No, look at the example in the pdf. Its Hook, snubber and then it splits to two sides.

caltexflanc said:

Personally I'd lose (and lost) the rubber snubber. 3 strand line serves well enough.

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The bridle is rather short to give much stretch. The snubber has three wraps of line around it. I have seen that stretch out to where there was only one wrap when its blowing hard. I bet if it was really howling the line around the snubber would be straight with no wraps. I'd rather not experience that.

Here is what we opted for; 2x15' 3-strand (loops on end) with thimbles to shackle to standard chain hook. We didn't want to get fancy with the hook yet since our last one worked fine. The idea with this rig is that a leg failure is easily replaced (and we ordered a spare leg: 15" with loop and thimble). I also wanted no rope-to-metal connections. they are all metal-to-metal. We may opt for a short length of chain to hang the hook from later, but that would add two more connection points (shackles) and I wasn't ready to do that yet either.

After seeing Fryedaze's rig, we might add a couple of those rubber twisty things. Cool idea

fryedaze said:

No, look at the example in the pdf. Its Hook, snubber and then it splits to two sides.

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Got it.. Now that makes sense.
Looking at it on my phone and the app doesn't let me zoom in.

Tom.B said:

Here is what we opted for; 2x15' 3-strand (loops on end) with thimbles to shackle to standard chain hook...... I also wanted no rope-to-metal connections. they are all metal-to-metal.

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I made a bridle years ago to this same configuration and used all metal to metal connections. It served me well for years on my 48' Offshore Yacht Fisher.

We are anchoring in our new boat for the first time this weekend. Very calm and protected water, but I setup the bridle for the first time. We will see how it works out. I used 25' x 1/2" 3 strand dock lines that I put a nylon thimble in the end. Used a soft shackle to connect that to a length of 1/2" 3 strand with a thimble. Used a hitch to tie that line to the anchor chain. This is a test version. If I like the configuration I will use a heavier line for for the single segment of the Y either 3 strand or double braid.

So far, so good.