Best thimble for an anchor rode

[Jerry Wegman]

Greetings,

When making up an anchor rode, the common practice is to use a length of chain and then nylon line. When not using a windlass, the conventional connection between the two consists of a thimble at the end of the nylon, connected by a shackle to the chain.

My question is what is the best type of thimble to use? There are three choices: nylon, galvanized, and stainless. Nylon has been disparaged on this forum as light duty. Regarding the stainless, is there a concern about dissimilar metals (the zinc galvanized chain and the SS thimble)? Are there other issues that would favor either a SS or a galvanized thimble?

The whole thimble issue might be avoided in some cases by a splice or a knot. A splice might work better for three strand than for the double braid that I prefer.

Many thanks for the very generous sharing of information on this site.

Jerry

[SV Papillon]

Lots of factors, the largest being what size boat and where will it be.

There is nothing wrong with any of the materials you list it is a matter of the application. A nylon thimble on a small skiff for light duty is fine. You generally are not going to worry about dissimilar metals on a rode like this IE mixing SS and galv steel. In general you always want to use a welded or continuos thimble if possible.

And speaking of general generalisations, there are NONE when it comes to anchoring or anything to do with it. About the only sure thing to advise is to use quality verified materials that are of the correct load capability for the application. For example a wichard or harken shackle will not be the same as a seadog or swap meet no name. A no name galvanised shackle will not be the same as a crosby etc etc.