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