Anchor rode to chain...........

[Brion Toss]

Hi,
Some time ago I did a few destruction tests on the Shovel Splice, as well as other rope/chain techniques. As I recall, no Shovel sample tested much above 70% efficiency; apparently it is just difficult to generate sufficient friction from weaving rope through chain. I tried making extra tucks and Constrictoring the strands in place. No help. This is a shame, as this splice is the easiest one to construct -- you just weave through the links.
Of course,there are lots of boats with this splice that have never had one pull out, but then loads in excess of 70% of break are extremely rare. But as most other splices, the point is to get ultimate efficiency.
As for the "drawback" of hanging onto only one link, this is exactly what is happening at every link.
I used to worry about chafe, and took great pains to seize tightly to the chain link, but never saw evidence of chafe on that radius; apparently it is easier for the chain to swivel on the next link than on the rope.
If you use 3-strand rope, the relative radius for each strand is quite large, assuming you put them through the link separately. From our tests, an actual Crown through the link is a bit stronger than simply passing two strands through one way, and one the other.But efficiency is usually no more than about 85%. The only 100% results we got were for the "Traditional Irony" splice, which is also the most compact one. And the most difficult to do well.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss