How to Install an Anchor on a Metal Boat

The bending shackle attaches the chain to the anchor ring.

When you install an anchor on a metal boat, you are making up the vessel's ground tackle. Ground tackle consists of the anchor line and chain -- together, called the anchor rode -- and the anchor. A metal boat will have an anchor winch, or windlass, to raise and lower the anchor, and a snubber, a chain that's dedicated to taking the stress and strain to which the anchor is subjected by the movements of the boat. Permanently anchored to the deck in a pad eye, the snubber ends with a pelican hook, to lock the anchor chain until released.

Things You'll Need

• 2 bending shackles
• Adjustable winch
• Safety wire

Instructions

1. Remove the pin from a bending shackle. Fit the shackle opening over the anchor ring, located at the top of the anchor. Push the pin back through the bore on one side of the bending shackle, and through the anchor ring. Engage the female threads on the opposite side of the bending shackle with the threads of the pin. Tighten the pin as much as possible with the hand and tighten it fully with an adjustable wrench.

2. Insert one end of the safety wire through the hole in the end of the pin that protrudes from the shackle. Wrap both ends of the wire around the arm of the bending shackle twice. Twist the ends of the wire together.

3. Fit the arm of a second bending shackle through the remaining end of the anchor chain. Push the pin back through the bore on one side of the bending shackle, and through the thimble, the metal protector inside the eye spliced at the end of the anchor line, wound around the windlass, which is welded to the deck. Engage the female threads on the opposite side of the bending shackle with the threads of the pin. Tighten the pin as much as possible by hand and tighten it fully with an adjustable wrench.

4. Insert one end of the safety wire through the hole in the end of the pen that protrudes from the shackle. Wrap both ends of the wire around the arm of the bending shackle twice. Twist the ends of the wire together.

5. Pick up the snubber, a chain attached to a pad eye welded to the deck next to the windlass. Pull down on the bail of the pelican hook at the end of the pelican hook and fit the tip of the hook through the farthest link of the anchor chain the snubber and pelican hook can reach. Lift the bale of the pad eye to close it around the chain.

6. Turn the brake wheel on the windlass counterclockwise to release the brake and allow the anchor rope to go slack as the snubber to take the strain of the anchor's weight. Turn the brake wheel on the windlass clockwise to set the brake.

References

• "The American Merchant Seaman's Manual"; W. Hayler; 1981
• Global Security: FM 55-501, Chapter 21, Section 21-8