Mooring chains, with shackles or not?

[Gybe Ho]

I need to replace a lost narrowboat mooring chain and have noticed there are two variants for sale:

1. Most common is where the chain and rings are connected via shackles.
2. My favourite, I think, features rings what must have been threaded through an end link of the chain before being welded closed to form a ring.

 

The second type seems better to me because occasionally the shackles snag against the armco when threading and unthreading chains. There is also a remote possibility that cyclical snatching of the chain will unwind a shackle which is a top concern when shackling an anchor to anchor chain on a sailing yacht.

 

Type-1 mooring chains are more common in chandlers which makes me think I am overlooking something?

[IanM]

56 minutes ago, Gybe Ho said:

a top concern when shackling an anchor to anchor chain on a sailing yacht

 

Which, if the shackle came undone you could drift off to who knows where. 

 

However if you're just chaining your boat to armco the only likely place you're going to drift off to is the other bank.  You probably wouldn't use chains on rivers.

 

I think you're overthinking it but yes, it is a pain when the shackle gets caught.

[nicknorman]

Deleted

Edited Tuesday at 09:30 by nicknorman

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, Gybe Ho said:

Type-1 mooring chains are more common in chandlers which makes me think I am overlooking something?

Have you found anyone selling your Type 2?

I couldn't when I was looking a few years back. In the end I made my own using chain, rings and repair links (hammered flat) in place of the shackles.

[Gybe Ho]

3 minutes ago, IanM said:

I think you're overthinking it but yes, it is a pain when the shackle gets caught.

 

I always do.

 

Just a year into narrowboating I had already decided the shackled together type looked a bit cobbled together and I was about to buy a replacement Type-2 shackless design but then thought why is Type-1 far more common and so decided to post here "wisdom of the crowd" and all that.

 

7 minutes ago, IanM said:

However if you're just chaining your boat to armco the only likely place you're going to drift off to is the other bank.  You probably wouldn't use chains on rivers.

 

You are correct, failed anchoring equipment is far more likely to have a bad outcome in a coastal anchorage. On any busy stretch of canal I now tend to add springs to settle down my boat hense the chance of one end of the boat becoming adrift is remote.

[Alan de Enfield]

1 hour ago, Gybe Ho said:

There is also a remote possibility that cyclical snatching of the chain will unwind a shackle which is a top concern when shackling an anchor to anchor chain on a sailing yacht.

 

Surely as a solo transatlantic and around the world sailor, you always 'moused' your shackles.

Not only on anchor rodes, but when, (for example) bending on a furling headsail

 

Poor show if you didn't.

[Gybe Ho]

52 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Surely as a solo transatlantic and around the world sailor, you always 'moused' your shackles.

 

Back in those days I did not benefit from your CWDF cut & paste info posts, if crossing the Atlantic today I would consult one of your tables and calculate I need to carry about 15 miles of 18mm anchor rope to safely anchor anywhere in the north Atlantic ocean.

 

More important than moused up shackles is the orientation of the shackle so that when the boat snatches up fully against the chain, and momentarily lifts the anchor shank, the rotation of the end chain link tries to tighten the shackle.

 

I never reached the exhaulted level of solo transatlantic sailor, my longest solo passage was 43 hours from Baltimore in Ireland to Falmouth England via the Fastnet Rock.

 

Edited Tuesday at 10:50 by Gybe Ho

[LadyG]

There is a boat a couple of miles from me  which appears to be chained and shackled to strong points  tbh it looks like industrial strength shackle and there are numerous notices, including a CRT yellow one, I would take a look, but I think there might be someone on board, so im taking security precautions 

Is this how a Section 8 starts off?

[Iain_S]

3 hours ago, Gybe Ho said:

I need to replace a lost narrowboat mooring chain and have noticed there are two variants for sale:

1. Most common is where the chain and rings are connected via shackles.
2. My favourite, I think, features rings what must have been threaded through an end link of the chain before being welded closed to form a ring.

 

The second type seems better to me because occasionally the shackles snag against the armco when threading and unthreading chains. There is also a remote possibility that cyclical snatching of the chain will unwind a shackle which is a top concern when shackling an anchor to anchor chain on a sailing yacht.

 

Type-1 mooring chains are more common in chandlers which makes me think I am overlooking something?

Type 1 is easier and cheaper to make.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

When the weld broke on the large ring of one of my goat chains, a replacement ring was easy to fit with the shackles. If I was super concerned, a dab of threadlock on the shackle pin thread would prevent it shifting. Never had it happen though. 

[GUMPY]

An odd length of chain and a Bow shackle always did the job for me, never had one come undone.

What is this snatching you speak of, don't you have your ropes as tight as they can be?

 

[PaulJ]

19 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

When the weld broke on the large ring of one of my goat chains, a replacement ring was easy to fit with the shackles. If I was super concerned, a dab of threadlock on the shackle pin thread would prevent it shifting. Never had it happen though. 

Funnily enough I retied a boat where the ring weld had failed. Someone must have really hammered past.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

5 minutes ago, PaulJ said:

Funnily enough I retied a boat where the ring weld had failed. Someone must have really hammered past.

It was a rubbish weld on mine. Basically a blob of weld, with very little penetration. Surprised it lasted as long as it did. 

[IanM]

12 minutes ago, PaulJ said:

Funnily enough I retied a boat where the ring weld had failed. Someone must have really hammered past.

 

The thought of the ring coming apart was why I had words with a hire boater the other week who had tied their rope to our ring thinking it was a part of the armco.  I did offer the loan of a paper clip for the night though.

[Gybe Ho]

1 hour ago, GUMPY said:

An odd length of chain and a Bow shackle always did the job for me, never had one come undone.

What is this snatching you speak of, don't you have your ropes as tight as they can be?

 

 

Snatching of chains happens multiple times a day on a canal due to other boats passing at excess speed. When actively cruising you will note other narrowboaters kicking, leavering or knocking out chains and nappy pins wedged behind armco due to a mooring rope snatching (yes even when placed adjacent to armco fixing bolts).

 

Slack mooring ropes accentuate the problem by allowing a moored narrowboat to surge towards a passing narrowboat and build up momentum before coming up short on the chain with an even more aggresive snatch. It took me a couple of weeks to work that one out following launch of my just purchased narrowboat because I started off applyhing coatal marine mooring techniques with slacker ropes = disaster.

[TunnelTiger]

I like these links. Add whatever end fittings you want. Not easy to undo which IMHO is a good thing

 

[BilgePump]

On 02/06/2026 at 09:26, Gybe Ho said:

I need to replace a lost narrowboat mooring chain and have noticed there are two variants for sale:

1. Most common is where the chain and rings are connected via shackles.
2. My favourite, I think, features rings what must have been threaded through an end link of the chain before being welded closed to form a ring.

 

The second type seems better to me because occasionally the shackles snag against the armco when threading and unthreading chains. There is also a remote possibility that cyclical snatching of the chain will unwind a shackle which is a top concern when shackling an anchor to anchor chain on a sailing yacht.

 

Type-1 mooring chains are more common in chandlers which makes me think I am overlooking something?

If I want a shackle to be secured and don't intend to undo it for some time then just do it up tight as possible with some grips and then use seizing wire through the hole in the pin and round a couple of times and twist it off. Granted it's not as neat as a nice loop welded in at manufactue but it does prevent the pin from undoing itself.

 

eta: Sorry, just repeating something that has already been mentioned. Just seen the posts going back up.

Edited Wednesday at 09:50 by BilgePump

[Gybe Ho]

6 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

If I want a shackle to be secured and don't intend to undo it for some time then just do it up tight as possible with some grips and then use seizing wire through the hole in the pin and round a couple of times and tie it off. Granted it's not as neat as a nice loop welded in at manufactue but it does prevent the pin from undoing itself.

 

I have not seen seizing wire used on mooring chain shackles, I think it would create a hazard that risks cutting hands. The main irritation of shackles on mooring chains is they tend to snag and also jam between the armco rail joints. I have decided to buy Type-2 shackless design of mooring chains since no response in this thread indicated a downside other than they are more expensive to produce.

[David Mack]

51 minutes ago, Gybe Ho said:

I have decided to buy Type-2 shackless design of mooring chains since no response in this thread indicated a downside other than they are more expensive to produce.

Have you found anywhere that sells them?

[Rob-M]

I can't recall the shackles on my chains ever catching or preventing me using them, maybe I've just been lucky using them over the last 10 or so years.

[alias]

11 hours ago, David Mack said:

Have you found anywhere that sells them?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186124987471

 

[IanM]

9 hours ago, Rob-M said:

I can't recall the shackles on my chains ever catching or preventing me using them, maybe I've just been lucky using them over the last 10 or so years.

 

It's a non-issue really.  The shackles only really get in the way when you putting the chains in or taking them out of the armco and even then a quick wiggle normally sorts it.

 

I have had the chain itself jam between the armco and the wailing but either design will not help with that.

[alias]

1 hour ago, IanM said:

I have had the chain itself jam between the armco and the wailing but either design will not help with that.

 

I've had that happen too. Since then wherever possible I put the chain through next to one of the tie rods so that it can't be pulled into the pinch point.

[Jon57]

Only use chains if not possible to use these 👍 

[cuthound]

11 hours ago, Rob-M said:

I can't recall the shackles on my chains ever catching or preventing me using them, maybe I've just been lucky using them over the last 10 or so years.

 

Likewise.