Roberto wrote:
Here's a link I just found.

http://206.131.241.61/ubb/ultimatebb...c&f=1&t=008434

Jax is SUCH a anal orifice!!

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!

Talk about getting publicly humiliated!
Jax does not care that he is publicly humiliated; it happens all the
time. However, in this case Jax knows what he's doing. I couldn't
find the beginnings of this thread, but it probably started when
someone made a claim such as "the catenary affect of an all chain rode
provides enough shock loading to hold a boat in all conditions." When
Jax sees the word "catenary" misused like this he pounces.

The problem is that the chain provides plenty of shock loading while
its still laying on the bottom, but once it is lifted up and assumes
the catenary shape, it provides none. In other words, chain by itself
provides comfort in lighter air, but gets dangerous in heavy air. And
while the word "catenary" properly describes the shape of the chain,
it has no magical properties, and in fact signals the point where the
chain rode has lost its effectiveness in this regard.

The solution, of course, is a snubber, and Jax does make the error of
denying the stretchiness of nylon, but to his credit, many people use
a too short, too thick snubber to be properly effective.

The engineer from S/V HyLyte makes a few blunders in his argument that
opens the door for Jaxie: For instance, claiming the the boat motion
in waves is a "conservative 2 feet per second" doesn't seem right at
all. In fact, I would guess that boats bobbing in a nasty little
harbor chop move considerably faster than that. If you have any
doubt, try moving your hand in front of you 2 feet per second - its
hard moving it that slowly. Although not stated, the situation under
consideration is a boat fully exposed to a storm, such as the Cabo
disaster of 20 years ago. The engineer makes arguments based on
simple waves, and doesn't consider breaking waves at all.

Another mistake is grossly underestimating the horizontal loading due
to the wind. He says his First 42 has a load of 135 pounds in 20
knots; the ABYC says a 40 footer has a load 300 pounds in 15 knots and
up to 2400 pounds in 60 knots. And this is just the beginning - if
the boats gets a bit sideways to the wind, the load goes way up. The
issue here is how much wind does it take to stretch the chain out
fully. By underestimating the loading, the argument that 150 feet of
chain will need 56 knots of wind to lift it off the bottom becomes
bogus. It will, in fact, be stretched out in winds much lighter,
implying that snubbers are needed whenever a blow is expected.

So be a little careful arguing with Jaxie - although he's completely
wrong most of the time, there are a few arguments where he's learned a
bit. This is one that he takes from one group to another, like an old
bar trick.