* Capt. JG wrote, On 2/23/2007 4:28 PM:
....
However, ignore the amateurs that advise shackling the chain to the
boat. It should be attached with a length of line, strong enough to hold
the boat, accessible enough to cut with a knife if need be.

What about boats that have all chain rodes? Are you proposing adding line
to the end of an all chain rode?

Of course. Why is that a problem? If you were concerned that you could
actually have all of the chain out in a gale and the boat was being held
by that piece of rope, then make it good nylon, which is almost as strong
as chain, for its size. This would provide some shock absorbing when the
boat snubbed up. You can even splice it onto the chain such that it would
run out a chain pipe.
....

You should tell that to all the large charter companies... none of them do
this... at least the ones I've chartered with, although I don't see a
downside to it except the possibility of a connection failure, which could
be prevented with proper maintenance.

Are you saying they don't bother to secure the rode at all? That
would seem weird, given the large number of inexperienced users. I
can believe that they decided to shackle securely, peening it to make
it impossible to remove. The charter companies have different priorities.