Anchor eye (thimble) replacement suggestions

[Sir reel]

Got a question for you folks this morning. I was involved in some major boat clean'n yesterday and I removed my anchor rode (chain) which was getting pretty rusted up. The eye Thimble in the anchor rope was also very rusty and pieces falling away. It needs to be replaced with something. The picture below shows a different style of rope than mine. Mine is spliced back into the rope after it goes around the eye. Is there any type of replacement eye that can be put in place without cutting the end off the rope, and resplicing? I could remove the rusted eye and use a galvanized shackle or stainless snap ring but I don't think that would be as good against wear on the rope eye as another metal eye insert. If anybody has some ideas or preferences let me know. Thanks.

[Dubble Trubble]

Why not just go over to West Marine and get a good stainless thimble to replace it....I have done it, The rope can be stretched enough to replace it....

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... SiteSearch

By the way, resplicing a rope is not that hard to do. It looks hard, but once you get the hang of it, it is a snap....I just took a length of rope, and practiced while sitting in the old easy chair at night.

http://www.fish4fun.com/boat%20rope.htm

Nylon is even easier....but not a good anchor rope in my opinion.

Dubble

[Sir reel]

Thanks DT

Two good links!

I had done a bit if internet snoop'n but had not run across the replacement eye's Thanks for that information.

My anchor rope is not nylon. I have put loops in nylon rope and spliced those but I haven't tried it with real rope. The factory job is very neat and I know it sure wouldn't look that good if I tried it. I purchased it originally from WM. Got a followup question for you or anyone else who would like to jump in. If I'm using a galvanized shackle to attach the anchor chain to the eye, should I use a galvanized replacement eye instead of the stainless to avoid conflicting metals in saltwater?

[Dubble Trubble]

I use galvanized on mine. But I also wash my anchor and rode with fresh water after each use. I would not think the stainless would have much of a reaction with the galvanized shackles....

If it stayed in salt water 24/7, maybe so, but not for anchor use.

Dubble

[Sir reel]

Thanks again DT.

I wash mine as well. This one has survived aprox 5 yrs. The galvinized shackles were in very good shape but the eye had rusted out. It may be that the factory choice for material left something to be desired. Do you get more service life or would you consider 5 yrs as being typical?

[Atticus]

Bud- When you go to WM ask the employees there - there is a guy that will splice the metal part into your rode for you. I dropped my rode off there and he picked it up, spliced it in, had it turned around in one week. Nice work too.

[Sir reel]

Thanks for the information Luke.