Has Anyone Used Defender's (or other's) Rigging Services?

[scooper321]

Looking to source a new rode for my sedan bridge. It's going to be a combo of chain and rope, with more chain than the standard stock products available for sale. I'm told by Defender Marine that if I buy the chain and rope for them, their rigging department can do the rope/chain splice for me and provide a completed rode. Yes, I know I could do the splice myself. I did plenty of them back in the day in Boy Scouts. But I suspect (actually, I'm positive) that a professional rigging department can do a better job than I can. And the finished product has to be clean to glide through my windlass, so the rat's nest I would make wouldn't work.

Has anyone utilized Defender's rigging department like this? Just looking to hear others' personal experiences with the quality of Defender's work. And if you've used another source for custom splicing/rode work, I'd be interested in who you used and how their quality is.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Stee6043]

I bought all new ground tackle from Defender last year. Had a great experience in price and delivery.

I have one recommendation that would eliminate your question about splicing - go all chain. For the dollars you'll save in having "some amount of rope" it's just not worth it. Buy a Mantus swivel, 200' of chain, and don't look back. Your windlass will thank you. Shoot, your boat may even plane a bit faster after the upgrade

 

[scooper321]

I bought all new ground tackle from Defender last year. Had a great experience in price and delivery.

I have one recommendation that would eliminate your question about splicing - go all chain. For the dollars you'll save in having "some amount of rope" it's just not worth it. Buy a Mantus swivel, 200' of chain, and don't look back. Your windlass will thank you. Shoot, your boat may even plane a bit faster after the upgrade

It's an idea I considered, but ultimately decided against. I don't want to turn this thread into a debate of chain vs. chain/rope rode, so I'll just say that gave a lot of consideration to the all-chain option but decided that a mixed chain/rope rode would work best for us. But I want a bit more chain than the pre-fabbed rodes offer.

 

[boatrboy]

I purchased a line and chain and they spliced it for me. While the service and price was good, I felt that the splice was too thick. Once I installed it I confirmed my suspicions as the splice always needs me to baby it through the windless.
I have the Lorfrans progress and even modified the finger to help, but it seems my previous line splice was thinner.

 

[stg099]

I bought 100’ of chain spliced to 100’ of rode and defender did the splice. It was far better than I could have ever done and passed through the windlass perfectly every time. Highly recommend defenders rigging service

 

[mquiet]

Great timing on this topic. I am about to replace my chain and rode. I thought about a local service and also Defender. I like the idea of having someone do the splice for me as well. I am going 200ft chain with some rope as emergency cut away.