THE BRUCE^®CHASER STOPPER
(Patents Pending)

The Bruce chaser stopper is essentially a triangular plate with shackle holes at forward and aft ends and a curved lower edge between these ends. The forward end is formed as an elongated nose which can turns freely inside a Bruce chaser. The height of the plate aft of the nose blocks passage of the chaser over the stopper once the stopper has turned upright due to the chaser bearing on its curved lower edge.

When the mooring line is hauled out, the weight of line and anchor initially act together to keep the chaser on the nose of the stopper. If the plane of the stopper is not vertical, the weight causes the stopper to pivot about its contact point with the chaser until it becomes vertical and the chaser is blocked by the height of the stopper. This forces the anchor to hang pointing towards the MODU (Fig. 1 below).

As haul out continues, the weight of the bight between chaser and MODU keeps the stopper in the chaser and maintains the orientation of the anchor for set down (Fig. 2 below).

The Bruce Chaser Stopper is always edge on to the direction of anchor embedment and so offers minimal penetration resistance.

Fig. 1 Stopper automatically orientates anchor on hauling out

Fig. 2 Stopped chaser holds anchor in correct orientation for set down