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daletournier · 04-03-2019, 07:54

Hi, I'm about to buy new chain. I have a Maxwell 1200 windlass, 8mm (5/16) chain.

I can purchase ISO or DIN766, for 8mm chain the two are the same dimensions they only differ for the 10mm chain.

Being a Catalina I believe the current chain is 5/16 G4, the pitch is 2mm longer (26mm) compared to DIN or ISO which is 24mm.

My question is, does it matter? I assume the gypsy will take either, I can't imagine Maxwell makes two differ types of gypsies, one for G4 and one for ISO/DIN?

Cheers anyone confirm the above?

Cheers Dale.

Yellow bird · 04-03-2019, 08:42

G4 (or G40) is not refering to the standard for windlass, it's just the breaking strenght (40kg per mmsquare), more powerfull than "normal" G30 (30Kg per mmsquare)
The only standardar of a 8mm (5/16) chain, for any kind of windlass, is DIN766 (inside length 24mm).
So I'm quit sure you make a mistake to measure the inside length of your current chain.

daletournier · 04-03-2019, 09:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Eagle

G4 (or G40) is not refering to the standard for windlass, it's just the breaking strenght (40kg per mmsquare), more powerfull than "normal" G30 (30Kg per mmsquare)
The only standardar of a 8mm (5/16) chain, for any kind of windlass, is DIN766 (inside length 24mm).
So I'm quit sure you make a mistake to measure the inside length of your current chain.

Hi Black eagle, thanks for replying.

Acco 5/16 G4 chain has a pitch of 1.03 inches (26mm) this is the measurement I get when I measure my chain.

When I look up the DIN 766 specs for 8mm (5/16) I get 24mm? I've checked this several times, thus the confusion.

daletournier · 04-03-2019, 10:09

Just looked up the Specs for Maggi chain, this is what budget marine sell, its a well known Italian brand. I guess the VIN & ISO specs aren't exact? as you can see below their internal measurement is 26.1mm yet the standards say 24mm. Now of course this makes the link as a whole slightly longer.

Yellow bird · 04-03-2019, 11:03

I'm sorry, my mistake.

I forgot that I'm on an international forum, and non only European

USA standard is differnt from the EU standar, here we call "Imperial standard" you can see the difference from the two standards here

http://www.maggigroup.com/pdf/Nautic.pdf

Anyway I'm almost sure (but I never try

), that your gypsy can't fit both,
but only USA standard (Imperial standard) chain, that it's different from DIN766 standard.

evm1024 · 07-03-2019, 09:59

Something to keep in mind is when measuring pitch differences you need to use 2 times the inside length. This is because every other link is rotated 90 degrees. (alternate links engage)

SO with 26 mm and 24 mm inside lengths you end up with 52mm vs 48 mm or a 4 mm difference.

Will your wildcat handle this? Perhaps or perhaps not - so much goes into pocket design.

You might take a look at this write-up that I made when fitting 5/16 G70 Acco chain on an Ideal 3/8" BBB wildcat.

5/16" G70 chain | Morgan le Fay

I really wanted to know why the 5/16" HT was jamming. (on my windlass)

daletournier · 07-03-2019, 10:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by evm1024

Something to keep in mind is when measuring pitch differences you need to use 2 times the inside length. This is because every other link is rotated 90 degrees. (alternate links engage)

SO with 26 mm and 24 mm inside lengths you end up with 52mm vs 48 mm or a 4 mm difference.

Will your wildcat handle this? Perhaps or perhaps not - so much goes into pocket design.

You might take a look at this write-up that I made when fitting 5/16 G70 Acco chain on an Ideal 3/8" BBB wildcat.

5/16" G70 chain | Morgan le Fay

I really wanted to know why the 5/16" HT was jamming. (on my windlass)

Thanks.

I now know that VIN 766 & ISO dimensions are identical except for 10mm chain where the pitch varies 2mm.

The other thing I learnt is 8mm & 5/16 aren't the same size. Technically 5/16 of an inch is just slightly smaller than 8mm EXCEPT when your talking chain! 5/16 is actually 9mm!.....why call it 5/16?

8mm & 5/16 will both work in a maxwell gypsy from what I can see, even though the 5/16 pitch is greater.

I'm not using 8mm, when you put it side by side with the 5/16(9mm) it's significantly smaller. I can purchase 9mm in the carribean in a couple of mths.

evm1024 · 07-03-2019, 10:38

Sounds like you have it sorted out.

When doing my research on my windlass I bought (or was given) a bunch of 1' and 2' test sections of chain to see how they fit.

Regards

**Jim Cate** · 07-03-2019, 12:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by evm1024

Sounds like you have it sorted out.

When doing my research on my windlass I bought (or was given) a bunch of 1' and 2' test sections of chain to see how they fit.

Regards

Dale, if you are buying from a vendor in person, simply take the gypsy with you to the store and check the fit. Harder to do via Amazon...

Jim