Is there a Quality Anchor Swivel?

[Lagoon4us]

Wow a breath of fresh air! Someone who takes some experience without a barrow to push for what it's worth!!!!

Good on you, we love the Ultra Swivel and also the Bridle or Snubber hook, and when i get to Turkey i'll probably buy there anchor as a back up.

ULTRA do good engineering on their gear, i had never heard of them before we saw some boats with the gear and i'm happy to hang our Cat on them as they are quality....

Cheers Mate...../

[GMac]

As someone who spends all day sorting/testing/playing with anchoring systems I do find it serioulsy funny to see people pooh pooh swivels as dangerous then go fit some eastern made bit of shackle shaped excrement and then think they are safer. Sorry dudes but No often you aren't.

Yes there are perfectly fine swivels being sold just as there are perfectly fine shackles. Obviously the inverse also applies and there is some total stinkers being sold.

I know of one specific swivel that have well over 10,000 are in use as I write, some coming on 10 years old. I think they have had about 4 maybe 5 failures. You'd be extremely lucky and find a shackle with that success rate.

There are a couple of very good reasons to fit swivels to some rodes. Generally the cruising fleet would be the lowest users of them as they tend to run all chain rodes.

[Kenomac]

We're also very pleased with our Ultra Swivel and Ultra Anchor; the gear looks to be very overbuilt and high quality.

[Dennis.G]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

We're also very pleased with our Ultra Swivel and Ultra Anchor; the gear looks to be very overbuilt and high quality.

And overpriced?
Should look very nice on your Oyster however, glossy anchor and swivel. Very impressive finish. I made sure to enter the Ultra's anchor give away drawing when I was at the boat show.

My current boat is first one of mine that has had a swivel on anchor (came that way). Before without swivel would sometimes get a bit of twist that would spin-out once anchor was off the bottom. Now with swivel: I still see the same thing - just a bit of twist that undoes itself by anchor twisting around as it comes up. Have not seen any advantage in having swivel.

If you don't have a swivel you can't break a swivel. My plan is to remove it shortly and put in the spare parts bin.

[Lagoon4us]

I think with 'ULTRA' you pay for what you get, shiny? Nope ours is quite dull from use, we bought ours very reasonably at the 'Biograd' boatshow.

One other advantage we like is the anchor when drawn back up to the boat always swings to nestle correctly which is extremely important to a cat to avoid damage to both the alloy crossbeam, roller and cheeks.

Here in Greece the winds are fickle, i swear at anchor we do 3 or 4 -360 deg rotations in a day. We don't deploy any rope just all chain, the swivel helps reduce bind.

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by Lagoon4us

I think with 'ULTRA' you pay for what you get, shiny? Nope ours is quite dull from use, we bought ours very reasonably at the 'Biograd' boatshow.

One other advantage we like is the anchor when drawn back up to the boat always swings to nestle correctly which is extremely important to a cat to avoid damage to both the alloy crossbeam, roller and cheeks.

Here in Greece the winds are fickle, i swear at anchor we do 3 or 4 -360 deg rotations in a day. We don't deploy any rope just all chain, the swivel helps reduce bind.

That's pretty much the reason we got an Ultra swivel. Our anchor is a bit much for us to swing with a boathook when it comes up bass akwards. The Ultra straightens it out automatically, and that is sufficient reason to put up with it also being shiny.

[Nicholson58]

I believe the problem is that we all fall prey to the Marine stores and the expensive boat jewelry they offer. We all know better than to mix our metals but we voluntarily put a chunk of SS between a galvanized anchor & chain. Further, SS is relatively very ductile. The swivels offered are works of art designed to be smooth and without projections. All are subject to horrible bending loads as they pass the bow roller. In order to combat this we over-size the heck out of them. The galvanized swivels offered in the same stores are also not designed to bend over a roller. Has anyone asked what commercial vessesel operators use?

I did some research and found that the terminal tackle used by the pros is called a "forerunner". I searched for a supplier and eventually bought from Washington Chain & Supply. Chain Attachments - Washington Chain & Supply They were quite helpful. I described my chain and the sales guy found a piece of my chain and checked to make sure things would fit. (G4 chain 7/16”) A modification had to be made. Some terminal connectors such as Kentor shackle would not fit. The forerunner and D-shackle were in my hands in about 10 days. $ 278 including shipping. The smallest swivel forerunner is 7/16" but you can use shackles to step down to smaller chain. This is way stronger than most all of the SS stuff and it is immune to the bow roller.

The quote:
1 ea. 14mm Swivel Forerunner Galv. G2 w/ABS with Stud Removed from Common Link to Allow Shackle to Pass Through $135/ea.
1 ea. 14 mm D-Shackle Galv. G2w/ABS $90/ea.
1 ea. ½” Crosby BTC Shackle Galv. $20/ea.

Photo is the parts with the new ROCNA 55

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

I believe the problem is that we all fall prey to the Marine stores and the expensive boat jewelry they offer. We all know better than to mix our metals but we voluntarily put a chunk of SS between a galvanized anchor & chain. Further, SS is relatively very ductile. The swivels offered are works of art designed to be smooth and without projections. All are subject to horrible bending loads as they pass the bow roller. In order to combat this we over-size the heck out of them. The galvanized swivels offered in the same stores are also not designed to bend over a roller. Has anyone asked what commercial vessesel operators use?

I did some research and found that the terminal tackle used by the pros is called a "forerunner". I searched for a supplier and eventually bought from Washington Chain & Supply. Chain Attachments - Washington Chain & Supply They were quite helpful. I described my chain and the sales guy found a piece of my chain and checked to make sure things would fit. (G4 chain 7/16”) A modification had to be made. Some terminal connectors such as Kentor shackle would not fit. The forerunner and D-shackle were in my hands in about 10 days. $ 278 including shipping. The smallest swivel forerunner is 7/16" but you can use shackles to step down to smaller chain. This is way stronger than most all of the SS stuff and it is immune to the bow roller.

The quote:
1 ea. 14mm Swivel Forerunner Galv. G2 w/ABS with Stud Removed from Common Link to Allow Shackle to Pass Through $135/ea.
1 ea. 14 mm D-Shackle Galv. G2w/ABS $90/ea.
1 ea. ½” Crosby BTC Shackle Galv. $20/ea.

Photo is the parts with the new ROCNA 55

That looks like a nice setup for you, but it isn't correct that a proper swivel is weaker than the 1/2" components you reference. For less $ than this, an Ultra swivel can be had with 38,000# breaking strength that for heavier anchors has the additional feature of aligning the anchor correctly for retrieval. It may be true that a galvanized link making contact with the 9/16" stainless stud could be subject to galvanic corrosion, although I have never seen it in years of anchoring with stainless connectors, so I'm not sure that is a reason to adopt a weaker connection at the outset.

[Lagoon4us]

The 'ULTRA' has no issues with being attached to the anchors shank and being hauled over the roller it's actually designed to do this pivoting at the shank as it rolls over. The ductility of these units is not in question.

If i could have SS chain instead of galv i would for 2 reasons, 1) It never needs re-galvanising. 2) It would lay in the locker without need to be spread.

The Ultra swivel we use suits our purpose and is far superior in strength to any galvanised swivel/shackle combination. We have no connecting shackles the unit has it's own pin.

Cheers

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Delfin

That looks like a nice setup for you, but it isn't correct that a proper swivel is weaker than the 1/2" components you reference. For less $ than this, an Ultra swivel can be had with 38,000# breaking strength that for heavier anchors has the additional feature of aligning the anchor correctly for retrieval. It may be true that a galvanized link making contact with the 9/16" stainless stud could be subject to galvanic corrosion, although I have never seen it in years of anchoring with stainless connectors, so I'm not sure that is a reason to adopt a weaker connection at the outset.

In this system the breaking load is 3X to 5X the rated load. This terminal equipment is way stronger than the chian.

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

In this system the breaking load is 3X to 5X the rated load. This terminal equipment is way stronger than the chian.

Well, a bit stronger anyway. Looks like a 14mm grade 2 forerunner has a proof load of around 18,500#, a breaking load of 26,000# compared to a WLL of 7,200# and breaking load of 21,600# for G4 7/16". The Ultra swivel has a breaking load in that size of 38,000#. Either way, as you say, it is stronger than your chain, so it looks like a good system, and unlike most connectors is certainly not the weak link the system.

[pbiJim]

As for the broken SS shackle, my guess would be a manufacturing defect, but I would need to inspect it closely to give an educated opinion on the subject.

As for getting a connection device to pass through places that a shackle jams in, have you considered trying a quick link? They flow pretty well in most places, but they don't swivel.

As for swivels, I haven't seen any that I actually liked in quite a while. If I needed one for an important application & it had to fit in a certain space, I'd probably go to a local machine shop & have one made to my drawings out of a good grade of stainless, not 304 or any of it's little brothers. Others here may well have found better quality swivels that I have been encountering lately.

[bobconnie]

Tryed all of them almost! never had a swivel hold up yet! I went back to the old way and will continue to use shackles for ever I guess! I trust the screw in pins and wire! I like to sleep !! and Ive had to dive to get my anchor back twice now from broken swivels, never again ! just my 2 cents

[Tortuga's Lie]

After spending the better part of an hour reading through this old post, I thought I would bring it back up with an additional question: Has anyone had any experience or maybe an opinion of the Mantus anchor swivel?
It seems to address many of the shortcomings of inferior swivels and claims to have "eliminated" the side loading issue. It uses a captive oblong pin that increases the strength while being able to fit small chain links. Interesting.

My interest in swivels is to help orient the anchor as it approaches the bow roller, as I single hand and everything to make it easier helps!

Tom

[Spade Anchor]

Wasi Power Ball swivel is the only swivel that we know of certified by German Lloyd's. Manufactured under Germany's strict guidelines. It is also the only swivel ( again that we know of ) that has public test results for its breaking strength ( see chart).