Acco vs Chinese chain

[cabo_sailor]

I just ordered 200 ft of 5/16 chain. I asked the salesperson if it was Acco chain or Chinese. He told me that basically all the chain was Chinese but Acco imports the raw chain and hot galvanizes it here in the U.S.
This might explain the longevity difference in corrosion. That is, Acco just does a better job of galvanizing.

I certainly hope so, it's too expensive to replace it every couple years. Oh and the chain I ordered is from Acco.

Just a FYI.

Rich


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[David M]

I would not trust any anchor chain made in China, not when you can get known tested standards from other sources.

I have just seen too many failures of metal made in China. I don't know if Chinese manufacturers know how to produce items of high grade metallurgy or know about it and choose not to produce high grade metals. Maybe they do produce some high grade metals but why chance it when too much is unknown? It's the Wild West in China with their standards, or lack thereof.

[hellosailor]

The fact that something comes from China, has been made in China, does not automatically mean it has to be junk. The problem is, unless you know how it was supervised, all you know is that it comes from a land where regulations can be very loose and deception of the hairy barbarians is cultural heritage. After all, we're in the "low kingdom" and that makes us (the world outside of China) rather less of a concern.


If Acco is supervising the production of their chain, testing the metal, etc. and has a reputable business partner in China, then there would be very little reason to confuse it with "generic" Chinese chain. If some Acco executive's uncle was running operations in China, they'd suffer a great loss of face by cheating on the exports, because they were dealing with family, not just the hairy apes of the low kingdom.


And we only make the problem worse, by consistently concerning ourselves only with the lowest possible price, with little understanding of anything "technical" beyond that.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

The fact that something comes from China, has been made in China, does not automatically mean it has to be junk. The problem is, unless you know how it was supervised, all you know is that it comes from a land where regulations can be very loose and deception of the hairy barbarians is cultural heritage. After all, we're in the "low kingdom" and that makes us (the world outside of China) rather less of a concern.


If Acco is supervising the production of their chain, testing the metal, etc. and has a reputable business partner in China, then there would be very little reason to confuse it with "generic" Chinese chain. If some Acco executive's uncle was running operations in China, they'd suffer a great loss of face by cheating on the exports, because they were dealing with family, not just the hairy apes of the low kingdom.


And we only make the problem worse, by consistently concerning ourselves only with the lowest possible price, with little understanding of anything "technical" beyond that.

Yep, most all structural stuff now, road bridges etc are made from Asian steel. They key is specs and supervision. (is the Iphone a piece of toy junk?)
It surprises me to no end though that ACCO would do the part the Environmental agencies don't like in the US. But I've not been a fan of the Chinese galvanizing I've seen in the past. So maybe they are having trouble getting it done well.
BTW, the Chinese seem to be smarter than the US govt now, as proven again yesterday with the hacking of Govt computers.

[jcapo]

The servers that this forum runs on were almost surely made in China. The computers and monitors we view this forum with were made in China. China can build quality products when not building to a Harbor Freight price point. And even some of the Harbor Freight tools are pretty good.

Acco chain galvanizing is not what it used to be. Search CF for rusting Acco chain for other opinions on that subject. My 5/16 G4 chain started rusting after 6 months of daily anchoring. The 10 year old chain it replaced was in better condition. Oh well... Its only money.

[cabo_sailor]

Well I needed new chain, the old was mostly a rusty ball. For around here, if needs be, I'll make my primary a 50 ft length of chain spliced to 200ft of 5/8 in 8 braight nylon.

I want to keep the chain for the weight otherwise the boat wants to squat.


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[colemj]

Here is the scoop on ACCO chain:

ACCO sells two types - one that is made in the US for a premium price and another that is imported from China at an economy price.

The Chinese chain is of lower quality, and usually only G30 grade. I don't know if they import any G40 grade chain.

On the other hand, the premium US ACCO chain is crap. At least that was our experience with it, as well as 14 other people we ran across who were furious about their ACCO chain.

Like jcapo mentioned, a search of CF archives will find many others with poor ACCO chain experiences.

Our US made (I saw the drum certificate and it was bought from Defender) ACCO G4 5/16 chain rusted out in 6 months and was completely unusable within a year. ACCO refused to do anything about it and blamed it on me. All the others we met had similar customer experiences with ACCO.

We switched to Maggi G4 8mm chain and it still looks good 5yrs later. We anchor out pretty much 365 days/yr (minus passage making and a couple of weeks in a marina), so that chain is in the water and on the bottom almost continually.

I sincerely hope that they have solved their quality problems and yours will be long-lived. If there is any chance of returning the chain, Maggi now has a warehouse in Ft. Lauderdale Florida and is selling chain in the US for the first time. They are even selling imperial sizes too.

Mark

[cabo_sailor]

Thank you Mark,

I will look into them.

Rich


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[Cheechako]

Does Campbell still make chain. That's the last I bought. 10+ years. When did people start buying ACCO? All the fisherman in the PNW seemed to use Campbell. Fisheries Supply likely still has it.
Later: Here: http://www.campbellchainandfittings.com/campbell_marine

[cabo_sailor]

Don't know Cheechako,
I'm just a poor southern boy that don't know the fine points of the game. 😎. I've had the same chain on board for 15 yrs. Turning it end for end has helped but age eventually catches up. Same for my batteries, after 10 yrs I had to replace two 4D and two group 27's AGM batteries, to the tune of $2K. That's why I am a POOR southern boy. My refit is costing about $25K!!

Rich


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[hellosailor]

"had the same chain on board for 15 yrs. Turning it end for end has helped but age eventually catches up. Same for my batteries,"
I don';t understand. Do you mean, you swap the positive and negative cables to the battery bank? Or just turn the batteries over, top for bottom?
(WEG)

[Cheechako]

Yep, the refit never stops! Last time I bought chain I bought a barrel and had it drop shipped to Annapolis. I think Campbell is in Maryland anyway. It was too much chain but much cheaper that way and I managed to sell some of it. Find someone else to split a barrel with you!

[cabo_sailor]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

"had the same chain on board for 15 yrs. Turning it end for end has helped but age eventually catches up. Same for my batteries,"
I don';t understand. Do you mean, you swap the positive and negative cables to the battery bank? Or just turn the batteries over, top for bottom?
(WEG)

No in the case of anchor chain you are more concerned with the galvanizing. There is a electric process which leaves all the metal
shiny but would be lucky to last a year in salt watèr. Then there is hot dip, which looks ugly and gray but resists corrosion much longer. That's what you want.

There is nothing to do with batteries it's just how much chain you are exposing to salt water and allowing galvanic reaction to occur. Your boat to is acting like a big battery and depending on conditions it will dissolve some metal preferentially over others.

I'm sorry, but there is much more to this but I am really tired. One old Fart heading for the pillow. There is a ton of info out there on galvanic reactions.

G'night all
Rich

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[HopCar]

American Chain Company ACCO sells their imported chain under the name Boatman's Pride. They do sell Boatman's Pride G4 Chain.

Canada Metal owns factories in China and they seem to make pretty good products. They have their own employees there and do a LOT of testing.

[model 10]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Yep, the refit never stops! Last time I bought chain I bought a barrel and had it drop shipped to Annapolis. I think Campbell is in Maryland anyway. It was too much chain but much cheaper that way and I managed to sell some of it. Find someone else to split a barrel with you!

Now they sell half barrels. 5/16 = 270'. 3/8 is something like 230', etc..