Anchor Swivel

[cfarrar]

if you had a couple of chain links attached to the anchor side of your swivel

The Rocna Knowledge Base has a picture of this exact setup, here. There's a lot of other info, too.

[Nicholson58]

One of the best sources for galvanized hardware, cable, chain and even SS cable is a bonafide rigging supplier such as FD Lake. Lots of hardware of all sorts can also be found at McMaster-Carr. I recently had my 300 feet of 5/8 BBB re plated by a farm equipment supplier who has the contract to the navy to plate their shipboard jet hold-down chains. Coincidently, same chain as mine. They use a powder process in a 'hot' bin dry. No electrolytic chemicals or molton hot dip. Really fabulous job. 70.00 to blast bare and 350.00 to re-plate. The plating is like armor compared to hot dip. I used:
Bill Maddox
Distek/ArmorGalv Coatings Division
Agritek Industries Inc.
www.agritek.com
616 786 9200 X 119

[Extemporaneous]

Originally Posted by cfarrar

The Rocna Knowledge Base has a picture of this exact setup, here. There's a lot of other info, too.

Good job.

Thanks.

[Wand]

Originally Posted by S/V Alchemy

Good on you. There's entirely too much theory in the air. Is there any non-SS in the mooring chain set up? You might want to test for stray current or anything else dodgy in the immediate area that could skew the results.

Thanks Alchemy. There is some non-SS in the chain mooring setups, but I've varied it between the ends so as to 'average' any distortions. And the anchorage is free of stray current last time I checked, although with a power station nearby...? I can't move that but I'll check from time to time.

I've just this morning posted a longish piece on the test at the other forum; won't repost here but, if you're interested, it's here.

[craigsmith]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

But I have a specific query for Craig Smith: Do you have a source for shackles and/or swivels made from 2205 or other duplex grades of s/s?

Our boat has chainplates made of 2205 bar stock and I'm quite happy with it in this service, but have not seen fabricated items like the above offered for sale.

Jim, I have to confess I don't; I was under the delusion that some of Wichard's high end shackles were duplex, but on checking they're not. As to swivels, again not that I know of - not yet. It's pity because for marine usage it's basically a magic material that solves almost every issue with 316. Great that your boat has 2205 chainplates, it's perfect for that too.

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

I recently had my 300 feet of 5/8 BBB re plated by a farm equipment supplier who has the contract to the navy to plate their shipboard jet hold-down chains. Coincidently, same chain as mine. They use a powder process in a 'hot' bin dry. No electrolytic chemicals or molton hot dip. Really fabulous job. 70.00 to blast bare and 350.00 to re-plate. The plating is like armor compared to hot dip.

It really isn't, anyone telling you that is feeding you a porkie. On a trite level, zinc is zinc. But it's hard to beat HDG, which gives you pure inert zinc on the outside and thick hard-as-hell properly alloyed layers between the steel and zinc. What you're talking about is thermal diffusion galvanizing. It seems good (I'm not aware of any significant duration experience with marine components used underwater and dragged over windlass gypsies), but be wary of lab test results and the concurrent marketing. Galv experts will tell you a few reasons why salt spray tests (which these guys refer to, predictably) are flawed.

[Nicholson58]

Hope you are mistaken. Navy picked it for good reason. It is also used extensively on the gulf coast in refineries and on commercial ships. It does have alloying materials to increase hardness and wear. Tractor guys here use it to prevent corrosion on their chemical application equipment. Hope its not a load of crap. Part of the problem here also is it is increasingly difficult to find hot dip facilities. It usually invovles driving your chain several hundred miles. Most facilities are not equipped to handle chain since it requires a special tank and shaker to prevent solidification between the links while cooling.

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by At sea

Thanks Alchemy. There is some non-SS in the chain mooring setups, but I've varied it between the ends so as to 'average' any distortions. And the anchorage is free of stray current last time I checked, although with a power station nearby...? I can't move that but I'll check from time to time.

I've just this morning posted a longish piece on the test at the other forum; won't repost here but, if you're interested, it's here.

Even though I don't currently moor, I will likely choose to pick up a mooring in the future, and I think your particular "experiment" covers most of the bases and should produce interesting results.

One thing the guys at my club who service the moorings and the chain-anchored dock fingers claim is that they can pick which moorings are going to show elongated links (it's all galvanized, as far as I know) due to their exposure to the typically unfrozen Lake Ontario. Prevailing winds of high speed make for predictable wear patterns on those chains, it seems.

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

Most facilities are not equipped to handle chain since it requires a special tank and shaker to prevent solidification between the links while cooling.

That's true everywhere. I'm lucky I live in a place with a lot of auto repair and fabrication companies, still. Galvanizing baths are getting rare, but are still in town.

[surfmachine]

Lost the Buegel, 25Kilo anchor in Lagundri bay!!
Took 4 hours of scuba diving to recover it, Phew!!!
The flamin anchor swivel snapped clean off just as the anchor was coming over the anchor roller!! No more stainless steel anchor swivels, or swivels of any type on this boat!! It was a 10mm stainless swivel bought from the yacht chandlers!

Swivels (Rocna Knowledge Base)

Always buoy the anchor now and just use a 10mm , tested shackle to connect the chain to the anchor, moused on.

Now sitting at Bandah Aceh, on the NW tipof Sumatra, waiting for the immigration to open on Monday. Got here on Friday, but they had decided to have an unofficial holiday.

The weather is perfect for a quick, two day dash across the Malaccan Straits to the delights of Phuket in Thaialnd!?

Fair winds from Keith.

[SVNeko]

Glad you got it back, Keith. Can you tell us a bit more about the swivel?

[surfmachine]

Just a nice looking stainless steel , double swivel, from a yacht chandlers, but the swivel pin in the middle failed, not on the welded end, where the nut was, but inside the body of the swivel, just a clean break, no corrosion!

Was a 10mm bolt that broke clean through, the shackle was obviously under too much side load when the heavy buegel anchor was lifted up over the anchor roller. No wear or distortion, just a shocking thing to let go, we were motoring as trying to wash the mud off of the anchor, it was up out of the water when it failed, that is why it was so hard to find it again!, Hit the man overboard button on the gps, and had a track on the gps.

Ended up dropping an anchor and buoy at the start of the track and anchoring at the mob mark and running a series of ropesjoined together from one anchor to the first and then using the scuba tanks in 7m over murky water, followed the rope backwards and forwards, got it on the second pass, 3m off of the line between the 2 anchors.

Had tried before, just anchored the boat and used the handheld gps on the dingy to anchor at the mob mark and dived with scuba for 60 mins, saw everything , but the anchor.

Now, just rotate the anchor with the boat hook when on final ascent over the roller. Never use a swivel, it was only 2 months old, andlooked very solid, also have a lewmar bulllet type swivel, but never again. What an awful experience, imagine if it had let go at anchor in the night???

Cheers from Keith.

[Hydra]

Keith,
I think a 10mm bolt is undersized to hold a 39' boat. What diameter is your anchor chain?

Alain

[surfmachine]

Hi Alain, my chain is 10mm stainless steel, I will never have a swivel again, in any configuration!
Cheers from Keith.

[delatbabel]

Don't use swivels in stainless steel, too brittle. This sort of thing can happen too easily. Same can be said for chain. Galv chain and swivel is much more reliable, it can deform under heavy load but is much less likely to shatter or snap than stainless.

Having said that, I don't use a swivel on my anchor for the same reason -- too hard to check for any deformation. Two good sized shackles do the job just as well.

The one place I use swivels is on the drogue (jordan series), but good sized galv ones, not stainless.

[Capn Morgan]

...change the bow shackles and/or swivels every year too. Even if galv and looking good. Cheap insurance.