Galvanizing Chain, How Too?

[jdisarro]

I have 100 ft of 3/8" galvanized chain, that is starting to show some patches of rust, it was supposedly re-galvanized in 2007. My question is where on the east coast can I get it regalvanized, how do i now when it needs it, and would it be better to just buy some new chain and be done with it, how long does chain last??.

Thanks.

[Kettlewell]

Unless it is severely rusty and wasting away it is probably good for quite a bit longer. I have never had any regalvanized--just replace it eventually. Usually the whole thing doesn't go at once, but just the part that gets used the most. Sometimes you can prolong the life of the rest by cutting off the end--maybe the first 50 feet or so. Needless to say, you want to find a regalvanizing place close to wherever you are in order to avoid the cost of shipping something like 300 lbs of chain. I believe they usually have a minimum weight requirement for any order.

There are a fair number of threads here on that topic. Here's one.

[reiner]

Originally Posted by jdisarro

I have 100 ft of 3/8" galvanized chain, that is starting to show some patches of rust, it was supposedly re-galvanized in 2007. My question is where on the east coast can I get it regalvanized, how do i now when it needs it, and would it be better to just buy some new chain and be done with it, how long does chain last??.

Thanks.

I am on the other side ( Australia) so I can't help much with directions but I got my chain re-galvanized about 3 month ago.I fitted a new winch and the 10mm chain started to get rust spots and looked old and tired. My chain is 55m long and I paid $350 compared to $930 for a new chain.
When I got it back it looked like a brand new chain and should last me out. I'm glad I did it and didn't wait to long before it got real bad.

Cheers
Reiner

[onestepcsy37]

good luck finding a galvanizing shop in florida - or maybe anywhere else in the usa. think the epa has driven them out. i looked around florida and found nothing.

my 3/8"bbb chain had some rust spots here and there, so i took it off the boat and, with a wire brush in hand, inspected every single link. even measured the links to be sure they weren't losing any metal. satisfied that the chain was still good as new i used ospho to clean it up and then painted it with 'galvanizing' paint. now it's back on the boat and, since it's probably oversized to begin with, i'm pretty confident in it.

of course, a month or two later, a boater advertised 250 feet of 'like new' 3/8 bbb for $450......

[hpeer]

I think that's what I will do. I did a bit a couple of years ago to the worst spots and they still look pretty good.

You could either use spray galvanizing to some kind if two part zinc such as Ameron 302h. Tough stuff. Not too costly.

[onestepcsy37]

spray galvanizing from rustoleum is available in all of the local home depots, but if you read the can you'll find there's not a lot of zinc in them. i went the 'messy' route.

i bought galvanizing paint in a can, lots more zinc in it. not in all stores but widely available on the internet - i bought rustoleum brand. bought a couple of 'chip' brushes and long gloves. and a cheap blue tarp. laid the chain out in the back yard on top of the tarp and proceeded to hand brush every link. didn't take as long as you might think. did take a few days for it to dry really hard.

[Anonymous7500]

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

good luck finding a galvanizing shop in florida - or maybe anywhere else in the usa. think the epa has driven them out. i looked around florida and found nothing.

Here are two places in Florida. Thomas Net has 243 companies listed offering galvanizing services, mostly in the US.

Continental Steel & Tube Company
Hot Dip Galvanizing

I must admit that knowing the best place to look for sources makes it much easier to find them.

[onestepcsy37]

WOW!

and now i must admit i'm ashamed of myself. back in the day - when i used to work for a living - i often referred to Thomas' Register to locate businesses of all kinds. i guess when i quit working that part of my brain also quit working. and never even guessed that Thomas' would go high tech (as in internet tech) and probably no longer publish their volumes of books....

now, anonymous7500, please don't add insult to injury and tell me that you are also retired.....

[Anonymous7500]

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

now, anonymous7500, please don't add insult to injury and tell me that you are also retired.....

Not yet! I have heard stories of the Thomas registry volumes...similar to an encyclopedia, I think.

[Nicholson58]

We re-plated our 320 feet of 7/16 G4 in Michigan.

If your chain is rough at one end - consider end-for end swapping your chain. You can see from the photo that my chain had one rusty and one clean end.

The process is to first strip all old plating and rust off. This is done in a machine with a vertical tower where an impeller hurles blasting shot at the parts below. The parts, in this case chain, are slowly tumbled by a moving belt. The belt forms a draped loop between supports so the chain tumbles as the belt is moved below it. The result is bare white metal. Cost $70.00 Photo of clean chain in the truck box.

Next, I delivered the chain directly to a specialty coater. He runs a proprietary process called Armor-Galvanize. It is done at lower temeterature than a molton zinc bath, is not environmentaly disaterous and no where near as toxic. The finished coating is extremely hard. Coincidentally, drums of chain identical to mine were also being plated for the Navy for tie-down of aircraft on carrier decks. My Cost $340.

ArmorGalv | Michigan Metal Coating - Home AGRITEK in Holand Michigan. Check to see where some coater in your area might be licensed to do this process.

[seandepagnier]

Would it be possible to drag the chain on a beach enough to take the rust off?

Could you boil some zinc on a camp fire and pull the chain through if there are rollers in the molten zinc?

[bstreep]

We had ours done last year. I'm thinking we'd have been better off just buying new. Might have saved us a year or 2.

Also noted that the workers were spraying paint onto galvanized items that weren't completely coated. Hmm.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

Would it be possible to drag the chain on a beach enough to take the rust off?

Could you boil some zinc on a camp fire and pull the chain through if there are rollers in the molten zinc?

Answer to both questions: NO!

For the galvo to stick the whole link needs to be quite clean, and dragging it would at best leave some rusty/old galvo spots.

And the process also includes chemical pickling prior to dipping, and the chain is usually pre heated as well. Then, the cruicial thing is the chain must be either spun in a sort of centrifuge or shaken in a giant shaker box to be sure that the links don't fuse together. The lack of that equipment is why many galvanizers don't do chain. It isn't all that simple!

But, it does work. Our chain is on it's fourth or fifth coating (old G-30 chain) and seems to be doing fine. HEre in Oz it is a hell of a lot cheaper than new chain, and you know where the stuff came from, unlike a lot of new chain!

Cheers,

JIm

[sestina]

I've just had my 165' of 3/8" chain and my 35lb CQR regalvanized here in the UK. Cost a shade over £200. Turnround in 4 days. Considerable saving on new; especially as I've got UK made chain, not chinese rubbish.

Make sure the galvanizer you use is capable of handling chain, it needs specialist equipment to shoogle the chain so it ends up properly protected.

[s/v 'Faith']

On a slightly unrelated, but important note... The picture above showed a CQR in the truck too. Before I bought my Manson Supreme (and never looked. Back) I priced re-galv of my CQR and found it was both expensive, and that the lead weight added to the underside of the plough in a genuine CQR made it difficult to recoat. Not stating as fact, but something anyone might want to look into if considering recoating a CQR.