Bad chain link

[Baker]

I honestly do not think the chain in my new(to me) boat has ever touched the water. It has 150ft of beautiful chain. Amazingly, there is one link right in the middle that is bad...bad galvanization of something. What would be the best way to remove the link and reattach so it can still make it through the gypsy?

TIA,
John

 

[sunchaser]

Clean the link real good and spray paint it every few months with a zinc primer (I just finished reading the Green Old Days thread - make do)

 

[HopCar]

I've been trying to figure that out for years and I can't find a good way to do it. Unless your chain is proof coil, which is unlikely, you can't find a link that is the same size or strength as the rest of your chain.

That said, when Chuck and Susan on the trawler Beach House came through Miami, Chuck asked me to bring him some G4 chain and an oval connecting link. He wanted to lengthen his anchor chain. I told him that the link was larger than a G4 link and weaker. I was worried that the bigger link would kick the chain out of the gypsy.
Chuck said it wouldn't be a problem. I guess it wasn't a problem as he has been anchoring all over the place for several months now. The oval link did weaken his G4 chain but it looks like his windlass can handle one oversize link.



If your bad link is just a little rusty and not pitted or worn, I don't think I'd try to remove it. Just clean it, paint it and keep an I on it.

Do you know what type and size of chain you have?

 

[HopCar]

I just double checked sizes and strengths of the Peerless brand of oval links and they seem a pretty close match to BBB chain size and strength. If you've got BBB chain, that may be the way to go.

 

[FlyWright]

I agree that if it's not compromised, clean/protect and monitor.

I connected my original 30 ft of G4 chain with another 90 ft with a Crosby missing link. It flows through my chain/rode windlass seamlessly. I'm not sure how objective these tests are, but they appear to stand up pretty well to the strength test. I bought two of these three years ago with one as a spare if needed, but so far the link looks fine.

In my way of thinking, the chain is more for weight than tensile strength. With my 34 ft/20000 lb boat, the tension loads imposed upon the chain will never come close to approaching the load limits of the links. If true shock loading was possible, then maybe the loads would spike. But with catenary and shock protection from rode and snubbers, I suspect this seldom happens. I suspect my Brait splice is more vulnerable than my replacement link.

What say you, Eric?

 

[markpierce]

Al, don't you deserve an all-chain rode?

 

[FlyWright]

No thanks. 120 ft of chain and 240 ft of 8 plait Brait works very well for my needs. If I anchored in coral or rocky areas, I'd agree with you. To me, it's the best of both worlds....strength and shock control, weight for anchoring and weight savings in the bow.

 

[Giggitoni]

I can't think of too many locations around SF Bay and the Delta where we need more than 120 feet. So you essentially have an all-chain rode.

 

[FF]

I can't think of too many locations around SF Bay and the Delta where we need more than 120 feet. So you essentially have an all-chain rode.

WOW?

I never knew SF bay had a coral bottom!

 

[Codger2]

To me, it's the best of both worlds....strength and shock control, weight for anchoring and weight savings in the bow.

 

[FlyWright]

I never knew SF bay had a coral bottom!

It doesn't.

 

[FF]

"It doesn't."

So why 120 ft of stinky chain that has to be scrubbed with each and every retrieval?

Nylon has about 15% stretch if sized properly , chain ZERO when tight.

 

[Nomad Willy]

John,
Take out half of your chain and discard the "bad" link.

Your rode is now 85lbs lighter.

Add some more line and increase your anchor size about 55lbs and your rode will weigh the same as before. But your anchor holding power will go WAY up.

Or increase your anchor size only about 25lbs and reduce your bow weight.

 

[SteveH]

In the case of maybe a few rusty links, how about this stuff.....

 

[FlyWright]

"It doesn't."

So why 120 ft of stinky chain that has to be scrubbed with each and every retrieval?

Nylon has about 15% stretch if sized properly , chain ZERO when tight.

I don't have stinky chain in my locker. Sometimes it comes up needing a wash and sometimes it comes up clean as a whistle. If a washdown is needed, I have a washdown hose on the bow ready for use. I'd estimate it needs a wash 30% of the time, and then it's mostly the last 20-30 ft and the anchor. Often I have to cut off the weeds from the anchor, then washdown, but it's not a big deal to me. My anchor locker is kept clean and fresh smelling.

Many times when fishing, my anchoring is in water 35-40 ft deep in current. When that occurs, I deploy all the chain and then some of the Brait. Even if I'm on all chain, I use a Shockles snubber to eliminate shock loading. Plus, the tensioning of the catenary naturally reduces shock loads on the bow cleat or sampson post.

I'm a believer in using the weight of chain keeping the pull on the anchor as horizontal as possible without the hassle of a kellet. Mine is a simple one-finger operation (if no washdown is required) to deploy and retrieve the anchor. I like simple.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Fly,
You got that right ..
All chain has almost nothing to do w holding power and all to do w convenience.

About finishing the chain link I'd be looking at the cold spray galvanize. I used that on the nose piece of my XYZ anchor that I fabricated out of mild steel. There's no rust on it after many anchorings. I was pleasantly surprised.

 

[HopCar]

'All chain has almost nothing to do w holding power and all to do w convenience."
Hi Eric, why do you think an all chain rode is more convenient than a combination rode?

 

[Nomad Willy]

The gypsy can winch it all up without a hitch.

Unless you had the right size line and chain and spliced it.

How often is that done?

 

[Andy G]

I'm not sure I trust those chain links.Though I have nothing to base that on other than general dockside gossip.

I am looking to add an extra 100' to my my chain set up , and have been advised to have a SS joining link made up as the connector. There is a SS manufacturer down the road who will make it up and join the links. Has anyone had any experience with this, pros or cons?

 

[Northern Spy]

All chain has almost nothing to do w holding power and all to do w convenience.

This may not scale well to our little boats, but personal experience has shown me that a long chain sufficiently stuck in mud holds very well.

I was the project manager for remooring eight of the ten concrete (yes, concrete) ships that comprise the floating breakwater at the Powell River mill.

I was amazed at how many moorings we pulled that was missing the concrete blocks at the end of the 2.5" stud link chain. These chains were not hanging slack from the ships but had catenary in them. Mind you they likely had a coil in them at the end due to the methodology of how they used to moor them (dump them off a barge with a front end loader), and they did have a long time to soak, but the crane operator couldn't tell the difference on his strain gauge when we were pulling them up.

I think that a long length of chain does provide a fair amount of resistance if it were embedded in the substrate.

PS: Not a recommended anchoring practice.

PSS: The engineered design that we installed has held well for over ten years in several hurricane force winds. The two that we didn't remoor, have moved and been half-assedly remoored a couple times since.

 

[markpierce]

Having all chain means one doesn't have to deal with two different types of rode and its related issues with the windlass. ... Besides, the Coot needs lots of weight in the bow to counter full fuel and water tanks.

Al, 360 feet of rode seems excessive in our/your waters. Did it come with the boat?

-- I'm recalling the time you had me pull on the rode from the rode locker (saving Meg the effort) when your windlass was slipping.

 

[FlyWright]

The gypsy can winch it all up without a hitch. Unless you had the right size line and chain and spliced it. How often is that done?

I know one boater who did.

Mark, my boat came with about 200 rode and 30 ft chain with a rope-only power winch. I still carry that as a spare.

When I converted to a windlass, I consulted with the windlass dealer on their recommendations for rode and chain and came up with 270 ft Brait/30 ft chain. I later lost 30 ft of rode during a prop-fouling incident. Then after about a year, I added another 90 ft of chain. So now it's 120 chain/240 Brait. The Brait lays so flat that it doesn't even come close to the limit of my anchor locker. My old 200 rode/30 chain took up more space.

I'd rather have it and not need it than the other way around.

My clutch loosened that day. I just needed to tighten it with that special wrench they gave me with the windlass, then no more issues since.

 

[markpierce]

Why not, Al. Was just wondering. Still, I believe you'd be better off with all chain.

 

[markpierce]

On my Dad's 28.5-foot sloop, a short chain with nylon rope for a rode made sense since the boat weighed only 4-tons (half of which was lead ballast). But when one is dealing with a ten-ton or more boat, a few hundred pounds is of little matter.

 

[markpierce]

My clutch loosened that day. I just needed to tighten it with that special wrench they gave me with the windlass, then no more issues since.

 

[markpierce]

Me? Two hundred feet of chain plus a 15 KG Bruce imitation still works for me.

 

[HopCar]

I probably shouldn't tell you guys what my main anchor system is but you'll enjoy making fun of me.

I have 300 feet of 1/2" three strand spliced to 25 feet of 1/4" stainless chain that is shackled to a 14 pound Delta. Remember my boat is small, about 9000 pounds, and I cruise in Biscayne Bay and the Florida Keys. I can usually find a pretty sheltered place to anchor. I have a twenty year old Lewmar Horizion 500 windlass that only let me down once. I love sitting up on the flying bridge, flipping a switch, and the rope, chain and anchor just come right up.

The stainless chain had a benefit I didn't expect, mud doesn't stick. It always comes up clean even when the anchor has ten pounds of mud stuck to it.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Spy,

But they say under a heavy anchoring load the catenary is gone.

I'm just say'in the anchor does 5 to 15 times as much to hold your boat as the chain. So why not but your weight in the anchor?

But a buried chain should have quite a bit of holding power.

 

[markpierce]

Where I anchor, typically the current runs between two and three knots and reverses several times a day. So, it's essential the anchor "stays anchored" despite current changes. Often the chain has minimal/little-if-any catenary. (Bottom is heavy, sticky mud.) My 33-pound Bruce-knockoff works well under these circumstances.

 

[Northern Spy]

Spy,

But they say under a heavy anchoring load the catenary is gone.

I'm just say'in the anchor does 5 to 15 times as much to hold your boat as the chain. So why not but your weight in the anchor?

But a buried chain should have quite a bit of holding power.

I don't really disagree with you, in fact a combination rode makes the most sense to me for boats.

I'm just not a big fan of absolutes, and I like to discuss alternatives.

These are ships and not boats. Probably doesn't scale down well. Boat anchoring loads are shock loads, a spread mooring on a ship likely doesn't see the same loading.

The anchors I used were 2 meter concrete cubes, up to three blocks per chain. Chain was close to 100 pounds per link. Used kellets and pendant weights as well.