Opinions please...used anchor chain

What do you think is a fair price for 240ft of used anchor chain?
We want to replace ours and we met someone that offered to sell the spare they have. He said it’s practically brand new. He didn’t know what he wants for it so I’m looking for opinions on what would be a fair price to pay.

And our plow anchor sucks so we are going to be buying a new one, but we are not going there in this thread! :lol:

What size chain?

10 Cents on the dollar or check price of new, Thats retail, cut in half, what marina would pay for it,whole sale, and offer him 1/4 of that ! So $100/$50/$25. whats wrong with your old chain ? Easy to clean up! Find a gravel road and pull behind a truck or car till it shines again, bring it to foundry and re-coat it.
Have a great day !
The longer you listen to a Detroit Diesel the quieter it gets.

Comodave said:

What size chain?

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I think it’s 3/8ths?

3/8 pretty descent chain, I have a 1/2 chain 300 ft + 100 lb Bruce anchor for a 60ft boat
I would love to replace it with a drum and line.

Well first you need to know what size chain your windlass takes unless you are goin to replace the wildcat. Also there are different types of 3/8” so it matters which it is. The different types go for different prices.

Comodave said:

Well first you need to know what size chain your windlass takes unless you are goin to replace the wildcat. Also there are different types of 3/8” so it matters which it is. The different types go for different prices.

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Yes, it must fit your wildcat on your windlass.
Size (1/",3/8". 5/16") and size of the links, (BBB or HT) matter.
It must be exactly the same.

Also if you like to sleep soundly determine if the chain is made in China or ACCO/Peerless chain.

fwiw, I just picked up some used 1/4" chain for about .30/foot.

As mentioned above, it's not worth a dime to you if it's not the correct size. Gotta make certain, the differences in link size can be very difficult to determine at a glance, so you'll need to look and measure.... twice! If you can cut a piece of the proposed chain a foot or so to actually test it in your gypsy might save yourself some headache.

I would say no more than 50% of what you could buy new locally.

Thanks everybody. David is fairly certain what we have is 3/8ths but is going to measure it today. We have time as the chain is in FL so we wouldn’t get it until we go on our trip end of next month. But he wants to reach out to the guy and make arrangements and discuss price ahead of time so he doesn’t sell it to anyone else. He knows we want it if it works but waiting to hear from us that it will indeed work. David knows all the details about it but I didn’t pay attention to any of that stuff. That’s guy stuff. Lol

How long does chain usually last? Mine is about 11 years old. I rarely think about that poor chain, and it would suck if it failed at night. It doesn’t seem too rusty.

HiDHo said:

Also if you like to sleep soundly determine if the chain is made in China or ACCO/Peerless chain.

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Plenty of good stuff comes out of China

. A total of 13 chain samples was tested destructively using a 50 ton Denison tensile tester. The samples included several made in Europe but the majority were from Chinese factories. Four were Grade 40, nine were Grade 30. Every sample achieved the required strength for its grade but it was noticeable that every Chinese Grade 30 chain, with one exception, delivered the strength of a Grade 40. The result suggests that steels used for Grade 40, typical of constructional steels, are more readily obtainable in China than the lower carbon steel used for Grade 30.

Chain – Cox Engineering

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And if you search the internet you can find people complaining about acco chain fail


https://www.google.com/search?q=acc...i57.11712j0j4&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

I have just replaced my 10mm L grade short link chain-55mtr. The chain was made in China but in an Australian supervised factory. Chain is tested and is smooth galvanized with no clumps of gal on links. Very happy with it.
John. Arcturus

Of course as mentioned by others, the important factor is your gypsy. I use 5/16''HT which I believe is more than adequate. Personally, I would not use 3/8'', I would change my gypsy first to use the 5/16''if necessary.

My objection to the 3/8 is weight. 5/16'' comes in at 0.93#/ft where as the 3/8'' is 1.41#/ft or about 50% heavier. Just my thoughts--

Isn't heavy chain a good thing as long as your bow has the bouyancy to carry enough of it?

psneeld said:

Isn't heavy chain are good thing as long as your bow has the bouyancy to carry enough of it?

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Maybe if your getting up onto a plane which most trawlers do not. And I travel at 7-8K unless sloppy conditions or imminent storm forecasts are posted.

psneeld said:

Isn't heavy chain a good thing as long as your bow has the bouyancy to carry enough of it?

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They have a Cruisers that I assume will get up on plane. Weight may be an issue depending on how they run it.

Thanks, can't see that on the mobile version....

psneeld said:

Thanks, can't see that on the mobile version....

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Scott
Even on the mobile app you can click on any username and it will pop up their profile.

Bacchus said:

Scott
Even on the mobile app you can click on any username and it will pop up their profile.

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Thanks.... I have done it and looked for the same info as on the desktop.....Still doesn't show much for me uness it's still some clicks away....


Just being lazy as I could have pulled up desktop, but both points were made and now I can bow out till the next point that catches my attention.

Weight is not an issue as it’s what we currently have. Yes, we do travel up on a plane. Usually cruise at 20-22 knots.

So the chain is 3/8ths and the guy is pretty sure it’s BBB. David is pretty sure BBB is what we currently have. (I have no idea what the hell that even means lol)

He pulled the old chain out the other day and there are several really bad spots. He knew where the first bad spot was so we never anchored where we needed more chain than that.

We are heading to Ft. Walton Beach tomorrow to go and look at/purchase the chain. It’s only been used twice and been in a warehouse ever since.

Can you cut a section of the old chain to take and compare? Or your gypsy. I`m not sure it has to be 100% exact, but it needs to be close. Someone looked at my new 80M of chain and said it didn`t fit the gypsy and wouldn`t work. Must have been close, I used that gypsy to pull all 80M onboard, and told him so.

Chain size to gypsy size is definitely not one of my forte's. On our windlass (Simpson Lawrence SeaWolf 520) I lamented over the size of chain to use. I removed the gypsy and looked for some sort of an identifying mark but could find nothing except a 2 digit number that didn't correspond to anything in the Simpson Lawrence manual. I tried rolling different sizes of chain through the gypsy while in my hand and 3/8 seemed to fit perfectly. 1/4" & 5/16" were very obviously a no fit so I went ahead and made up my anchor line by splicing 65' of the 3/8" used chain I had. Upon retrieval of the line after our first overnighter, it worked fine *except* for that in the 65' pull of chain, it would bunch up a little at least once in the gypsy "teeth". Not a huge deal for us because we are on the bow anyway to spray the chain/anchor so we just pay out a few feet & the chain clears itself up but I could see where it wouldn't be good with a helm operated switch and nobody watching the gypsy. That must be the difference between 3/8 & 3/8 BBB, whichever 3/8" chain we're using is not exactly matched to the 3/8 gypsy we have.
Not sure how "used" Star's chain is but even though ours "looked" good (it's not bright galvanized but not flaking rust either...kind of of a tarnished silver/brown link color), when it comes up wet it leaves lots of brown colored water on the deck. I suppose I'll add replacing the chain to the not so urgent to-do list...

"It doesn’t seem too rusty."

That is the key , surface rust is fine , the actual chain metal rusting away is NOT.


25% of discount price (defender etc) if good would be a great buy.

the old chain:
Definitely 3/8” short link BBB. No embossing visible for the grade but it measures at 11 links per foot which corresponds to 3/8” BBB. At about 90 feet there are several heavily rusted links. At least one of which has lost about 50% of the link diameter. Past 90 ft, there are multiple more rusted link sections with flaking metal.
The Windlass:
Maxwell 1200 VWCLP. According to the manual, the windlass can accept multiple chain sizes from 1/2” to 3/8” maximum (short link). No mention is made f chain grade. But I know it works fine with 3/8” BBB.
New chain:
3/8” short link unknown grade (BBB vs G4/HT). I will verify grade when we see it later today but current owner believes it to be BBB. Condition is represented as like new and only used twice. Owner is a reputable member of our Fort Walton Beach Power Squadron so no reason to doubt the claim about condition and worth the trip to go see (plus the weather is looking awesome this week for a beach trip). If the chain is G4 (9.8 links per foot for 3/8”) I think that will still work as the windlass can supposedly handle multiple sizes (and therefore links per foot). If it’s BBB that’s even better from a fit standpoint. G4 has almost double the WLL of BBB but since BBB is what came with the boat and has plenty WLL (2700 lbs) for any anchoring we will do, I’m not sweating that too much.

"According to the manual, the windlass can accept multiple chain sizes from 1/2” to 3/8” maximum (short link)."

In many cases the windlass can "accept" different chain sizes , by changing out the gyps.

The best test is with 2 ft of chain in hand.