New chain for Ideal Windlass size confusion

SimonBryan said:

Hi all
My old chain was mostly a block of rust as we hadnt used in years and to my embarassment I had ignored it

I was unsure of size as first time dealing with anchor chain, was reliably inofrmed that it was 8mm short link and the Ideal 'manual' for the Windlass said says -- 1/4" or 5/16" BBB only, my maths said the latter was 8mm.
JUst bought a good length and after bringing it home and comparing to old chain it is smaller and old chain seems to actually be 10mm short link.

The Windlass is an Ideal Windlass First Mate CWM with "one Gypsy and one Wildcat" - I always thought they werr the same thing! So this has a chainwheel on Starboard side and a rope drum on the port side. And if anybody can give me dfeinitive namse for the two parts that would be good as well.

So looks like my original chain was oversize, does that sound possible? Should I return and replace the chain with 10mm? When it was used there were no signs of slipping or jammimg.

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SimonBryan said:

Hi all..
I was unsure of size as first time dealing with anchor chain, was reliably informed that it was 8mm short link and the Ideal 'manual' for the Windlass said says -- 1/4" or 5/16" BBB only, my maths said the latter was 8mm.
Just bought a good length and after bringing it home and comparing to old chain it is smaller and old chain seems to actually be 10mm short link....

So looks like my original chain was oversize, does that sound possible? Should I return and replace the chain with 10mm? When it was used there were no signs of slipping or jamming.

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BruceK said:

I doubt you`ll buy other than in mm these days.

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socalrider said:

I'm a bit confused - there's usually a cast in number on the Ideal windlass gypsy. You can look up here and figure out which size chain it's meant for: https://www.schaefermarine.com/our-products/ideal-windlass/faqs-ideal-windlass/

As you can see there aren't any size gypsies that can take both 1/4" and 5/16" BBB. I'd find the number on the gypsy & get the correct chain to match. It'll be SAE, not metric.

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BruceK said:

Was it the old chain which ran well through the gypsy, or the new?
Usual rule is to take some old chain to the supplier to match the new. I doubt you`ll buy other than in mm these days.
You can measure the chain across a section of a link. Whether it`s 8 or 10mm should be easily distinguishable. I got it right buying new chain, but not when buying a Sea Dog plate for a snubber.

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