Anchor chain link

On my boat the chain but moat GRP boats it would be the boat fitting would pull out of the deck of the boat
This is as I thought, my boat had no backing pads to the fore cleats when I bought it. It now has oversized pads on both cleats and comfortably survived 3 named storms on its swinging mooring last year. Well worth checking the deck gear before stressing over chain strength I’d have thought. Boats designed for marinas seem to be under specced hardware wise on occasions.
 
This is as I thought, my boat had no backing pads to the fore cleats when I bought it. It now has oversized pads on both cleats and comfortably survived 3 named storms on its swinging mooring last year. Well worth checking the deck gear before stressing over chain strength I’d have thought. Boats designed for marinas seem to be under specced hardware wise on occasions.

My boat is steel with very heavy steel structure under my foredeck bollard which is bolted down with 4 x M16 bolts.
 
This is as I thought, my boat had no backing pads to the fore cleats when I bought it. It now has oversized pads on both cleats and comfortably survived 3 named storms on its swinging mooring last year. Well worth checking the deck gear before stressing over chain strength I’d have thought. Boats designed for marinas seem to be under specced hardware wise on occasions.

I noticed hair line cracks where the bobstay pad eyes were attached to the bow, at the water line. I found no reinforcing inside the hull. We applied a new layer of glass and attached 100mm square by 5mm thick plates through bolted. We then went through all the other fittings - the only other area was the stanchion bases, we added more reinforcement. Strangely reinforcing had been incorporated in the build to allow head sail tracks and additional winches on the cabin roof.

Part of the reason is simply cutting costs.

Strangely though I look, particularly at bow rollers, at times that seem flimsy on production boats there are no threads, or not here (YBW), on failures. Maybe boat builders have got it right.


Slight, or a lot of thread drift - a big criticism of 'ground tackle' is actually not the kit - but the locker. The lockers invariably don't self drain because the drain hole is too high and a puddle collects in the base of the chain/anchor locker. No wonder chains corrode (more quickly than expected). The other aspect is windlass installation, no thought that the owner might want to service the windlass (really difficult to access) and the electric motor subject to a constant spray of salt water (and at worst the chain retrieved rubbing down the motor casing). If you have a new yacht, or install a new windlass - consider protecting the motor from the inevitable water brought into the locker every time you retrieve the chain.

Jonathan
 
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Yes - Colin took a sailing course at RNYC - and thanks for supporting them.

He lost focus (of things marine) and opened a few more retail outlets. Since Covid hit they have been up to their ears re-focussing the business toward on-line activity. They visited us here well before Covid, the 2 girls went on a cruise on the Sapphire Princess, we know (or knew) her captain very well and I took Colin sailing up (and then back down) the coast. So we were all at sea - but separate vessels.

Jonathan
 
Yes, that's what I meant when I said "...unless it is made of material with twice the tensile strength of the uncut chain. "
Your point pretty much provides the reason for the results in my tests. Reasonably well-made C-links from chandleries were about 50% chain strength. The 316 ones were a little better, presumably as they are made by cold stamping, about 60% chain strength. The worrying point was that some cheap ones were very poor indeed, made from steel full of inclusions.
 
That is exactly why I ended up welding my C links as I did not know the true strength of the C links supplied to me.
This is perfectly acceptable with a C-link that is known to be made from a good quality mild steel, although it demands welding skills that most will not possess. By definition a hardened and tempered link such as the Crosby is not made from mild steel and is likely to have a carbon content greater than 0.3. Welding steels like this, especially in such small sections, runs the risk of creating brittle components on cooling.
 
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