Galvanising?

Keith 66

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I need some hot dip galvanising done, For donkeys years i have used Rayleigh Galvanisers at Rawreth but Dave the last proprietor has recently retired.
Anyone know where I can get this done in South Essex?
Ps Im not wasting my money on paint!
 
Witham seems to be the nearest one, will see when they are next picking up in this area. There is also a plant in dagenham where Dave used to get his done.
 
Direct approaches to galvanizers seems to reveal a bit of a cartel of late. All seem to have the same price structures and none I have approached in the NW will do the prep work on the object.

I've found the best approach is to find an agricultural engineers or boat trailer manufacturer who sends stuff off regularly to be galvanized and they all seem happy to add your stuff to their weekly order and do any blasting or other prep work if necessary.

The price per kg between industrial businesses seems to be less than £1, where as the direct price to the public is way over £2.
 
Direct approaches to galvanizers seems to reveal a bit of a cartel of late. All seem to have the same price structures and none I have approached in the NW will do the prep work on the object.

I've found the best approach is to find an agricultural engineers or boat trailer manufacturer who sends stuff off regularly to be galvanized and they all seem happy to add your stuff to their weekly order and do any blasting or other prep work if necessary.

The price per kg between industrial businesses seems to be less than £1, where as the direct price to the public is way over £2.

I don't think its that simple.
In common with many industries, customers who have repeat business at larger volumes get not only preferential treatment, but preferential pricing.
The idea of adding your job to that of a regular customer of the galvanizer is usually the best. That way you gain the advantage that the commercial regular customer of the galvanizer enjoys.
Typical pricing for industrial volume customers is highly dependent on the material type. In fact galvanizing should be charged for by a combination of factory time taken and surface area, but because these are too laborious to calculate (and therefore there's a cost just in pricing), the easy way is by weight, but with a different rate per tonne for different material types. Those with regular full artic loads of structural steel (columns and rafters, "steel beams" to those not in those industries), will enjoy prices of about £250-350/tonne. At the other end of the scale is mesh, chain, sheetmetals and high surface area to weight ratio materials, where £1000/tonne is more likely. I can't imagine any industrial customer being charged £2000/t (£2/kg). But a one-off Joe-Public walking in off the street might be charged.
Any galvanizing plant is wanting to process many tens of tonnes a day at minimum, some up to 200 tonnes a day. Your 10kg might be seen by some as an inconvenience rather than an attractive job.
Different plants have different preparation facilities. Not all have shotblasting facilities as they are usually unnecessary in ordinary galvanizing. Shotblasting should only doe under quite specific conditions: to remove paint (which doesn't come off in the chemical process), to re-profile the steel to achieve a specific coating thickness, and to remove excessive rust. By excessive I mean flaking off in bits the size of a penny. Other than these, shotblasting only doubles the cost without good cause.
 
Got the parts back yesterday, One centreplate for a YWDB 35kgs, one substantial launching trolley for a ten foot tender, Total weight approx 60kgs
Cost was £162 inc vat. So £2.70 a Kg. That included pick up & delivery from & to my home address.
Excellent quality job.
Last time i had similar done at Rayleigh was half that. But he has gone so no option. Still cheaper than blasting & painting & i didnt have to waste a day on the road taking it there & back.
 
Many galvanizers who also do transport have a flat rate of c. £100 / load (covers collection and delivery back), so you probably paid £62 for the galvanizing itself, about £1/kg.
 
I have this nasty feeling the transport cost a good part of the charge :( and the stg2.70 might be a bit misleading as a 'galvanising'*cost.

Having said that - I've lost touch with what delivery charges are in the UK - so I'm speculating.

Jonathan

My post crossed with that of Geoff!
 
Witham is a fair stretch from me & two trips is best part of a day better spent doing better things than stuck on the A12, picked up & delivered from & to my door, i will live with that.
 
Witham is a fair stretch from me & two trips is best part of a day better spent doing better things than stuck on the A12, picked up & delivered from & to my door, i will live with that.

I was not knocking the deal, having chain delivered seems a good idea. A decent lengthy of chain is heavy, very!

I was knocking the idea that a simple piece of arithmetic gave the cost of galvanising per kg. I suspect treble the wight of product - and the delivery charge would be identical - underliningg try to get a few like minded people to have their stuff, primarily chain, galvanised together.

Jonathan
 
Jonathon,
that's right. Getting the weight up makes for economy. Many (like us) have a fixed charge for transport, and for that amount you can get the whole truck (artic, 28t capacity), or for same cost a few kg. The transport cost becomes insignificant when larger volumes are considered, but becomes way out of proportion when considering a single anchor and / or chain.
 
I can sympathise with the need for delivery

When we replaced our 50m of 8mm chain I positioned our dinghy under the bow roller and simply decanted the chain into a big and robust plastic box. I then ferried the chain to the beach. It was obvious I simply had not thought about it. I beached the dinghy and lifted the box - or attempted to - I simply could not move it. I had 50m of beach to traverse, a boat ramp to climb 20m to the back of the car - and then lift into the car.

There was not a soul in sight.

Fortunately I had an empty 20l pail in the back of the car and I was able to roughly split the rode and then move each receptacle a metre or so at a time and move it up the beach. Lifting it upto the boot was a herculean task.

I might add, I am a bit weedy.

But 50m is not much and 8mm seems to be much undersized when I read of the numbers with 10mm chain.

Simply getting the chain home is difficult - carting it a couple of hundred kilometres in a small car, especially if its 100m of 10mm - a major exercise.

Paying for a delivery seems like a good move - though not much use if they leave the newly galvanised 100m of 10mm chain in a pile at your front door! How do you get it back into the chain locker! as really you need to feed it in, already marked, through the windlass to ensure it is not twisted.

My 75m of 6mm chain suddenly has a new characteristic to add to its advantages!

Jonathan
 
I can sympathise with the need for delivery

When we replaced our 50m of 8mm chain I positioned our dinghy under the bow roller and simply decanted the chain into a big and robust plastic box. I then ferried the chain to the beach. It was obvious I simply had not thought about it. I beached the dinghy and lifted the box - or attempted to - I simply could not move it. I had 50m of beach to traverse, a boat ramp to climb 20m to the back of the car - and then lift into the car.

There was not a soul in sight.

Fortunately I had an empty 20l pail in the back of the car and I was able to roughly split the rode and then move each receptacle a metre or so at a time and move it up the beach. Lifting it upto the boot was a herculean task.

I might add, I am a bit weedy.

But 50m is not much and 8mm seems to be much undersized when I read of the numbers with 10mm chain.

Simply getting the chain home is difficult - carting it a couple of hundred kilometres in a small car, especially if its 100m of 10mm - a major exercise.

Paying for a delivery seems like a good move - though not much use if they leave the newly galvanised 100m of 10mm chain in a pile at your front door! How do you get it back into the chain locker! as really you need to feed it in, already marked, through the windlass to ensure it is not twisted.

My 75m of 6mm chain suddenly has a new characteristic to add to its advantages!

Jonathan

Oh come on Jonathan, you're a woose.

My previous boat had 45 fathoms (remember them?) of 5/8" (16mm) chain. When I wanted to regalvanise the chain, I just headed for the beach, dumped the chain, with a line on the end, and put the boat back on her mooring.
With the car on a road running along the shore, and a snatch block round a tree, it only took moments to get the chain up, and into the trailer. Getting it back aboard was even easier, as the anchor windlass did all the work.
 
If you need to move anchor chain around on land, dragging the chain (if possible) rather than carrying it is much easier.

As a side benefit, it will also convince you how little holding power the chain has on its own without an anchor attached.
 
If you need to move anchor chain around on land, dragging the chain (if possible) rather than carrying it is much easier.

As a side benefit, it will also convince you how little holding power the chain has on its own without an anchor attached.

Best not done with newly galvanised chain! then be a 'woose' and carry it! Unless it is 10mm chain - and borrow a fork lift, rather than discover what sort of weight you have in your bow

Jonathan
 
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