The construction of a C link reduces the strength of the parent metal to roughly 50%. In a Crosby this is compensated for by increasing the strength of the steel to about double that of grade 30 chain. Force Four give both chain and C link the same UTS, 3200 kg, which makes me suspicious. Unless the C link is made from hard drawn 316, as Cromox is, I would be very cautious
It is a possible, although not the easiest option. 2205 needs to be heat treated to obtain its optimum mechanical properties. After welding, 1000 Deg. C for 5 minutes followed by water quench. Not easy to achieve. I guess that without this treatment its strength would be about the same as the welded 316 version.
It’s nearly-new good quality SS chain. Selling and buying will add a lot to the cost and we love working with SS chain. The boat is 30ft and 5T so I think from the thread we’re safe with either a welded-up C link or a SS chain link - hammering the rivets and then getting the link welded up for safety. Meanwhile we’ll persevere with using more rope. The irritation is that the rope gets jammed in the jaws of the Lewmar 1000 Pro gypsy, a common problem I understand. It means we have to haul the rope by hand, then hook the chain, then set the chain on the gypsy. Another 15m of chain and we would never have to use rope for the anchoring we do.
Thank you.
What rope are you using, maybe change the rope construction
Tecni no longer stock Crosby C-links, neither do Flint, who used to be a reliable supplier. I noticed about a year ago that 8 mm (5/16") were out of stock at both, although 10 mm were. That is no longer the case, no stock anywhere. I read somewhere that they were being 'redesigned' but that seems to be a euphemism for 'no longer made'.
Example, **very** tiny loop with aramid monofilament wound inside a dyneema cover (mainly for chafe protection), the two white tails are then buried in the loop. The cover in the photo is 3mm dia. It can be made (almost) as small as one wishes, no need for bury/taper minimum Xdiameter like with dyneema braid loops; make one fit to fill a chain link the chain will break first somewhere else, and you have an enormous safety factor anyway. No rust nor galvanic effects. Ok apart from chain it can be quite usefulIn the absence of lump hammers or competent welders, take a thin dyneema braid and give it 10000000 turns between the two end links kept at the right distance
An answer might be to have friends in the US. My conclusions on American business is that they simply are not hungry and have strange ideas about value of delivery. They appear to only ship by express delivery and forget that US Mail is cheap and reliable.
