Anchor Chain Question

[Buck420]

8 years ago, I spray painted several links of my, then new, 5/16 BBB anchor chain ever 25' with florcesent red Rust-Oleum spray paint.
By last Fall, the paint was pretty much gone, but these links had become badly rusted. The remaining chain remains in good condition with scarcely any rust.
I am replacing the chain with new 5/16 BBB and would like to mark the new chain as before... every 25' with red paint.
Is there a type of paint that should be used on chain that will not cause the rusting that has so seriously degraded my origonal chain?

 

[Deep Lee Reefed]

Buck420,

I used colored wire ties to mark the chain of my bigger boat. They lasted a lot longer than I expected, and they were easy to replace.

 

[Ross]

Check with Sherwin Williams for their direct to metal acrylic enamel. This is new paint technology and very good.

 

[Guest]

Chain

Our boat came equipped with grade 40 high test 5/16th chain. It is stronger and more corrosion resistant than BBB. You might consider going that route.

Terry

 

[sailingdog]

While High Test or G40/G43 chain may be stronger than BBB, given the same wire diameter, I seriously doubt that it is more corrosion resistant, as both chains generally undergo the same galvanization process.

Our boat came equipped with grade 40 high test 5/16th chain. It is stronger and more corrosion resistant than BBB. You might consider going that route.

Terry

As for marking chain, the wire ties are a good choice, as are using chain markers that insert into the chain links.

 

[Rich Stidger]

I second (or third) the wire tie suggestion. I use one red tie at 50', two at 100', and three at 150'. Between each red tie I use a yellow tie every 10'. I just count the yellow ties to know the length that is payed out.

These last 4 or more years going through my windlass and are a snap to replace. Even when they finally break, there is usually a ring of the tie left around the chain link so you know where to put the replacement.

 

[Buck420]

OK,

Thanks for the wire tie suggestion... I'll give 'em a try.
I had not tried them thinking that wire/cable ties would be torn out by the windless, but apparently that's not a problem.

 

[Lee Coller]

Re: OK,

I used to use paint, but got tired of repainting and some colors were harder to see than others. I had color-coded every 50 feet. Last year I switched to ties every 10 feet, and coded them so I didn't have to count ties to know where I was. Much easier, and its nice to know exactly how much rode you have out.

How did you get paint to last 8 years, you must not anchor much?

 

[Buck420]

Re: OK,

I repainted several years ago, and noticed then that the links were starting to rust... wire brushed the links and used RustOleum on them, but by last year it had gotten sig. worse.
I do anchor fairly often, but I'm not sure that it makes much difference how much you anchor. In the salt environment, once rust starts, ... on chain, at least, it's difficult to stop it without taking the chain and having it regalvinized. I haven't ck'ed the price of having the chain reconditioned and the bad links removed; I just chose to replace it.

 

[Bill]

Proper paint

I would think that galvanized chain should be painted with galvanneal or other compatible paint. Some fight with each other.
http://www.hubindustrialsupply.com/...Itemid=10006&gclid=COed07DJ-pgCFQu-GgodNxQNoA

 

[Guest]

Anchor Chain

While High Test or G40/G43 chain may be stronger than BBB, given the same wire diameter, I seriously doubt that it is more corrosion resistant, as both chains generally undergo the same galvanization process.



As for marking chain, the wire ties are a good choice, as are using chain markers that insert into the chain links.

To Sailingdog, perhaps rather than doubt one should validate whether one has their facts right. Metallurgical engineers who do this for a living will tell you that as you improve the chain grade (proof coil, BBB, grade 40, grade 70, etc.) various alloys are added in the manufacturing process to improve strength and quality. In doing so voids in the metal that tend to create pockets for oxygen to enter and beget corrosion in the lower grades become filled with these alloys thus increasing the corrosion resistance in the higher grades, that is all else being equal.

Terry Cox

P.S. No, I'm not one of those whachamacallit engineers, I just like to ask lots of questions.