Opinions on Rigamanti anchor chain

[discovery]

Need to replace 200 feet of G4 high test chain...Looking at Rigamanti chainfg in Italy...anyone have input....current chain has only lasted 3 years....had acco initially and it lasted 10 years...had to replace in Grenada and was told it was acco but clearly it wasn't...want to steer clear of Chinese..got interested in this Italian chain but can't find much on it

 

[jssailem]

No experience with Italian chain. Bought mine that was hot dipped galvanixed and specified as meeting the federal standards:

Grade 43 High Test Galvanized Anchor Chain
Meets or exceeds the NACM & US Federal RR-C-271D specifications
• Made of high carbon steel
• 100% proof tested
• ISO-9001 quality assured

Has held up and is serviceable for 5 years. I am not living on the anchor, nor is the chain in the water more than 3 months a year. It is expo to the marine environment 365 Days a year.

 

[Terry Cox]

anyone have input..

Perhaps you could choose to be the guinea pig, buy the Italian brand , then let us know in a few years whether you made the right decision. Like John, I purchased ACCO brand G4 chain in 2015, have anchored many times since then and it looks the same as the day I purchased it. When it comes to the most important boat system, quality makes a big difference in performance. Go to an industrial supplier near you that deals in chain and they should have what you need. Hot dipped galvanized and Made in America. BBB and proof coil will work, but not as strong nor as resistant to corrosion as G4. These also tend to come from off shore makers who will state galvanized, but a big difference between hot dipped galvanized.

 

[capta]

I did a lot of research into chain a few years back and could find no chain that is actually "hot dipped galvanized". What they are selling today is what we used to call electroplated. Hot dipped galvanized chain is dull and has lots of irregularities in the zinc coating. Though I'd had serious enough problems to have it replaced on warranty, I ended up finding nothing better, at any price, so I ended up with Acco. I have no information about the Italian chain, though.

 

[Stu Jackson]

I bought 50 feet of chain from Trotac in Victoria, BC, three or four years ago, and like John's use, and the chain, like Terry's still looks new. I anchor many times a short year up here. Trotac is a commercial fisheries supplier, hence is unlike typical "marine stores" and specializes in quality gear because its customer base is professional, not recreational. Why be a guinea (no pun intended) pig on chain? It's not like you have to reinvent the wheel about this most basic of boating needs.

I also wonder why you feel you need 200 feet? My 50 is surely too short for you but I have my reasons (no windlass, shallow anchorages) but my friend suggested this to me many years ago and folks have found it helpful. If you do, too, then I just saved you 50% on new chain!!!

Steve’s Anchoring 101

The Rocna. All 20kg of it with 100ft of chain. The rest of the world can debate all they like. When I pull into a place like Bodega Bay at midnight and the fog is so thick I can't see the jetty 50 feet away to make an entrance, I drop my hook in the rolling ocean swells with the surf crashing (Foster says it's like staying in a cheap Best Western beside the highway), and I sleep. And in the morning I have a windlass to pull the beast up and I wouldn't trade it for anything. (I also wouldn't add more chain - this works perfectly in 25 to 30 feet of water - you let all the chain out and you tie off nylon at the preferred scope and don't bother with separate snubbers and chain hooks and all that stuff...)

 

[Terry Cox]

Hot dipped galvanized chain is dull and has lots of irregularities in the zinc coating.

So, when the distributor says the ACCO brand chain is hot dipped galvanized, it really isn't? I've observed the difference between electroplated (galvanized) versus hot dipped galvanized and the difference is stark. Our 1991 hot dipped galvanized Danforth anchor looks the same as when it was placed on our boat. Ditto the original chain. Then I've seen and used galvanized (electroplated) products that the sea water destroys in less than a season.

Not saying that your research was flawed, but perhaps worth a revisit. Certainly no expert in this field of metallurgy, only what I've observed in the real world. Others have chimed in on this topic more knowledgeable than I. Searching the archives will point out the differences between the two metal preps.

 

[Mark Maulden]

And if you get hot dipped, run it through the gypsy several times both ways. Make sure there are no slag drips etc that can cause jamming.

 

[capta]

So, when the distributor says the ACCO brand chain is hot dipped galvanized, it really isn't? I've observed the difference between electroplated (galvanized) versus hot dipped galvanized and the difference is stark. Our 1991 hot dipped galvanized Danforth anchor looks the same as when it was placed on our boat. Ditto the original chain. Then I've seen and used galvanized (electroplated) products that the sea water destroys in less than a season.

Not saying that your research was flawed, but perhaps worth a revisit. Certainly no expert in this field of metallurgy, only what I've observed in the real world. Others have chimed in on this topic more knowledgeable than I. Searching the archives will point out the differences between the two metal preps.

I've been using chain since the '60s and my opinion has nothing to do with "research". It is my observation, though. All the BBB chain I've used over the last dozen years has been somewhat shiny and the coating fairly even. As mentioned above, real hot dipped galvanized metal (chain, anchors, etc.) is dull and there is a lot of residual uneven zinc left on each bit. There was commonly a link or two with a hard connection to another where the zinc hardened and froze the junction. A time or two through the windlass and it would separate the links. I never see that in today's chain. It used to be one could have the chain dragging over the bottom for many years, but now one is unlikely to get a few years before it rusts, if used fairly often.
However, after many calls and emails to Acco and Canadian chain, they always assure me that what they are selling me is indeed "hot dipped". Either they don't know, or care, to tell me the truth, or somehow a new process for hot dipping chain is being used. I did hear that the reason there are so few companies offering real hot dipped regalvanizing in the US is because the process is extremely bad for he environment. One used to be able to re-hot dip galvanize metal very cheaply and everywhere. From what I hear one must go to Columbia (in this part of the world) to get metal (chain, anchors, etc.) properly hot dipped galvanized, but they apparently do not manufacture chain or anchors there.

 

[dLj]

There is a new process called "mechanical galvanizing" that a lot of companies use and call it "equivalent" to hot dipped galvanizing, but it is not.

@discovery - you may find that the Italian manufacturer may be performing hot dipped galvanizing as the process is less restricted due to not having the EPA requirements found in the US which has made this process here less and less utilized.

The visual description of hot dipped galvanized product is good, but there are some improvements that have been made in this process that make it more difficult to visually see that difference in all cases. The only real way to know is to do a metallurgical examination of a chain link and see if the microstructure of the galvanized coating exhibits the hot dipped microstructures.

My suggestion is that you check for hot dipped galvanized chain from the supplier - if they say it is, it probably is. If they say it's equivalent - it's not.

dj