I've owned boats since 1980 and have never used swivels. I've bought boats that came with them and removed them.
In late July my chain jammed in the gypsy. I had to take the windless apart (partially) to free it. Then I had another incident last week, when a link came up kinked sideways and would have jammed. Luckily I spotted it before it reached the gypsy. The culprit was chain twist.
So I ordered a Mantus swivel. This is a very well designed item that eliminates the weakness issue many swivels have (e.g. Kong) when being pulled from the side of the anchor, and the shank acts like a crow bar. (The Mantus uses the rounded "C" side of a D shackle to attach to the anchor shank so side pulls don‘t affect strength).
In late July my chain jammed in the gypsy. I had to take the windless apart (partially) to free it. Then I had another incident last week, when a link came up kinked sideways and would have jammed. Luckily I spotted it before it reached the gypsy. The culprit was chain twist.
So I ordered a Mantus swivel. This is a very well designed item that eliminates the weakness issue many swivels have (e.g. Kong) when being pulled from the side of the anchor, and the shank acts like a crow bar. (The Mantus uses the rounded "C" side of a D shackle to attach to the anchor shank so side pulls don‘t affect strength).
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