Anchor swivel

[team karst]

So, been enjoying the new to me vulcan on a 2 month cruise so far. Been thru a couple “gales”, lets just call it 30 kts of non-dragging; but still nail biting nites.
We have a swivel attachment of unknown name.
Sounding like a noob now, but why have a swivel? My wife is giving the anchor a 180 deg twist on almost every retrieval. Are swivels really for twisted line usage? Im all chain.
A shackle I trust.

[Muaddib1116]

There are many long threads about whether to swivel or not. It's not worth rehashing the whole thing. I'll just say that it seems to work for some people and not others. I just did a summer season without and had some trouble with chain twist, so now I'm going to try a season with it. We'll see if I keep it.

What I do think is worth talking about is that if you decide to keep it, I would recommend getting a good one. From an engineering design perspective, the Mantus swivel is the best design out there for general use. When you search for previous swivel threads, I'm sure you'll run across a lot of discussion about swivels failing. Don't use an unknown brand of unknown design/manufacturing quality.

[team karst]

YES. I lay awake realizing that there are two screws in shear, and one more in tension, with no way to inspect for crevice corrosion, or cracks. But, more to the point,does chain want to twist?

Many cases of anchoring where a swivel failure = all is lost.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by team karst

So, been enjoying the new to me vulcan on a 2 month cruise so far. Been thru a couple “gales”, lets just call it 30 kts of non-dragging; but still nail biting nites.
We have a swivel attachment of unknown name.
Sounding like a noob now, but why have a swivel? My wife is giving the anchor a 180 deg twist on almost every retrieval. Are swivels really for twisted line usage? Im all chain.
A shackle I trust.

If it is more than 50%, it is because you are moving through the water, forward, when recovering the last part of the chain. This makes the Vulcan line up backwards.



Try drifting back, and it may come up right every time.


Think about which way the anchor naturally aligns when moving through the water. Make it work for you.

[Muaddib1116]

Chain doesn't want to twist, but without a swivel it can. For some people, this doesn't seem to be a problem when the twisted chain is loaded by wind or when it is retrieved. For some people it is a problem, and swivels are a solution. If you do use a swivel, use a good one. There are lots of long threads that go into this stuff in deep detail.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by team karst

YES. I lay awake realizing that there are two screws in shear, and one more in tension, with no way to inspect for crevice corrosion, or cracks. But, more to the point,does chain want to twist?

Many cases of anchoring where a swivel failure = all is lost.

Chain wants to twist when the boat circles around the anchor due to wind and/or current changes. It is more of an issue in shallower water as there is less chain for a given number of twists.

Once the anchor leaves the bottom, assuming no way on the boat, it will untwist between the anchor and the bow roller. That’s why if it’s relatively shallow that the twists may hockle the chain.

If you have a windlass and directional roller then it is good to align the chain with no twists between the windlass and bow roller (and the anchor when fully raised). If your roller is non-directional (has a smooth surface and no groove for the chain) then it’s less important to keep the chain straight.

If no windlass, it doesn’t matter. As others have noted, ensure you’re not moving forward once the anchor breaks free of the bottom.

I’m not sure what the point of a swivel is as I’m pretty sure it doesn’t swivel while the anchor is in the bottom and the anchor rode loaded. I believe in have the absolute fewest components in any system - for us that means no swivel.