Acco chain, are other cruisers experiencing problems

[DefinitelyMe]

Cheers for resurrecting this thread. I'll be interested to hear recent stories if there are any. Planning on purchasing new chain in St. Maarten when i pass through there in a few weeks and hadn't considered the Maggi as it's metric and i figured it wouldn't fit my gypsy. I will now! Cheers guys; it's almost half the price of the Canadian stuff.

Sunnysky, i'm afraid the topic of Rebel Heart is a long, interesting but tragic one on this forum. He lost his boat on passage. Everyone made it off - they were picked up. Several of the old threads have been removed because people were very vocal in their criticisms of some of the choices he made before and during the ordeal, but there are still a couple left if you're interested and do a search. There are some good lessons to be learned.

[sailnow2011]

Originally Posted by SunnySky

rebel heart how has your chain held up?

Rebel heart's chain is on the bottom of the pacific ocean, with the rest of his boat.

[Cheechako]

Take your gypsy with you to look at chain. Especially on a Horizontal windlass; wrap the chain you are looking at full around the gypsy, any poor fit will result in jumping etc. as the chain only engages a notch or two.

[Saltyhog]

This is a very timely thread resurrection. I was literally just about to place an order for a Lighthouse 1501 with a wildcat for 5/16" G4. This is for my Cabo Rico 38. For that kind of coin, I expect to not need to worry about chain fitment problems. Now, I'm considering going a different direction. Currently, I'm thinking about a Maxwell vertical windlass, with my only concerns being if I have enough vertical drop to prevent problems.

[SunnySky]

Thanks for all the advice :-)
Despite all the problems I had getting them to own up to the need to make gypsies for the Acco G4 chain manufacturing differences subsequent to Peerless purchasing and moving Acco production in 2006 and a couple other much smaller annoyances early on with my windlass I admit Lighthouse makes a very good windlass.

I think in a lot of ways it is a matter of a really well made but relatively unchanged design that the owners are not overly interesting in investing to keep relevant in a timely manner whether it be gyspies to fit Acco G40 chain as currently manufactured or upgrading the rhode counter after a supplier no longer made a needed component (which I wanted back when I bought mine over two years ago and which last week when I spoke with them will supposedly have a new wireless rhode counter option sometime relatively soon).

Modifying a lofrans gypsy to fit the Lighthouse might be the thing to do, although maybe I can convince Saltyhog to buy a lovely Lighthouse 1501 so I can buy a lofrans.. Sales pitch: Lighthouse 1501 with submariner reversing set up and wireless remotes with a mere two years of use will work great if choose to use 3/8" BBB chain since I don't think there will be any problems with getting Lighthouse to provide gypsies to fit BBB chain (and if 5/16" BBB chain was used I think it would be fine assuming that is strong enough for your boat...). :-) :-) :-)

Thanks again for all your advice, will let everyone know what I end up doing..
David

[barboak]

We replaced our rusty acco with Maggi Aqua G7 8mm chain from Budget St. Martin and a year later it looks new!


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[SunnySky]

Quick update as an FYI:
Since my last post Lighthouse agreed to make gypsies to fit the G43 chain I had previously sent them a sample of, but when the prototype gypsy arrived which supposedly was made specifically for the chain I sent them as a sample it actually fit worse the than the 5/16" BBB gypsy they had previously sent me when the original 5/16 high test gypsies did not fit and skipped badly. As a result, I resorted to asking Lighthouse to simply swap out the 5/16" gypsies I had for the 3/8" BBB gypsies they had in stock.

The 3/8" BBB gypsies and the new heavier/weaker/more expensive 3/8" BBB chain I bought to replace the chain I already had all fit perfectly and there is absolutely no skipping at all with the gypsies and chain sized to BBB. Despite the big weight penalty for weaker chain, all is well now and it feels so great to be able to no longer dread pulling anchor.

Despite still being puzzled by the difficulty to have appropriately sized high test gypsies for currently available USA-made chain I do give credit to Lighthouse for continuing to work with me despite the mutual frustration my wanting USA-made high test chain to fit a USA-made gypsy.

Dave
Sunny Sky Hailing from Cold Bay AK

[SailFastTri]

Ditto here. Acco G4 galvanizing not lasting well.

[Pablito]

Originally Posted by lions paw

After two years in salt water our Acco chain started to rust and after 4 years it became unusable. I know Mark on Reach have the same experience with even faster rusting. Are other boats having problems with Acco chain and if so can they recommend an alternative. I started to look into Maggi chain and it is obviously not common in US or Canada.
Steve

Acco chain is not worth the money. Real poor quality. Better you use good quality Chinese chains, like Titan, or European products.
A good quality chain should last for 10 to 15 years, and not 3 to 5 like this **** American product.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by Pablito

Acco chain is not worth the money. Real poor quality. Better you use good quality Chinese chains, like Titan, or European products.
A good quality chain should last for 10 to 15 years, and not 3 to 5 like this **** American product.

The sad part is that Acco was historically good, so people use it for a reason. Mine is still doing fine (looks like new) after 1.5 seasons, but it's also yet to see salt water.

[Pablito]

I bought European chain(MF Marine made in Italy) for a price, cheaper than Acco incl. shipping from Europe. It's first quality, not comparible to this American Acco crap.
If you need the Adress of the vendor ask me.
Pablito

[toddster8]

I have to subscribe to the “shipped wrong product” theory. My Acco G4 sat in a bucket in the garage for two years before I took it to the boat - no water exposure. Already rusted.

[jt11791]

Is there a supplier of non-ACCO chain on the east coast USA? Defender, West, and Fawcett all carry only ACCO.

[Pablito]

Marine Warehouse offers Titan chain.

[Chotu]

I had the exact same problem with this chain. I bought my anchoring tackle a while back. Haven’t used it much at all considering the boat is still under construction. Rusted right out. Just sitting in the chain locker.