Chain Twist

[sy_gilana]

We have two 30Kg Anchors that were gifts from the swivel breaking demon, ie. Other people lost these anchors and we found them with half a swivel attached.
We have all chain, no swivel, and the chain has never jumped the gypsy, therefore no twist. I am wondering if you have a horizontal shaft windlass or vertical. A horizontal one only has about 100 degrees of wrap angle, a vertical shaft has about 270 degrees and almost impossible for the chain to jump it.
I also urge you to make sure that the last link on your chain is sized to fit the shackle pin perfectly ie 180 degrees of contact. You can hammer a tapered pin into it to size it correctly.

I have seen rope-chain rodes twist up like crazy...

[Kettlewell]

Though I generally use all chain rode with no swivel and a horizontal windlass, and I anchor in areas where the wind is very likely to go around 360 degrees a couple of times each day, I have very little problem with twist for some reason. When hauling the anchor and it is calm I let any twist spin out once the anchor leaves the bottom. If you haul it in slowly with an occasional pause you can let the anchor and chain rotate the way they want to go. Once in a great while I will drag my chain across the entire boatyard when my boat is out of the water and it is pretty easy to untwist it when it is stretched out. Helps to have several people to deal with the weight. I created the set up shown in order to more smoothly come in over the roller without the ears on the shackles catching and it works like a charm.

[Mark Zarley]

Worn chain links get longer, which puts them out of time with your windless wild cat. This will cause the chain to climb and slip or roll a 1/4 turn. Twisting the chain as it enters your chain locker. With an in-time chain this does not happen. The wildcat will keep the chain in perfect alignment, forcing the chain to untwist. As long as the chain rests in the wild cats teeth, even with a twisted bridle, it will straighten it out. This is for all chain only. We use 1/2 BBB with a SS swivel .