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Chain link/joiners


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Interesting thing about chain joiners is that we all have difficulty with the idea of having one joining a couple of lengths of chain in our anchor rode. Well I know I do.. and in my case that really is a bit dumb.

Years ago when I learned my living as a shrimp trawlerman we used chain bridles on the trawl doors and would adjust the set of the doors for the conditions by shortening or lengthening the chains using joiner links. I would think that dragging a trawl across a bumpy sea floor put far more loading on the chains than would ever be on an anchor rode and we never had a chain jointer fail. Don't know what make they were though, from Canada I think.

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Another thing to watch for is that they (the joiner) will normally corrode before the rest of the chain as when you smack it to do the join it will remove some of the galvanising - extra care at this step will help minimise .

  If the joiner is at the far end of the chain it will often be buried under the rest of the chain (and remain wet in salt ) so pays to do a visual on an annual basis just to make sure it is still up for the job when needed.

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When you "smack" the things, use a punch and hit just the rivet part. If done correctly, the rivet should punch down with little damage to the Galv. Galv acts as a anode to the steel underneath and the less steel exposed, the less the Zinc is eaten away protecting it. If the damage is smal enough, the Zinc can actually migrate and "self repair". If you snack the link down with a hammer, you can often damage the Galv that it flakes away from the steel leaving it exposed and un self repairable.

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