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How to use swivel safely

Time: 2019-01-04

Swivels are positioning devices and are not intended to rotate under load。They are made in three classes as shown below.

Quality: Swivels can be manufactured to any number of worldwide accepted standards. However, many are built to lesser standards or no standards at all. With the former you have some assurance as to its strength and dimensions, with the latter, not so much. If you must use a swivel of questionable pedigree, consider oversizing it.

Strength: The swivel should have a working load limit (WLL) that equals or exceeds the maximum load to which the ground tackle will be subjected. When you’re calculating the load on your ground tackle, err on the side of caution. Remember the old Maine proverb: “Nothing too strong ever broke.”

Universal movement: To avoid lateral loads on a swivel, each end of the swivel must be able to move unimpeded, up and down and side to side. The use of eye-to-eye swivels prevents a swivel from inadvertently being installed backward. Plus, the fact that shackles are needed to attach theses kind of swivels provides yet more articulation at each end. Installing a length of chain, even just a few links, between an anchor and the swivel further decreases the odds of lateral loading.

If you find yourself in a situation where a lateral load on a swivel might cause it to fail, you can:

 

1.Remove the swivel from the ground tackle.

2.Switch to a bigger swivel strong enough to carry a lateral load.

3.Deploy multiple anchors, such that each will protect the other(s) from carrying large side loads.

Other things to think about 

Shackles: Anchor (bow) or chain (“D”) style shackles will break under lighter loads than they are rated for—up to half—when they are side-loaded. A shackle attached to an anchor is the component most likely to experience side loads, so you should make certain its WLL is greater than the ground tackle’s calculated maximum load.

Chain: High Test (alloy) chain, also known as Grade 43 or G4 chain, presents a challenge when attempting to mate shackles to it. The problem stems from the fact that the links are too small to accommodate the pins of a regular-strength (carbon) shackle whose WLL is equal to that of the chain’s WLL. High-strength (alloy) shackles with equal WLLs but smaller pins must be used with G4 chain, or the end link of the chain must be over-sized.