There have been many threads and posts over the years about the virtues and vices of anchor swivels. Perhaps a fair summary would be "if you must use one, make sure it is one of the few good ones".
I used one of the supposed 'good ones', an Ultra swivel, for many years with my SUPER SARCA anchor. It worked perfectly 8 times out of 10, though there was always a degree of banging around during retrieval. 2 times out of 10, despite the swivel I'd have to drop the anchor a couple of feet and re-retrieve to put it away properly.
I recently had occasion to re-gal my anchor and 110m (360') of 3/8 BBB chain, replace older shackles with new load-rated ones, remove and service my Lofrans Falkon windlass, etc etc.....so I decided to replace the swivel with a "Flip Link", a solid flat bar device offered as a swivel alternative by AnchorRight, the same company that makes the SARCA anchors. You can see it here http://www.anchorright.com.au/news/anchor-right-australia-introduces-innovative-flip-link/ and in the photo of my own installation attached below.
I have used the FlipLink now for about 30 cycles over 6 days and I'm very pleased and impressed. Not only has every retrieval seen the anchor come up cleanly and perfectly aligned every time, there is none of the banging around that I'd become used to with my swivel. The manufacturer says the solid flat bar is stronger than the chain itself with no moving/wearing parts (unlike swivels). For the record, I have no affiliation with the manufacturer and I understand another leading anchor manufacturer (Spade or ??) make a similar product. Just wanted to report my experience thus far to the TF community.
(In the photo of my install, you may notice I am using standard cable ties in place of stainless wire to mouse the shackles. This was recommended by a couple of people on TF who like me were sick of broken/sharp wire ends. Too early yet for me to comment on the longevity of the cable ties in this application and we are checking them after every cycle....but no signs of wear thus far.)
I used one of the supposed 'good ones', an Ultra swivel, for many years with my SUPER SARCA anchor. It worked perfectly 8 times out of 10, though there was always a degree of banging around during retrieval. 2 times out of 10, despite the swivel I'd have to drop the anchor a couple of feet and re-retrieve to put it away properly.
I recently had occasion to re-gal my anchor and 110m (360') of 3/8 BBB chain, replace older shackles with new load-rated ones, remove and service my Lofrans Falkon windlass, etc etc.....so I decided to replace the swivel with a "Flip Link", a solid flat bar device offered as a swivel alternative by AnchorRight, the same company that makes the SARCA anchors. You can see it here http://www.anchorright.com.au/news/anchor-right-australia-introduces-innovative-flip-link/ and in the photo of my own installation attached below.
I have used the FlipLink now for about 30 cycles over 6 days and I'm very pleased and impressed. Not only has every retrieval seen the anchor come up cleanly and perfectly aligned every time, there is none of the banging around that I'd become used to with my swivel. The manufacturer says the solid flat bar is stronger than the chain itself with no moving/wearing parts (unlike swivels). For the record, I have no affiliation with the manufacturer and I understand another leading anchor manufacturer (Spade or ??) make a similar product. Just wanted to report my experience thus far to the TF community.
(In the photo of my install, you may notice I am using standard cable ties in place of stainless wire to mouse the shackles. This was recommended by a couple of people on TF who like me were sick of broken/sharp wire ends. Too early yet for me to comment on the longevity of the cable ties in this application and we are checking them after every cycle....but no signs of wear thus far.)
