Bill yes it may be time for a re-think! What disturbs me most about John 's photo is that I think it was the the same model as ours. Looks like most people carry a lot more chain than us too so plenty of food for thought.
Simon

Alex and I are not proponents of swivels. One of our main reasons is that you cannot see inside the housing of most swivels to be certain there is no corrosion; this is especially important for stainless steel swivels which are particularly susceptible. The Quickline cast SS swivel was recalled a couple of years ago and there was a good discussion in Practical Sailor. http://insidepracticalsailor.com/quickline-recalls-cast-stainless-steel-flip-swivels/

Friends of ours lost two SS anchors off their bow while underway. First one sheared so they replaced it with am "improved version". Then the second failed. In both cases the swivels sheared at the pin. See photos. The swivel pin was not visible inside the housing and corroded in a very short period of time. The corrosion is particularly aggressive in wet areas - like on the bow which is always subject to spray.

Ultra has created a new swivel which allows inspection of all the parts and also eliminates the need for a shackle. http://www.ultraanchors.com/ultraswivel.html They have sent us a sample for inspection and testing so we 'll let you know what we think later this season.
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Happy Hooking!

Vice Commodore, OCC 

By the way, another great post on the subject here by John http://www.morganscloud.com/2010/09/12/anchor-swivels/.

Vice Commodore, OCC 

Scary thought and photo John. And it would happen just when things are hairiest out there. Thanks for sharing that.

Vice Commodore, OCC 

When we bought Freya our ground tackle consisted of a 30Kg claw (Bruce) and 5/16" HT chain. The two joined by a galvanised shackle. We were swithering about an anchor swivel and as we were in the USA (North Carolina) at the time, West Marine had the perfect answer, or so we thought - a swivel matched to 5/16" HT chain. We bought one, it lasted a few months before disintegrating in a 25 knot wind in the Spanish Virgins. We 've never used one since, instead we use 2 proof tested galvanised shackles.

If anyone wants a nice Bruce anchor, we can give you an approximate lat and long .... We spent 3 days trying to find it, but it was lost in the silt and the viz. was almost zero. :(

Around this time we started investigating shackles and their performance and were astounded to find the difference between the standard shackle and a proof tested shackle. Even using proof tested shackles we were not able to buy shackles that matched the size of the chain and the strength of the chain.

Knowing the inter-action between stainless steel and galvanised steel and the phenominal strength of stainless steel shackles does anyone have any comment on the use of stainless steel between the chain and the anchor on a long term basis?

The (top) photo on John Herries ' post is in fact a (much better!) photo by John of my failed swivel.
John F

Stainless steel is a tricky material at the best of times. In spite of excellent tensile strength it is susceptible to stress corrosion cracking, especially in the presence of chlorides. I would not have stainless steel in any part of my ground tackle - not shackles, anchor or chain. Remember, the strength of your ground tackle assembly is the strength of the weakest link.

There was a very revealing article on stainless steel chain published in Flying Fish a couple of years ago...

I 'm with you John, about SS being tricky. I would not trust it for any part of the tackle arrangement, except possibly the anchor. Again PS did a good job of reviewing the issues.

http://insidepracticalsailor.com/is-stainless-steel-really-the-best-metal-for-use-in-an-anchor/

Happy Hooking!

Vice Commodore, OCC 

After hearing the comments on stainless steel in a salt-water environment, there appears to be many stainless steel swivels on the market, far more than the galvanised types. As a result of the anchoring survey, can we find out what percentage of members use stainless steel or others for their swivel?

As per my earlier post, we do have a stainless swivel from Kong - new this year so latest version. My understanding is that stainless only becomes a potential problem when immersed in salt water for long periods. So not useful for permanent moorings, or I guess for sitting swinging for weeks on end without raising. We sometimes sit for a few days at a time, but rarely longer, and we are always very vigilant in washing down immediately with fresh water on the swivel after use.

Is this enough? I guess time will tell.