West Marine Swivel Testing

In May 15‘s ‘Lectronic Latitude, we reported on John and Gilly Foy’s wild ride through an anchorage after their Kong anchor swivel — which they bought at West Marine a few years earlier — failed. West Marine CEO Geoff Eisenberg was quick to respond to the report. "This is a really big deal to us," Eisenberg told us. "As you would imagine, the last thing we want to do is sell bad products."

To that end, West Marine’s Product Test Lab conducted testing on three differently sized Kong swivels in their Watsonville Support Center. Kevin Osborn, who heads up the company’s Product Development and Quality Management Teams, reported that all swivels held their SWL (safe working load) when pulled straight back (linear tension). "We did find minor deformation on the majority of 1/2" and 5/16" swivels," Osborn noted. The deformations ranged from bowed pins, failure to swivel, failure to release the screw, and extra play in the swivel. "The 1/4" swivels all functioned normally and didn’t deform in the majority of cases."

Osborn’s team then tested several 5/16" swivels with a 90º transverse side load to the swivels’ 4400 lb SWL. "All samples deformed significantly," he reported, "and one deformed to the degree that the load bearing pin came free once the flange spread to the point of failure."

In a conference call with the Italy-based manufacturer, West Marine asked Kong to manufacture their products more consistently as some of the tested swivels didn’t work properly right out of the package. Kong also agreed to change their packaging to instruct users to

• Use Blue Loctite each time the captive screw is set to ensure it doesn’t back out;
• Inspect their ground tackle at least annually to ensure everything is operating properly and thre is no visible deformation;
• State the SWL and suggest using a shackle between the swivel and the shank of the anchor to prevent problems with side loads.

This last suggestion seemed odd to us since our perception was that the point of such a swivel was to not have to use a shackle, thus reducing the number of potential failure points in one’s anchoring set-up. "It all depends on the anchor," Osborn told us. "Flat shank anchors, like the Delta, offer more potential for the swivel to get torqued. A D-shackle will allow the swivel to pivot around the shackle instead of getting bound on the shank." He noted that on anchors that allow more movement, like the CQR, this wouldn’t be much of an issue.

Watch July’s Sightings for a more detailed report, including photos of the tested swivels.