Catalina 350 International Association

Like many of you we have a Maxwell VW 800. Ours has the 108 Chainwheel (108 is stamped on the lower half facing upward, cant miss it)
I have been everywhere trying to get a correct answer on the correct chain for the 108 wheel. Finally on the phone with Vetus Maxwell 1-410-712-0740
I got a guy willing to dig into the archives and find the 800 and CW 108.
His answer was 5/16 high test G63, or DIN 76 - 8mm, or 5/16 BBB
Ours was set up by one of the two previous owners with 5/16 G4 which is actually for chainwheel 105.
It works and obviously has, but I have had my doubts and as I wish to change the chain so I very much wanted some clarification.
What do you folks have for chainwheel 108 chain type?
Thank-you

PS- Just did a full overhaul on the 800. Will share some tips and tricks and pics asap. In case I don't, I echo the recommendation that shaft seal SP708 be changed often.
Given what I found I will be doing this annually. It installs thick body up and compressible flange down.

My apologies ... in the last post I captioned 5/16 high test chain as G63. No such thing, it's G43 chain that fits the 108 chainwheel nicely.

I've always has a "less than perfect" fit with my anchor chain and the windlass chainwheel. I decided to reach out to Maxwell and see what size chain they recommend for a 108 chainwheel. Here's the response:

Regarding your Maxwell VW800 with a 108 chainwheel. The 3172/108 chainwheel is one that is not often found in the US and has not been made in several decades. There is some references to it using ACCO 5/16” G4 HT or Campbell 5/16” BBB. Most often though it was used with 8MM chain by WEISSENFELS or SERAFINI SL, or DIN 766 that is hard to find in the US. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of modern choices here in the US that would run great through the 3172/108.

Bob, are you still happy with the G43 chain? Anyone else with a 108 chainwheel have a different take?

I have chainwheel 108 with G4 chain. Seems to work fine for me; this is the first windlass we have had but I have had no issues with it once I put a new gasket on the outside spindle and stopped the leaking down through the spindle.

Bob; would appreciate your process and pics of the rebuild of the windlass mechanicals. That's one the schedule for this winter. Runs ok but I know it has not been serviced and it has had water inside from the bad seal above. Thanks for posting those. Steve

I have the Maxwell VW1000 windlass with the 108 stamp in the chainwheel which I think is very similar to the VW800, and I'm in the process of replacing the anchor chain.

I confirmed with Maxwell that the 5/16 Grade 43 (G4) high-test chain is a good fit for the 108 chain wheel, and I also bought a 3 foot section of 5/16 G4 chain and checked the fit in my windlass before buying the full amount of chain.

Here is a link to the chain I used: https://defender.com/en_us/peerless-5-1 ... -iso-chain