Which Anchor Do You Use

[Russ]

I have a Fortress FX-7, which is their smallest. It's only 4 lb, but it's aluminium. And that small anchor holds like nobody's business. You do have to change the fluke angle between sand (32°) and mud (45°), and the wrong angle doesn't work very well in the wrong bottom.

Veeery interesting. I didn't know that anchor was adjustable for the bottom type. And so lightweight.

I'd be temped to get one except I have a 22 lb Claw on a roller and it works well. But it's a beast.

[Tomfoolery]

I have a Fortress FX-7, which is their smallest. It's only 4 lb, but it's aluminium. And that small anchor holds like nobody's business. You do have to change the fluke angle between sand (32°) and mud (45°), and the wrong angle doesn't work very well in the wrong bottom.

Veeery interesting. I didn't know that anchor was adjustable for the bottom type. And so lightweight.

I'd be temped to get one except I have a 22 lb Claw on a roller and it works well. But it's a beast.

I had a 33 lb Bruce on my 34 ft Hunter, and it worked well in all bottoms around here. Fit nicely in the bow roller, too. I rather like that design as it's easy to handle and store, and won't bite your fingers like the Danforth style. But without a bow roller, I'd rather have the fold flat fluke style, though they do take a bit more care in setting and resetting with wind and current (which we don't have) changes.

The fluke angle is easy to change. Just loosen two screws, slip the stock out of the crown, and put it back in through the other hole, then retighten the screws. You can also slip the stock completely out and store the anchor in bits - good for keeping a large anchor below decks, for overnight anchoring where you think you might need something bigger than your daily driver.

The screws are just clamps, and the anchor will work even if the screws are loose, so there's no direct load path through them, unlike the Mantus anchor (though I have no problem with that bolted design, either). The Spade anchor is also bolted, and can be disassembled, but the bolt is just a keeper and also takes no load. But I digress.

As to keeping the anchor at the stern, there's nothing wrong with that, and many things right. If you need to anchor in a hurry, you can set it from the stern, cleated at the stern, and walk the remaining rode to the bow, outside the shrouds and rails, cleat it up front, then uncleat it at the cockpit and let the boat turn around on its own. If the water is a bit rough, perhaps put the companionway hatch board in first, so any waves breaking over the stern won't splash into the cabin. The M and X cockpits are self-draining even if the motor well drain is plugged, so no real danger of being swamped, and that gives a little time to get it together.

[C Buchs]

I've got a fortress anchor, about 30' of chain, a pyramid anchor weight, and then 75' of rode. It all fits in the anchor locker. I caught a ball of grass and couldn't get it to set once, but otherwise have never had a problem. The biggest problem is actually pulling up that heavy pyramid!

Jeff

[Inquisitor]

Since this thread contains anchor suggestions , I thought this article from the West Marine archives would be appropriate.
https://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvisor/Anchor-Testing

Very interesting article and also very odd - That the Fortress did so well and the West Marine carbon-copy did so poorly. It seems strange that the geometry being so similar (especially compared to how different the other makes were) and the only real difference mentioned was the sharpened edges. Even though most of the other makes don't have those sharp edges like the Fortress.

Anyone know more?

[Jimmyt]

Very interesting article and also very odd - That the Fortress did so well and the West Marine carbon-copy did so poorly. It seems strange that the geometry being so similar (especially compared to how different the other makes were) and the only real difference mentioned was the sharpened edges. Even though most of the other makes don't have those sharp edges like the Fortress.

Anyone know more?

They also said that all of the anchors set when a smaller vessel was used. Like you, I find the methodology suspicious when two, virtually identical items perform so differently.

At any rate, I've had the same experience Jeff stated with my Fortress. Always holds in sand. Not good in muck/biomass/grass, unless you want to dredge with it.

[Inquisitor]

Very interesting article and also very odd - That the Fortress did so well and the West Marine carbon-copy did so poorly. It seems strange that the geometry being so similar (especially compared to how different the other makes were) and the only real difference mentioned was the sharpened edges. Even though most of the other makes don't have those sharp edges like the Fortress.

Anyone know more?

They also said that all of the anchors set when a smaller vessel was used. Like you, I find the methodology suspicious when two, virtually identical items perform so differently.

At any rate, I've had the same experience Jeff stated with my Fortress. Always holds in sand. Not good in muck/biomass/grass, unless you want to dredge with it.

I was completely clueless, but I bet you knew about adjusting the angle... have you ever tried the other angle in that muck?

[Jimmyt]

It got a good bite, so I don't think an angle adjustment would help. But, to answer your question, I did not adjust the angle and try to reset. The grass/rootball that it brought up was about 2 ft in diameter, and was a pain to clean up. I was in a river with a known mucky bottom, and tried to get near the edge (out of ski/tube and jet ski traffic). Just got into grass/root systems apparently. I did not want to risk having to clean the anchor again (lunch was calling my name).

[Tomfoolery]

Very interesting article and also very odd - That the Fortress did so well and the West Marine carbon-copy did so poorly. It seems strange that the geometry being so similar (especially compared to how different the other makes were) and the only real difference mentioned was the sharpened edges. Even though most of the other makes don't have those sharp edges like the Fortress.

Anyone know more?

They also said that all of the anchors set when a smaller vessel was used. Like you, I find the methodology suspicious when two, virtually identical items perform so differently.

At any rate, I've had the same experience Jeff stated with my Fortress. Always holds in sand. Not good in muck/biomass/grass, unless you want to dredge with it.

I was completely clueless, but I bet you knew about adjusting the angle... have you ever tried the other angle in that muck?

I'm not Jimmyt, but I have tried my Fortress with the wrong angle in both bottom types.

At the 'mud' setting, which is 45° fluke angle, it wouldn't bite into sand. It would drag some skid marks, but not start diving.

At the 'sand' setting, which is 32° fluke angle, and is what pretty much all the Danforths and knockoffs use, it would dig into the mud, but stay shallow and just pull very deep skid marks in the mud. Never really holding.

Weed bottoms are a problem no matter what you use, but single point, plow or scoop types, fixed shank anchors seem to do the best. Better with no hoop, but I'm not sure that's a significant difference other than the effort required to clean it afterward.

You can still buy CQR anchors, and there are cruisers who swear they're the best (the best!), but I have a hard time believing that the first small boat anchor that wasn't a fisherman style (the classic U-fluke "anchor" shape), which started life 90 years ago when Bonnie and Clyde were robbing banks, is still the state of the art, especially given the known difficulties in setting and resetting. And they're expensive by comparison to just about anything else.

And on the subject of bottoms, the size of the anchor matters. Weeds and rocks are a problem for any small anchor. They don't get smaller when the anchor gets smaller. But plop a navy stockless anchor, like on a big ship, onto that bottom, and it won't even know they're there. The little stockless anchors you can buy for small boats are about the worst performing anchor there is, but that's because they were never intended to be made that small when they were designed. A 30,000 lb Navy anchor doesn't scale down well to a 10 lb stockless for a small boat. Well, it scales down just fine, but it won't hold in anything, and will work about as well as a lump of lead.

So both anchor type and bottom type do matter, and there is no 'one type fits all' anchor. For my purposes, and this is my opinion only, the Fortress is best suited for my sailing grounds, and for storage, since it fits in the locker along with 25 ft of chain and 200 ft of 3-strand rode. It's light, easy to handle and deploy/retrieve, easy to store, and suits the bottom types I normally see. Not as good at resetting with wind shifts as other types, though, but I never overnight at anchor on this boat.

BUT, if I had a bow roller that could store the anchor, I'd use a next-gen scoop style, like the Rocna, Mantis, or Manson Supreme, or the hoopless, specifically the Spade. Rocna and maybe others now have hoopless styles also, but I don't know how well they perform. I've had a Bruce on my big boat, but it didn't hold well in mud. Held great in other bottoms, though. Mud is always a problem, for anything but a mud anchor, and even then, my little Fortress can bury itself so deep I almost can't get it back out.

Sorry for the term paper, but the coffee is flowing and I'm bored at work.

[NiceAft]

Tom.

Your term paper was short and sweet.

Here are the Cliff Notes via West Marine.

our results still confirm the rule of thumb that every boat should carry at least three different anchor designs and weights to deal with a wide variety of bottom types. F

[Drifter]

Well that's handy, because by the time my FX7 arrives I will indeed have 3 anchors...

[Tomfoolery]

Tom.

Your term paper was short and sweet.

Here are the Cliff Notes via West Marine.

our results still confirm the rule of thumb that every boat should carry at least three different anchor designs and weights to deal with a wide variety of bottom types. F

There ya go.

And for the record, I keep two spares on board. One is a much larger Danforth knock-off, and the other is a Bruce knock-off (Claw). I like the Claw anchor especially for stern anchoring.

Like this, on Cape Cod at North Beach Island, across from the Chatham Lighthouse, where a second anchor is crucial for keeping the bow pointed at the channel against the wind and current. Without it the boat sits broadside to the wakes, and the channel is yards from the anchor at low tide. The Claw is compact and dense and is easy to wade toward the beach with, with no risk of getting bitten fingers. Held like crazy, too, and it's only a small anchor.

[kurz]

I use two Jambo Anchors


Two reasons:
Here in Europe the Jambo sounds like the best holding anchor.
especially in best grabbing skills!
Second: I can store TWO of them INSIDE the anchor locker of the . Including the anchor rode.

negs: high price! (bought them used...)

I talked to the manufactor: He said: Most improtant is the form! BUT also weight. So for a long time the smalles Jambo was 11kg. Becouse in 8kg the grabbing skills are not best. So do not trust to much in aloy contructions that are very light. They might have problems in grabbing.

So I have a 11kg. You can handle well. For overnights. The second one is an 8kg. BIG difference this 3kg in handling. So using for easier circumstance.

So maybe the Jambo gets cheaper soon as the patends are not pending anymore.

[NiceAft]

Tom.

Your term paper was short and sweet.

Here are the Cliff Notes via West Marine.

our results still confirm the rule of thumb that every boat should carry at least three different anchor designs and weights to deal with a wide variety of bottom types. F

There ya go.

And for the record, I keep two spares on board. One is a much larger Danforth knock-off, and the other is a Bruce knock-off (Claw). I like the Claw anchor especially for stern anchoring.

Like this, on Cape Cod at North Beach Island, across from the Chatham Lighthouse, where a second anchor is crucial for keeping the bow pointed at the channel against the wind and current. Without it the boat sits broadside to the wakes, and the channel is yards from the anchor at low tide. The Claw is compact and dense and is easy to wade toward the beach with, with no risk of getting bitten fingers. Held like crazy, too, and it's only a small anchor.

I look out of my window, and I see this.


I like you photos better.

[Tomfoolery]

I've always like the look of the Jambo - brings to mind images of Neptune's trident.

[NiceAft]

I use two Jambo Anchors


Two reasons:
Here in Europe the Jambo sounds like the best holding anchor.
especially in best grabbing skills!
Second: I can store TWO of them INSIDE the anchor locker of the . Including the anchor rode.

negs: high price! (bought them used...)

I talked to the manufactor: He said: Most improtant is the form! BUT also weight. So for a long time the smalles Jambo was 11kg. Becouse in 8kg the grabbing skills are not best. So do not trust to much in aloy contructions that are very light. They might have problems in grabbing.

So I have a 11kg. You can handle well. For overnights. The second one is an 8kg. BIG difference this 3kg in handling. So using for easier circumstance.

So maybe the Jambo gets cheaper soon as the patends are not pending anymore.

Kurz,

That anchor looks like a medieval weapon