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Anchors - recommendations - thoughts - opinions

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Until the experts with a sister ship check in...
Our boat has little 'storage' room, so the spare Danforth 13S gets stored at the bottom "of the heap" below our only cockpit seat hatch. I have a layer of Dri-Deck tiles there so it does not rattle. Not easy to get to if in a hurry, but at least we have it aboard. While we really do not want a larger boat, sometimes we do wish we had the storage options within a large boat. :)
The Danforth stows pretty flat, and the shore power cord, water hose, and a couple of fenders are on top of that.....
 

bigd14

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
I just got a Mantus anchor. Lots of great reviews. The Bruce that came with the boat only set once out of the 4 attempts I have made to anchor and that was in soft mud. The Mantus set instantly in the same area the Bruce failed (hard sand).

I mention this anchor as suitable for a spare because the blade is removable with 4 bolts from the shaft for easy stowage. It’s not accessible in an emergency but if it’s just a backup in case you lose the primary it might be a good option. If that doesn’t suit I would second Lorens recommendation of a Danforth or Fortress since they store flat.

Right now I have the Bruce as backup stored under the v berth. It does not fit well and I plan to trade it in for either another Mantus or a Danforth/Fortress style anchor.
 

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
We have our 10 kg. Bruce on the bow roller, and love it in our coastal cruising. In 14 years with lots of anchoring, it has only dragged a couple of times when we were on top of kelp. We have a backup Danforth which we store along with dock lines and shore power cord in the stern anchor, port side on our E30+.
Frank
 

racushman

O34 - Los Angeles
My setup is a Bruce (Lewmar Claw) and a Fortress. Each with one boat length of 1/4" chain and 300' of half inch nylon rode. Some would probably say I should be one notch up on both the chain and rode size, but I am not doing any world cruising and would prefer a cheaper and lighter setup.

The claw is cheap and has worked well for me on rockier bottoms. The fortress is very light and nice for sand and mud.
 

1911tex

Sustaining Member
I bought this one almost a year ago to replace our 22# Fortress that keep getting locked up with rocks and hard to store. This one is only 18#, cheap (relatively), looks like the crown jewel on the bow (highly polished stainless), most of the weight is on bottom, very easy to handle and maybe some will say too light for our E35....but holds like crazy and after a dozen or so anchoring, never drags, much better than the Fortress! Don't say it...Chinese very high quality copy of the Delta. Yep. Purchased before C-19!

 
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Thanks everyone. Our primary is a cqr35. We’ve only anchored once and it held well, but we plan to anchor more this summer so we will see. We found a Lewmar Claw for the spare. It should fit well for storage. Thanks again.
 

footrope

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
For anchor discussions it's worthwhile to see if an anchor you are interested in has been tested by this guy: https://www.youtube.com/user/flygoodwin/videos

He hasn't tested everything, but he does a pretty good job showing how several anchors perform and he's constantly trying to improve his process.

We're a 38 and we carry a 22 lb Danforth for use as a stern anchor or spare main anchor. It stores flat, in the stern lazarette, which is nice.

This guy does some interesting tests, especially the drag and reset results. I watched about three or four videos that are interesting to me. I have a Rocna 15 kg/33 lb for 2+ seasons and can echo the finding that it does get contaminated regularly. Most anchoring in the PNW is in mud or mud/sand bottoms so his chosen bottom conditions are relevant to me. In shallower water we regularly deal with kelp, too. His breakaway tests at 3.5 knots in reverse and 3.5:1 or 2.5:1 scope (in 25 feet) are rather extreme conditions. I regularly anchor with 3:1 scope if conditions are benign. I wonder if he really has seen those drifting speed conditions or what his reasoning is for choosing them. The high speed may just be used to guarantee a breakaway for the tests, which really are focused on how well the anchor resets itself after dragging. Backing directly over the anchor and opposite to the set direction might be rare conditions also, but are possible.
 

nquigley

Sustaining Member
//
I have a Rocna 15 kg/33 lb for 2+ seasons and can echo the finding that it does get contaminated regularly. Most anchoring in the PNW is in mud or mud/sand bottoms so his chosen bottom conditions are relevant to me. In shallower water we regularly deal with kelp, too.
//
I have the same weight of 'Rocna' anchor, but it's their Vulcan version (new - still in the garage at home) - what do you mean your Rocna gets 'contaminated'? - comes up coated in mud, maybe?
 

Slick470

Member III
We're a 38 and we carry a 22 lb Danforth for use as a stern anchor or spare main anchor. It stores flat, in the stern lazarette, which is nice.

This guy does some interesting tests, especially the drag and reset results. I watched about three or four videos that are interesting to me. I have a Rocna 15 kg/33 lb for 2+ seasons and can echo the finding that it does get contaminated regularly. Most anchoring in the PNW is in mud or mud/sand bottoms so his chosen bottom conditions are relevant to me. In shallower water we regularly deal with kelp, too. His breakaway tests at 3.5 knots in reverse and 3.5:1 or 2.5:1 scope (in 25 feet) are rather extreme conditions. I regularly anchor with 3:1 scope if conditions are benign. I wonder if he really has seen those drifting speed conditions or what his reasoning is for choosing them. The high speed may just be used to guarantee a breakaway for the tests, which really are focused on how well the anchor resets itself after dragging. Backing directly over the anchor and opposite to the set direction might be rare conditions also, but are possible.
I think he may have noted his reasoning in a thread on another forum. I'll look back through to see what that was and if I can't find it, I'll ask him.

I know that he would like to do more testing and in more varying conditions, but testing anchors and posting the results is more of an interesting hobby than a career path and if he were to really dive into it he'd probably need to figure out how to make it at least pay for itself.
 

footrope

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
I have the same weight of 'Rocna' anchor, but it's their Vulcan version (new - still in the garage at home) - what do you mean your Rocna gets 'contaminated'? - comes up coated in mud, maybe?

Yes, by contamination I mean mud, mud with rocks or shell, that sticks to the anchor blade/fluke. I'm interested in your results with the Vulcan once you get it into action, especially compared to what you use now. It is a very interesting design that hardly seems related to the original Rocna.
 
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