Anchor Poll

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by HorizonMarine

Amen Paul... All the Bruce bashing comes from non users. We love our Bruce. 66 pounds set first time every time. Every person who uses the Bruce swears by it, is what I have found. Tried bigger CQR and danforth style each for a season, issues with both. We anchor 90 nights a year. It did not drag with gusts over 80 knots, when 90 percent of the boats nearby did. (see last months cruising world article) But I never stop being amazed at how poorly many people anchor. Bottom line is its really only 50% the anchor, the rest is technique. Choose a good spot, lots of scope, use chain, back down hard and long, put a nylon snubber on it and sleep well.

Not as you say, all the Bruce bashing comes from non users. I used Bruce anchors, a 33 and a 44# extending to 25 years. I would still be using them if they held in ell grass which now dominates in our Massachusetts waters.


COTEMAR-- "It just means that back then Bruce and CQR where the best you could buy and it was exceptable to drag and drag again until it holds. And well if it dragged again in a few days you just reset it. Was par for the course. If the wind kicked up at night you got up and kept a night watch and set the anchor alarm."


Not so! I don't recall anybody I knew accepting that resetting an anchor was the norm nor that it was acceptable to to drag and drag again. I don't understand that logic.

My experience was folks spent big bucks then as today to have safety at anchorages where they put at risk their families and expensive boats. I concede that today's anchors are suberbly better that those available when I first started sailing. Never the less, Bruce was a welcomed anchor back in the days when choices were somewhat limited to a Danforth that could pull out with a wind change or an expensive plow that plowed through the night.

A little dragging here and a little dragging there could put ones boat onto rocks or other obstacles that jeopardize both safety and property.

Foggy

[Cotemar]

I am just speaking from my own Bruce and CQR experiences and from watching other cruisers coming in to anchor for a few days.

Never had any of those issues with the new generation anchors. I only anchor, so we are in grass, sand, gravel, mud and soup and all goes well.

Most times with my Bruce and CQR if I had a problem we would have to move to a new location and do some bottom shopping, which is alway not really where you wanted to be.

I have a Fortress 23 as my secoundary storm anchor and it is still as new as the day I purchased it 10 years ago. I have never used it and hope I never do.

[foggysail]

Sure, I had to sometimes bottom shop also when I relied on my old reliable Bruce. It just got sooo bad up here with the grass that I had to move to one of the newer anchors. You mention other cruisers.... I find that not everybody would get great ground tackle because they relied on renting moorings or slips. I followed that route until one weekend at Cuttyhonk when there were no mooring or slips to rent. And I got stuck that night with an inadequate Danforth.

After that experience, I invested in ground tackle that I believed would provide safety. In my earlier post I should have stated that "concerned folks spent big bucks" instead of "folks spent...." Unfortunately, you will run into people who think that anything call anchor is adequate to hold their boats.

[Cotemar]

I am with you on the mooring issue. They are getting harder and harder to find and with some in Nantucket going for $75usd. That is just to expensive.
We anchor all the time because it just gives us the freedom we like to come and go on our time table.

[wolfenzee]

I had my Forfjord (goes by the comercial name of Daviis SEA HOOK)...that is really old school and all the fishing boats up here use them, almost exclusively, they are great for rock (though some have been modified for sand). I was anchored with one in sand, with less scope than I should have had (I lost my all chain tackle when my Bruce got snagged and I had to cut it). I was anchored with 100' of rode and 20' of chain in 40' of water for a month in sand....But I had no choice. I was used to all chain and didn't have as much faith in rode, especially with that scope. I left my GPS on to track my movements....there was a very distinct circle, round and round, but never dragged.
I later got another Bruce, more rode and anchored in shallower water, the only time it dragged was my fault rather than the anchor. The hawser holes on my boat are a couple of feet back from the bow so it doesn't head straight into the wind, heavy offshore wind, chop...the boat walked sideways and pulled the anchor over a shelf. I have since learned to tie a "bridle" on my rode.
Different anchors are good for different applications....that and the possibility of loosing an anchor (or getting caught in something really nastie that requires two anchor), all are reasons for two anchors.

[kona74]

20kg spade is my primary and 20kg bruce is my backup.

[Snowpetrel]

Manson CQR 45lb main general purpose anchor, 27lb danforth second anchor for most bottoms , 30lb fishermans for rock. Looking to get a sarca excel or other next gen anchor at some point.

I think I will always have a danforth and a fishermans onboard someplace.

[Mantus Anchors]

Guys you know we have a Tester Program, you get a deep discount on the anchor if you agree to review the product, we have no influence on what you write.. just expect that you do share your experience good or bad...
Greg
www.mantusanchors.com
Click on sponsorship

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by Mantus Anchors

Guys you know we have a Tester Program, you get a deep discount on the anchor if you agree to review the product, we have no influence on what you write.. just expect that you do share your experience good or bad...
Greg
www.mantusanchors.com
Click on sponsorship

Can't wait to try my new Mantus 45lb anchor this season. Will have to wait a bit to put it on Catatude since we just got 2 feet of snow

Going to use it as my primary, but since it breaks down so easy and small I may need one as a secondary storm anchor also.

[wolfenzee]

I dragged once with my 35# Bruce and it took until now + two divers and 4 tanks of air to find out why (and get my anchor and tackle back). Turned out I dropped the anchor through the top of a crab pot, so when we got over 25kts of wind it dragged.....over the shelf and wrapped my chain and line around and around and around.......at 6' pipe. Just about anything would drag if you stuck it in a crab pot....mine just took tow weeks and the first October blow to do it.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by wolfenzee

I dragged once with my 35# Bruce and it took until now + two divers and 4 tanks of air to find out why (and get my anchor and tackle back). Turned out I dropped the anchor through the top of a crab pot, so when we got over 25kts of wind it dragged.....over the shelf and wrapped my chain and line around and around and around.......at 6' pipe. Just about anything would drag if you stuck it in a crab pot....mine just took tow weeks and the first October blow to do it.

Bummer.

Did you check the set by backing up at 1/2 - full throttle to check the set. Full throttle should be equilivant to 25K + if you have a diesel aux.

[wolfenzee]

I set with engine...which probably made things worse.....was actually anchored that way for 2 weeks....the anchor went through the top of the crab pot.

[Steve Pope]

Well well, another put down for the more recent anchor developments, + by a "specialist" dealing in the selling of anchors and related equipment. There was a time when CQR's were the most expensive available anchor, while the patent lasted, before knockoffs brought the prices down to reasonable levels. As there is no patent on the Rocna / Manson / bugel etc. there is no reason for them to be as pricy as they are. Perhaps this is more related to inflated markups by resellers rather than manufacturing costs. Maybe "The Anchor Guy" could show us that that isn't so?
My main anchor is a Rocna (NZ made version) secondary (kedge) is a Brittany anchor, followed by 2 french CQR copies that mainly act as ballast as they havn't been out of the locker for 5 years + a home made grapnel for rock / coral. Were I to buy another back up it would be a Manson Supreme. The only one of the 3 put forward by "The Anchor Guy" that would come close to consideration would be a Delta type anchor.

[sabray]

Why is my old ass Bruce anchor still looking like a fine petina hook and the real cqr is rusty hunk of lawn ornament. My 2 year old Manson is in similar condition to the 30 year old Bruce.
Quality was my first thought but maybe there is science behind this. Even my 40 year old Danforth looks better then the cqr and is a near match for the new Manson in regard to galvinized condition. Course the Luke lawn ornament looks like the day it was born. What's up with that.

[Kettlewell]

Is it a genuine CQR that is rusty? They do tend to rust on the point, but I never had any major issues other than there. Some of the knock-off designs aren't too well made, and often don't hold as well either.