Fortress anchor: what material for shackle?

[Fortress]

I will check with our production department, and it is obvious that in order to round out the hole as you described, additional machining steps would be required.

I have seen shanks returned under warranty (which we don't require) that are nearly as old as the company (30 years - 1986), and there is typically some wear around the hole.

[Fortress]

Originally Posted by estarzinger

But that does not sound at all 'proper' - The 'oval' is in the plain of the shank, and the edges of the hole are square (90 degrees) right? So if you put the bow thru that hole, it will only bear on the 2 square edges - right? It will surely wear those two square edge contact points down (including taking off the anodizing).

What I was suggesting was rounded edges - which would match a bow profile for full contact . . . and also allow a dyneema connection (which would not rub the anodizing and be entirely corrosion free, and stronger than the steel shackle).

I guess you stamp out that hole today. You would have to do some sort of milling/grinding to get the rounded profile I am suggesting. Perhaps it is not worth the cost. But I do think it would be an improvement.

Attachment 119515

Evans, thanks for your comments. I reviewed your question and suggestion with our production manager, who obviously knows the manufacturing processes for every anchor part and model. Additionally, he worked directly with our late founder / chief product designer and engineer.

It was determined that while rounding out the slot with further machining might prevent a measure of wear from the shackle during normal loading over an extended period of time, that wear would be minimal and not significant enough to justify the additional machining steps.

Regards,
Brian

[sailor1924]

Back in the day, you could buy proper chain shackles. A chain shackle had an oval sectioned pin that matched the link shape of the chain and was secured with a small wooden peg so that the pin could be driven out under load in an emergency. I used them on my old English ketch which had 1/2 inch stud link chain, the shackles fit through the link perfectly and the chain was uncompromised in strength.