Photos of Anchors Setting

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Brian, perhaps I am misunderstanding your meaning, but you seem to have said the opposite on another forum just recently:
"There is no question that there are bottom conditions where the two large flukes of the Danforth-type will have difficulty penetrating, such as in grass, weeds, or rocks, and that an anchor with a single narrow fluke with a lot more weight behind it will have a better chance of penetrating and getting a grip."(See post #43: Fortress Anchor)

Fortress anchors are excellent kedge or secondary anchors. I have one and strongly recommend it for this purpose. But lately I detect a push on this forum to recommend the Fortress as a general purpose bower anchor. I think this is a mistake.

I don't think I am alone in the view that the Fortress does poorly in thick weed.

Once again, a recent quote of yours:
"The Fortress is going to have setting and holding challenges in grass, weeds, and rocks."
(See post # 83: Deep Breath - anchor thread - Page 9)

I stand by the comment that I don't think a Fortress anchor, of any size, would have performed as well in the thick weed shown in the photo.

Horses for courses. I wouldn't expect the Fortress to work at all in weeds. I would expect the Mantus also to be quite poor in weeds. My Rocna was poor in weeds, although I expect it was probably better than the Mantus. You need a dense anchor with a sharp point -- a Spade, or even better probably a big Fisherman.

But the Fortress is so much better than anything else in soft mud, that I wouldn't mind having the ability to easily deploy one for that.

I wonder if it would be possible to design a bow roller which could take both a large Spade and a large Fortress on chain, rather than rope like our kedges?

I would love to have an arrangement like that on my next boat. Run with a big horizontal fishing boat style windlass with dual gypsies.

Maybe Fortress would consider coming out with a high strength steel version, for uses like this? A large steel Fortress would be no good as a kedge, but would be a killer bower anchor for a wide range of conditions, highly complementary to the range of conditions covered by the Spade.

[transmitterdan]

We have a serious bow roller arrangement with 2 rollers.. The FX37 snugs up nicely sitting at a 45 degree angle from how most people would imagine. This gives two advantages:

1) There is room on the adjacent roller for a Spade.
2) The long round rod of the Fortress does not easily catch on pilings and the like since it lives almost entirely inside the envelope of the boat.

Some people think I have stowed the anchor wrong and try to help me "fix it". But it works perfectly.

[Panope]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I wonder if it would be possible to design a bow roller which could take both a large Spade and a large Fortress on chain, rather than rope like our kedges?

Dockhead, another alternative to the 'side by side' roller set up (like transmitterdan's), is to house the Fortress in a good old fashioned 'side bow' hawse pipe.

Easy to execute on a new custom aluminum boat and it allows for an centerline bow roller for the primary anchor.

I did this on Panope for an second, heavy 'lunk' of an anchor, but there is no reason a hawse pipe will not work great for ANY other pivoting fluke anchor.

Steve

[Juho]

My ideal boat would have few different kind of anchors in the anchor box, and a small crane like arm to lift any of the anchors to the bow. Some large boats already have this kind of arm, at least for their main anchor.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by transmitterdan

We have a serious bow roller arrangement with 2 rollers.. The FX37 snugs up nicely sitting at a 45 degree angle from how most people would imagine. This gives two advantages:

1) There is room on the adjacent roller for a Spade.
2) The long round rod of the Fortress does not easily catch on pilings and the like since it lives almost entirely inside the envelope of the boat.

Some people think I have stowed the anchor wrong and try to help me "fix it". But it works perfectly.

That sounds very interesting -- how about some photos?

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Panope

Dockhead, another alternative to the 'side by side' roller set up (like transmitterdan's), is to house the Fortress in a good old fashioned 'side bow' hawse pipe.

Easy to execute on a new custom aluminum boat and it allows for an centerline bow roller for the primary anchor.

I did this on Panope for an second, heavy 'lunk' of an anchor, but there is no reason a hawse pipe will not work great for ANY other pivoting fluke anchor.

Steve

Cool! Thanks for sharing! An interesting approach.


This begs the question why this arrangement is not used more often. The geometry of getting the anchor back home is far better, than with a bow roller.

[Panope]

-I'm guessing that aesthetics and water drag are big reasons this is not done on modern looking, go-fast boats.

-In some cases, a. Hawse pipe will 'geyser' a large amount of water when the bow plunges into head seas. For some reson, this never happens aboard Panope.

-Chafe prevention is complicated by the fact that the rode or snubber exits the boat at a very inaccessible place. A snubber with a strategicly placed chafe sleeve or even a bit of chain where it exits the hawse will solve this.

Steve

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Panope

Dockhead, another alternative to the 'side by side' roller set up (like transmitterdan's), is to house the Fortress in a good old fashioned 'side bow' hawse pipe.

Easy to execute on a new custom aluminum boat and it allows for an centerline bow roller for the primary anchor.

I did this on Panope for an second, heavy 'lunk' of an anchor, but there is no reason a hawse pipe will not work great for ANY other pivoting fluke anchor.

Steve

Steve, what brand is that anchor on the roller?

[Panope]

Don, that is a Spade anchor on the roller.

Steve

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Panope

Don, that is a Spade anchor on the roller.

Steve

Doh!
from that angle it kind of looked like it might be a Spade copy.

[Orion Jim]

After a (nearly) full season of use I'm very happy with my Spade bower. My kedge is a Mantis and I'm very impressed with it also. I've attained anchor nirvana

[double u]

this
Zertifizierter High Holding Power Anker direkt vom Hersteller -
is a highly acclaimed "local" product
any knowledge around here about this "wonderanchor"?

[wsmurdoch]

Originally Posted by double u

any knowledge around here about this "wonderanchor"?

Click on "Search this Thread" above, then type "Jambo" in the box. You should have a few hits.

[noelex 77]

I have only seen the Jambo anchor a few times. It is a beatifully made anchor, particularly in stainless steel, and seems to have developed a reasonable following mainly on German flagged boats. This suggests that there must be some word of mouth recommendations.

My limited exposure makes it hard to evaluate the performance, especially for an anchor that is different to anything else. In the limited cases I have seen the anchor had good, but not spectacular performance.

The biggest concern with so called "fluke anchors" like the Danforth, Fortress, Brittany and Jambo is that this sort of design is often poor retaining grip if it is required to rotate around to new direction of pull.

On one occasion while observing the Jambo the anchor had developed a high list while rotating. There was also a private skipper who took the trouble to lift and reset the Jambo in the same spot when there was a windshift. Had he experienced problems with the anchor resetting or were there other reasons for his actions?

On the plus side the two prongs and sharp leading edge suggest the anchor might have better weed performance at least than other fluke anchors. I have seen convex plow anchors modified by welding similar prongs and the skippers report much improved weed performance following the change, so this seems a promising feature.

Anyway, just my thoughts, but do bear in mind this is based on limited exposure. It would be great to hear some user opinions.

Oh and the octopuses seem to give their tick of approval

[Fortress]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

The biggest concern with so called "fluke anchors" like the Danforth, Fortress, Brittany and Jambo is that this sort of design is often poor retaining grip if it is required to rotate around to new direction of pull.

I can't speak for the Danforth, Brittany, or Jambo, but I am wondering if there will ever be enough evidence presented to the contrary about the Fortress which will dispel this myth in your mind, or will you continue to try and present it as being factual no matter what?