Fortress or Guardian Anchor (FX37 or G37)

[capnorv]

Having never been to the Med, I can't say for sure of your holding but my idea is you have a lot of sand, mud, etc which either of your anchor choices would serve well with a little chain and scope of rode to keep her down. As for CQR's , I have one on both my boats for a spare, with 20kg Bruce primaries, and small Danforth lunch/stern hooks. I have had occasion to use the CQR's without incident except once in a tight anchorage, 40+kt wind, when I hit a cliff, but that was courtesy lack of scope, not the anchors fault. Setting the hook and plenty of scope are in my opinion, more important than anchor choice

[goboatingnow]

In the med you have a lot of sea grass. You need a penetrating anchor. Anchoring securely can be tricky

Dave

[Fortress]

Originally Posted by craigsmith

If you intend to use it as your primary anchor, don't; Danforth types are not suitable for bower usage. They do not handle veering or reversing loads at all well, and once pulled out if dragged at speed are unlikely to re-set. Additionally their design makes building strength into them almost impossible, and the aluminium versions particularly tend to be able to generate more holding power than they are structurally capable of sustaining (i.e. in the right circumstances they don't drag, you just break them - not the best balance of design choices if you want to be able to re-use the anchor).

The comment about Fortress or other Danforth anchors not being worth a look as a bower anchor is just plain silly. Apparently, the US Coast Guard, which uses a Fortress as the primary bower anchor aboard their 41', new 45', 47', 87', 110', and new 154' boats are just a bunch of dummies?

Maybe all of our OEM boat builder customers, who outfit their new boats with one of our anchors on the bow.....they are all just fools as well?

Regarding not re-setting after pulling out, are you at all aware that after an anchor pulls out....it oftentimes is no longer an anchor, as it is likely (depending on the bottom) to have a ball of mud or clay stuck to it, with no chance of digging back into the bottom???

I guess the Rocna anchor magically washes itself off instantly and resets, right Craig?

Concerning the incredibly ludicrous comment about structural strength of aluminum, would you care to take up that issue with the US Navy? During their extensive holding power tests, they found out that not only did Fortress provide greater holding power than the steel anchor competitors, but they held up better structurally as well.

The following was written in the US Navy test report summary, word for word:

"The fact that the Fortress anchors incurred no significant structural damage at such high holding ratios suggest that the anchors have been extensively engineered from both the hydrodynamic and structural standpoints."

Oh, and by the way, just in case someone does bend a Fortress anchor under extreme loads, like after a hurricane when it saved their boat, we offer a Lifetime Parts Replacement Warranty. No receipts, no warranty registration, and no return of the damaged parts are ever needed. Customer only pays the S&H for the new replacement parts, which is nominal since the parts are lightweight and we use the US Postal Service to ship them. That's it.

And so Craig, rather than disparage other anchor competitors as you have done repeatedly in boating forums around the world, may I suggest that you show some class and respect by focusing more on your product's worthwhile features & benefits?

Brian Sheehan
Fortress Marine Anchors

[Fortress]

Originally Posted by craigsmith

You should be looking at a new generation asymmetrical anchor that is designed from the start as an all-round bower.

Is a new generation anchor the answer?

The 40,000 member Swedish Cruising Association has been conducting anchor holding power tests off of their coast for over 20 years. They take boating very seriously over there, as 1 in 7 Swedes owns a boat.

Below is a link to a page with the results of a test that they conducted this past summer in a clay bottom near their shoreline:

http://www.watski.se/mail/anp/ankartest.pdf

As you will note, the new generation Ultra and Rocna anchors only achieved 2 stars out of a possible 5.

The other roll bar anchor, a Bugel, which I guess is an old generation anchor since its design has been copied, achieved 3 stars, as did the old generation Danforth anchor.

You might find the results of the other anchors tested to be of interest as well. I am working on an English translation and I hope to provide one shortly.

Safe boating,
Brian Sheehan

Fortress Marine Anchors

[Highlander40]

Some interesting comments, I look forward to reading the swedish tests.

The hard part of picking an anchor is that any one quality (high holding) does not weather every storm.

My previous anchor was a Bruce. Pound for pound it has the lowest holding power of just about any anchor made.
Yet that anchor always set, always stayed in the bottom during repeated wind reversals.
I was able to detect movement of the anchor of a few feet on one stormy night. Thats why a Spade sits on the bow now.

The Spade never has to reset because it stays in the bottom.

There really is no contest for ultimate holding power, it goes to the Fortress.
Weighing all the factors though didn't put the Fortress at the top of the list for me.

[Fortress]

Originally Posted by Highlander40

Some interesting comments, I look forward to reading the swedish tests.

The hard part of picking an anchor is that any one quality (high holding) does not weather every storm.

My previous anchor was a Bruce. Pound for pound it has the lowest holding power of just about any anchor made.
Yet that anchor always set, always stayed in the bottom during repeated wind reversals.
I was able to detect movement of the anchor of a few feet on one stormy night. Thats why a Spade sits on the bow now.

The Spade never has to reset because it stays in the bottom.

There really is no contest for ultimate holding power, it goes to the Fortress.
Weighing all the factors though didn't put the Fortress at the top of the list for me.

Highlander40,

The Spade is a great anchor. They have always performed well in all of the anchor tests I know about, and more importantly, I have heard great things from their customers.

Safe boating,
Brian Sheehan

Fortress Marine Anchors