Assembling a Fortress Anchor

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C08

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I have just bought a second hand FX-11 and I am a bit puzzled about one aspect of its assembly.

The round bar at the back, shank I think they call it has a milled groove along the length. This could very neatly take the back edge of the fluke located in the groove the only problem is that where the back edge of the fluke has a 90 degree turn for the flook upstand there is no rebate at the corner and the fluke long edge is prevented from seating down in the groove. The holes for the clips are also about 5mm out which makes me think there should be a rebate. It would be possible to spring the holes in line and fit the shank to the flukes but it does not seem right.
Pictures of Fortress Anchors do not seem to show a rebate. Any ideas anyone?
 
C08 said:
I have just bought a second hand FX-11 and I am a bit puzzled about one aspect of its assembly.

The round bar at the back, shank I think they call it has a milled groove along the length. This could very neatly take the back edge of the fluke located in the groove the only problem is that where the back edge of the fluke has a 90 degree turn for the flook upstand there is no rebate at the corner and the fluke long edge is prevented from seating down in the groove. The holes for the clips are also about 5mm out which makes me think there should be a rebate. It would be possible to spring the holes in line and fit the shank to the flukes but it does not seem right.
Pictures of Fortress Anchors do not seem to show a rebate. Any ideas anyone?
Click to expand...

You are Stanley Unwin and I claim my £5.
(More seriously, we have a Fortress and your post leaves me baffled. Simon's link should shed light.)
 
C08 said:
I have just bought a second hand FX-11 and I am a bit puzzled about one aspect of its assembly.

The round bar at the back, shank I think they call it has a milled groove along the length. This could very neatly take the back edge of the fluke located in the groove the only problem is that where the back edge of the fluke has a 90 degree turn for the flook upstand there is no rebate at the corner and the fluke long edge is prevented from seating down in the groove. The holes for the clips are also about 5mm out which makes me think there should be a rebate. It would be possible to spring the holes in line and fit the shank to the flukes but it does not seem right.
Pictures of Fortress Anchors do not seem to show a rebate. Any ideas anyone?
Click to expand...

I've only assembled mine the once, and it stays that way. I don't remember having any difficulty. The "round bar at the back" is commonly called the "stock".
 
I think I understand the problem. From memory the recess in the stock only takes the flukes at 'one end' - the ends nearest the crown and shank. The flukes do not recess into the stock where the clips are located.

When you assemble it - its easy and then obvious.

Like Norman ours remains assembled and its a long time since we assembled ours!
 
Neeves said:
I think I understand the problem. From memory the recess in the stock only takes the flukes at 'one end' - the ends nearest the crown and shank. The flukes do not recess into the stock where the clips are located.
Click to expand...

T'other end - they sit proud of the slot at the centre, and slip into it at the outer ends where the clips are. This causes the flukes to splay outwards slightly away from the shank.

Pete
 
prv said:
T'other end - they sit proud of the slot at the centre, and slip into it at the outer ends where the clips are. This causes the flukes to splay outwards slightly away from the shank.

Pete
Click to expand...

Give that man a banana! So it uses the spring in the stock to tension the flukes outwards by not having a rebate. It makes senses-sort of.
 
The stock is held in the crown, the big metal component that holds, stock, shank and flukes. The flukes are also held in the crown and into the slot in the stock by the clips. There is no spring. Its quite clever really. There are mud palms that bolt to the crown, which you should have as the anchor will not work so well without them. If you have a Fortress, rather than the Guardian, there are 2 holes for the stock, the one right at the end allows the flukes to align at 45 degrees for mud - the more common usage is the other hole, in the shank, which sets the flukes at 32 degrees for sand.

I'm sure there are instructions on the Fortress website.

Jonathan
 
Thanks for responses. The spring I was referring to is bending the shank very slightly to align the fixing clips, not an actual spring!
 
C08 said:
Thanks for responses. The spring I was referring to is bending the shank very slightly to align the fixing clips, not an actual spring!
Click to expand...

It's been a while since I put mine together but I don't recall anything being loaded up with tension.

Someone else suggested swapping the bolts for wing nuts so it can be disassembled and reassembled without tools, which works well.
 
Take the crown, slide the 2 flukes into the slots in the crown. Attach the clips, loosely, to the flukes, they will be at the far ends of the assembly. Slide the stock through the first clip with the ends of the fluke in the recess. Slide the stock through the crown then the shank (not the 'outside' hole but the inner one), through the other side of the crown and through the final clip (if you aligned the first fluke the second fluke will be correctly aligned). Tighten clips. If the shank is at 45 degrees to the flukes - you used the wrong hole in the shank - it will be good for mud but not sand. The fluke/shank should be 32 degrees for sand.

If the mud palms are not attached, finally bolt them on, 4 bolts each.

The whole assembly is very simple and requires minimal effort - it should all slide together with a bit of jiggling to overcome friction.
 
IMG_5042_zpsfnpllyku.jpg



IMG_5045_zpstynmudep.jpg
 
We're all in this together.

Did i mention little nylon cable ties for 'mousing', if that's your bag?

IMG_5041_zpszyipih12.jpg


Cost less than a fiver..... for two.

Takes well less than 2 minutes to assemble and deploy.
 
Thanks for all responses both informed and not so - for those who did not really understand the original post, you can see from zoidberg's excellent photos that the central edge of the fluke has no rebate at the centre where there is the 90 degrees each way upstand and therefore the flluke cannot sit in the groove at the centre only at the outer edge. Just a surprising bit of design!
 
I had no intention of taking my Fortress apart except last year I decided the aluminium anchor elements and the stainless nuts/bolts were dissimilar and therefore needed dichromate paste to inhibit corrosion- in the process of taking it apart one of the nut heads sheared off and of course, being USA origin its a non-imperial size; fantastic service from Fortress to send replacements asap.
 
eddystone said:
I had no intention of taking my Fortress apart except last year I decided the aluminium anchor elements and the stainless nuts/bolts were dissimilar and therefore needed dichromate paste to inhibit corrosion- in the process of taking it apart one of the nut heads sheared off and of course, being USA origin its a non-imperial size; fantastic service from Fortress to send replacements asap.
Click to expand...

I thought the USA does use Imperial sizes, and that it was us who have changed. :rolleyes:
 
NormanS said:
I thought the USA does use Imperial sizes, and that it was us who have changed. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Many Imperial units began to lose favour in the US...oddly enough after it ceased to be under imperial rule. The Fortress threads eddystone mentions are probably 1/4" UNC or UNF. (I should know this, since we have one, but it's about 1000km away. Or a little over 200 leagues, if you prefer.) If Fortress were based in the UK, they'd no doubt be different. M6, probably ;)
 
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