Bruce anchors

D

dina

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I know their was alot of correspondance here in December following the anchoring tests in YW/YM, and I know the (not genuine)bruce didn't come out very well. But since then a number of people have written in saying how wonderful their Bruces are.....Our problem is we have a 75lb genuine CQR with 80m of 10mm chain,which won't get a grip on the thick weed found in places like NW Spain (where we are heading this summer again). We also carry 2 danforth type anchors, a fishermans, and a chum. Any sugestions on how to get the CQR to hold? Or should we bite the bullet and change to a genuine bruce? I didn't think they were renown for their holding power on weed but Harold S seemed to think his cut through the weed quite well (albeit it is 110lbs on a 49' boat). Our boat is 46' by the way. Any more advice?

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In thick weed, give me the CQR over the Bruce any day, but neither like weed.
Lots of good things being said at the moment about the Bugel anchor, which certainly does seem to have a good penetrating design, which is cliamed to set well through weed.

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John

I have experience with 2 Fortresses, which I love. I believe that a large part of the success of this design is the incredibly sharp edges. After 4 seasons I wondered if resharpening might be a good idea (easy on dural!). It was. Hadn't really noticed drop in performance over time, but it made a significant diffence in weed.

So, my suggestion - try sharpening the blades. I know that you'll be removing galvanising, but it's only a small area and it should de-rust itself every time you use it.

er.. John

<hr width=100% size=1>the above is complete rubbish, probably.
 
We have a Bruce - it is a size up from the manufacturers spec for our boat and has 10mm chain. We often anchor in kelp and have not had a problem - I was really surprised by the tests that were published but they were talking about a Bruce copy were they not?

<hr width=100% size=1>regards
Claymore
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Interested to hear that you found a Fortress to work well in weed. I have one as a kedge/2nd bower, I love its extremely light weight and in mud or sand it is superb. However, I have never got it to work in weed as it seems to lack the weight to penetrate, it just slides over the top clogging itself with garbage as it goes. How do you pursuade it to go through the weed ?

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Usual technique is just lower it to the bottom at standstill, drift back, running chain freely until depth x 4 or 5 is out, snub it. Then reverse it in properly, from slow up to full astern, and then if it's overnight, a high speed reverse 'bounce'.

I think that it's the putting it on the bottom while the boat is not moving and not applying any tension until full scope is out is the key. If it can slice it's way into the weeds, just the once as it were, it will set. It's dragging it through the weeds before it gets a chance to set that's the problem.

This is not to say that it works every time. Spartakhori in the N Ionian takes 2 goes usually. Sharpening definitely improved it, and I would sharpen any anchor as a matter of course.

Have you tried your kedge on an Anchorolina tape? Once had to do something about a v. strong crosswind while anchored with line ashore. Threw the Fortress in the right direction, it floated for a minute (well, not really , but it did strike me as funny at the time, aluminium anchor and floating line) and then proceeded to glide away from us. Once it had stopped I was able to put huge tension on it with a primary winch, to satisfy myself. Next day it came out as a huge ball of mud. Fantastic.

<hr width=100% size=1>the above is complete rubbish, probably.
 
I binned my CQR in favour of the Bruce after having problems getting CQR to set in weed over sand, bruce no problem at all, people i have talked to on the subject had good things to say about the delta, apparently ( according to them) the CQR would lay on its side and skip along the bottom, and not hook up at all......anyway thats my two penn'orth..........keith

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The original question was about Bruce anchors but I think you are right.... the secret lies in sharp edges. The only difference between the genuine Bruce and all the cheap copies that I have ever seen is that the genuine article has quite sharp edges and some of the copies have edges anything up to 6mm thick..... which is probably why the copies performed so poorly in the tests though I confess that I have not seen that test report.

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Fisherman?

I thought the received wisdom was for a fisherman in thick weed? How does yours cope?

<hr width=100% size=1>Black Sugar - the sweetest of all
 
I apologize, I was wandering in the beautiful bay of Todos os Santos, Salvador de Bahia and I was not connected to Internet..

It has been quite a lot of different tests, both with copies of the Bruce anchor but also with the genuine one..
All results are coherents to give the Bruce one of the lowest holding power..

In the January 1; 1999 issue, the very well kown US magazine "Practical Sailor" gave the 22 lbs genuine Bruce an average holding of 307 lbs, this is to compare with the holding of the 35 lbs CQR : 583 lbs or with the holding of the 16.5 lbs SPADE: 1000 lbs..
Yes the Bruce anchor hold, but you have to oversize it by tree time if you want to come near the results of modern anchors..

But one big advantage of the Bruce anchor is its ability to dig in (in third position behind the "Bulwagga" and the Spade) ..

Then if you use it as a kedge anchor in settled water, or if you have to anchor in hard or weedy sea bottoms and if you are wise enough to largely oversize it.. it would be a good choice.

There is no way to get the CQR to hold in thick weed.. the design (penetrating angle) is wrong and there is not enough weight onto the tip of the anchor (18 %) .. (and too much on the shank..62%) the CQR is well known for not working in hard sea bottoms and weed.. Neither of the Danforth nor the Fisherman are well adapted for weed and a chum is useless.. (see the very good web page: http://alain.fraysse.free.fr )

As "Maxi" said, out of the new generation of anchors, the "Bügel" anchor will be a good choice (but also the Spade or the new Océane anchor) but the Fortress is also performing poorly in weed.. (again a question of penetrating angle and weight repartition onto the tip)



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