CQR/Plough What is the difference

Sam_Steele

Sam_Steele

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Joined
22 Apr 2003
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97
Location
Winchfield, Hampshire
www.circumnavigation-uki.co.uk
I am looking to buy a new anchor for the boat. Having waded through many reports I have choosen the CQR type. The plough seems to be exactly the same as the CQR only made in a different way. The CQR is drop forged ( what ever that means). It says that this makes it stronger. How much stronger - is the plough likely to break?

I will be using it to anchor over night and would like to go cruising further a field. The CQR is 3 times the price. I can't work out whether it is worth paying the extra. On the one hand i don't think i should save on something that is going to secure my boat, but also I don't want to pay over the odds if it makes very little difference. Any advice?
Thanks
sam

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There are endless posts here about anchors, so have a good search. Your bio is insuficient for any meaningful advice for your own boat, but in reality different anchors are better in different conditions. I have a danforth as my main, but am changing to a 16 or 20 kg delta (if its good enough for RNLI, then who am I to argue). No discussion about anchors is complete without considering the chain, or chain/rope. I have 30m of 10mm chain - which is a bit of overkill, but I would rather be safe than sorry. However, if you do have heavy chain and anchor, then you need a windlass of some type.

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Buy the genuine CQR. The drop forging is almost indestructible but the cast plough copies (and some hold quite well, note some) are breakable because of faulty castings. The balance too can be wrong, making the copy harder to set. That said we inherited a 45lb cast plough with our old W33 which did good service for 6 years before I took the offer of a good nearly new CQR at half price, the CQR was no quicker to set nor stronger holding but it gave more confidence with it's strength especially as I had by then seen an example of a broken copy.

However there is also now the Delta, a welded plough type and later design from the same maker as the CQR and with good results from many quarters, not least the RNLI. We inherited one of these with our current boat and I have to say I am impressed, it sets very quickly (within feet of hitting the bottom, as seen when diving on it) and will hold all 44hp of our Yanmar full astern when digging it in. The Delta is less expensive than the CQR size for size and on the makers recommended sizes per boat length can be used at a smaller size (ie a 45lb CQR is the same as a 35lb Delta), so making the price difference even more marked.

Personally this is one area where price is secondary to quality in my book, if the genuine article is too expensive why not look for a secondhand one?

<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Sermons from my pulpit are with tongue firmly in cheek and come with no warranty!</font size=1>
 
The only slight drawback with our Delta is that when stowed in the bow roller the head cannot be pulled to one side as you can with the hinged CQR. In some circumstances this causes a little bit of a lead problem when taking a mooring strop over the other bow roller, usually only a problem if the strop is otherwise too big to go through the foredeck fairleads onto the foredeck cleats instead.

It is always interesting to snorkel over the anchor when it's down not just to see if it properly set but also how it got there, the CQR always took a yard or two more to set and as you rightly say it sets by laying on it's side.

<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Sermons from my pulpit are with tongue firmly in cheek and come with no warranty!</font size=1>
 
Fatima’s made an interesting point because logically a ploughshare is designed to go through the soil as easily as possible (saves fuel and horses). You don’t want that with an anchor. The hinged design of plough and CQR anchors is such that the flukes end up broadside (or thereabouts) to the pull presenting a larger surface area to the seabed.

CQRs are guaranteed for life against breakage and are Lloyds approved as high holding power anchors. Plough copies are not but thousands of boats use them with no problems (including me because it came with the boat).

CQRs up to 34kg are drop forged whereas above that size they are fabricated and this involves a certain amount of welding.


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Hi Sam,

I agree with Robin's comments completely. I too have seen the results of inferior cast CQR copies, one of which, having been housed on the stemhead roller, had gently banged into a pier wall in a slight swell. To my, and the owner's dismayed astonishment, the whole plough-end had dropped off into the water as the shank fractured cleanly, immediately behind the hinge! A couple of others I've seen, had snapped the shanks, possibly from a strong 'side' pull.

Having seen that, nothing, absolutely nothing, would get anything other than the genuine article on board my boat.

I have friends who use the Delta, they are delighted with them, and it is clear that this is a fine anchor with a very similar holding power to the CQR.

As has been suggested, if the cost of a new CQR (Delta) is a bit too much, do try to get hold of a secondhand one of either, rather than the cheap, and IMHO, potentially dangerous copies. As Talbot indicates, the anchor forms only a part of the system, which has been discussed many times on the Forum, so you do need to consider the whole.

When you consider the value of your boat and it's contents, never mind the potential risk to your goodself and your loved ones/friends, it really makes no sense to economise on such a critical item of equipment does it?

Hope this helps,

Good (and safe) sailing!

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Plough is a generic term - my boat had the SL one when I bought her, and the shank snapped, as the result of hitting the quay at C'an Pastilla during a horrendous F10 S, because it's cast.

The replacement CQR is narrower, with greater fluke area, has a longer shank and drop forged, which means it will bend not break when hit. It penetrates better (in fact it can be a nuisance when you've been lying to it in anything like a wind trying to break it out).
If you feel the CQR is too expensive why not consider the delta, which has a comparable performance and is easier to stow?
I'd have reservations about a cast plough.

If you intend to anchor seriously you'd be well advised to get a kedge anchor.

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I know of a source for a 40 lb CQR if you're interested, and in the States. The price is about half of the asking price in the stores. Email me direct of if you're interested.

<hr width=100% size=1>The only easy day was yesterday
 
<<<CQRs are guaranteed for life against breakage and are Lloyds approved as high holding power anchors. Plough copies are not >>>

There are non CQR makes of similar looking ploughs which are also so guaranteed and Lloyds (and/or other classification society) approved - many hang their superyachts off them too quite happily. Despite all the posts to the contrary, there is nothing special about the CQR which establishes any particular superiority over all other comers of similar type.

John

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Hi John

Yes I too hung my not so super last yacht off a 45lb copy CQR too quite happily for some years, but I still changed to the genuine version when one came up secondhand. Had we left for long term cruising we would have switched earlier though, not because the copy didn't set or hold well enough but because there were so many instances of some cast copy ploughs that simply broke if you dropped them. There was one make in the UK (cannot remember) that seemed particularly bad but they were not alone and photos appearing in the yottie mags did little to aid anchoring confidence and a good night's sleep! We still have that earlier 45lb plough copy in the garage though, one of many items kept 'just in case'..

I think there were design differences too in that CQR copies were not identical nor the same make for make despite some similarity and in most anchor tests I have seen over the years the copies rarely if ever equalled the original in holding power over a variety of bottoms. That said even genuine CQRs above (I think) 65lb were not drop forged either, though I think they might be welded rather than made from potentially weak castings.

For me I have good experiences of both, but from choice would always go for the genuine article (or the Delta which I now have and rate highly too).

Robin


<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Sermons from my pulpit are with tongue firmly in cheek and come with no warranty!</font size=1>
 
Re: I\'d agree totally

Just making the point that all other plough manufacturers should not be written off - experience shows some are excellent and held in equally high regard.

Perhaps those of us with wider experience have the advantage of a wider choice [smirk] - Whaaaat! no smirk smiley, don't know what this forum is coming to /forums/images/icons/smile.gif.

John

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Re: I\'d agree totally

Yes I very much agree, especially if where you are there were not the same problems arising with faulty manufacture of lookalikes. Here in the UK though the 'problem' manufacturer was pretty prolific so a high enough percentage of failures highlighted the fault and destroyed confidence in the genre. I didn't personally have a problem and the 45lb plough copy supplied as standard with our old Westerly 33 worked well for many years, I only changed it because the opportunity arose (half price unused CQR) and it gave more piece of mind. However as I said earlier too, in tests done by the mags and others the genuine CQR has always shown up better than it's copies, but then the copies were often as good or better than other anchors on test which are also considered generally reliable, like the Bruce or Danforth for example. If and/or when we ever go seriously cruising the spare 45lb copy in our garage will come out and go on board as a backup to the Fortress and smaller CQR we currently carry as kedges, and we will also go up a size on our Delta, 'just in case'!

<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Sermons from my pulpit are with tongue firmly in cheek and come with no warranty!</font size=1>
 
Re: I\'d agree totally

Gliding to other "copies" which are not supposed to perform as well as the originals - I understand that Mirabella V has 2 stainless steel "Bruce type" ray anchors made by Manson.

I wonder how they are performing, maybe the crew are still monitoring this forum and can comment?

With the failing CQR types I think those are perhaps the nasty ones cast from ductile iron rather than cast or forged from steel.

John

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Sam,
To email someone direct from a forum message click on the person's name in the left hand box and amongst other things you will be given the opportunity to send them a private mail.
Hope that helps.
John

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