Fortress Fx-23

[zoidberg]

There's one of those superb anchors for sale here: Bei Facebook anmelden

The asking price is £250 - which is about half-retail.

It's not mine. I don't know the vendor. I put this info here as an example of how one can get really good kit 'pre-owned' for far less than via chandlers - if one keeps one's eyes peeled.... And, of course, to steer clear of the For Sale regs.

 

[Neeves]

Even better - many Fortress are bought 'just in case' which never happens (for example yachts that race). The owner upgrades and needs a bigger version and to fund the new purchase offloads an 'almost' new anchor.

As you say - they are superb anchors and cannot be beaten in mud nor clean sand.

Jonathan

 

[Supertramp]

Even better - many Fortress are bought 'just in case' which never happens (for example yachts that race). The owner upgrades and needs a bigger version and to fund the new purchase offloads an 'almost' new anchor.

As you say - they are superb anchors and cannot be beaten in mud nor clean sand.

Jonathan

Provided you strip it and tefgel all the stainless/alloy fastenings. And add some walking stick ends to the shaft ends!

 

[zoidberg]

Just to remind various peeps that such anchors do not need to be unwieldy:

Fiddly nuts 'n bolts which need wrenches can be replaced by the above which need only fingers. Tefgel is a good idea, as are nylon cableties.

 

[Neeves]

Provided you strip it and tefgel all the stainless/alloy fastenings. And add some walking stick ends to the shaft ends!

If you add walking stick ends the anchor will not set in hard sand - the stock needs to part penetrate and develop resistance allowing the anchor to 'stand up' so that the flukes, or one of them, addresses, engages and commences to bury itself. As it buries the anchor become more symmetrical and the other fluke buries, until both flukes are, roughly equally buried. Interestingly the shank is quite beefy - but it does not bury until both flukes are fully buried. If you add 'something' to the ends of the stock they will be unable to perform as designed.

This is a crude simulation of how most anchors are orientated as they address the seabed - being tension stage right - they lie on their side until the toe buries and then the slowly become symetrical.


The stock on a 'Fishermans' or Admiralty pattern anchor allows the anchor to bury in the same way.

The 'standing up' of a Fortress is 'standard', Danforth are the same, as are large commercial anchors on commercial vessels the toes of the flukes engage and the crown rears up and the toes then bury. The US Navy conducted a lot of research on anchors, including Fortress, and they always depict the setting sequence with pictures of anchors resting on 2 flukes and their shank, a bit like a mis shaped Triffid.

If we were leaving the anchor assembled - its decidedly difficult to then store - it needs Tef-Gel or Duralac, if you disassemble it needs no protection (as Mr Zoidberg illustrates). As you imply methods to minimise corrosion should be part of the instructions. Strangely the anchor was introduced in the late 1980's (long before my time ) and in the intervening 35 years they have never felt sufficiently motivated to add cautionary words about corrosion. To me - using Duralac soon becomes second nature when you have a mix of aluminium, stainless and seawater.

However if corrosion of the stainless nuts and adding to the ends of the stock are big issues for anyone then Manson have an aluminium fluke anchor, welded and anodised a stunning electric blue and they have added plastic balls to the stock ends. Its called The Racer, possibly (or not) indicating the intended market. The racer has never commanded much impact in the market place (even in Oz/NZ).



To date there is no perfect anchor - they are all a compromise.

If you want a demountable, lightweight anchor it needs to be fabricated from aluminium (or high tensile steel - see Viking/Odin). If you choose the former, viz aluminium, then you really need to weld, as the Racer (and then its not demountable), or use stainless nuts and bolts (or stainless ring nuts and bolts, see Zoidberg, an excellent modification) as Fortress.

As an aside - the omission of advice on corrosion is valid, windlass makers please take note - I have never understood why manufacturers of demountable items, like anchors, don't have spanners suppled as standard - again Zoidberg's, simple but clever, modification simply needs a screwdriver (to allow one to lever the ring bolt).

Jonathan

 

[Trident]

Ooh a very good deal - I really need the 37 as a kedge / stern / back up main for my Rocna but at that price I might accept that in the words of Meatloaf two out of three ain't bad...

 

[NormanS]

Seems strange that the Fortress won't work if you fit rubber ends to the stock, according to Neeves, while the Racer comes fitted with them. Two very similar anchors.

 

[zoidberg]

If you want a lightweight anchor - aka 'lunch hook' - simply to satisfy the racing regs, or for the occasional deep kedging in very light weather ( Adlard Coles, and I, used this to help win RORC races in adverse tide when others hadn't thunk up a solution to the problem )... then a Fortress FX-7 fits the bill.
It weighs just 4lb.... a bag of sugar.

 

[Neeves]

NormanS

The information is all there.

The Racer is not a big seller, the Fortress is used, almost, universally as a Lightweight anchor, it comes high in almost every test that is published, it is used by the US Navy, it is accepted by most/all racing authorities. Used on Clipper yachts, Open 60s, Volvo's (the yachts, not as far as I know in cars ) - and at a more mundane level is carried by most here, we carried a FX 23 (who want a lightweight, demountable anchor.)

Fortress looks decidedly similar to a Danforth - have you seen many Danforths with the stock ends 'softened'. .......and Danforth has been used essentially unaltered since its introduction ... 1939/45 (beyond my recollection).

The market seems to have spoken.

What's the difference between Racer and Fortress (apart from softening the stock), price? depends on your geographic location, distribution (does a chandler near you stock either, or both) does it work - well maybe there is a possibility.....that Neeves, and a host of much more respected organs have cast their votes.


'Filling' the ends of the stock makes the anchor less of a hinderance to storage (great idea ) - if this is an issue - just consider what compromises your are accepting, why are you carrying an anchor whose application as an anchor might have been sacrificed to make said product easy to store...

Danforth have not bent to your ideas, Fortress have not bent to your ideas - its not me who has noted their rejection of the 'improvement' - the market has not rushed to accept The Racer

Ignore what Open 60s use, ignore what Clipper yachts use, ignore an anchor, Fortress, that has survived 3 decades of sales without much change and an even iteration of the design that has remained unchanged for, say, 80 years. Ignore history and as Fleetwood Mac might say 'go your own way'

And report back.

Sadly I'm not a recipient of funds from either Danforth nor Fortress - I just test anchors, and other strange devices, as result of a genetic flaw - what's your excuse

Jonathan

 

[Mark-1]

Seems strange that the Fortress won't work if you fit rubber ends to the stock, according to Neeves, while the Racer comes fitted with them. Two very similar anchors.

+1

I've got a Danforth and often swim down to it in UK murky waters and I've used one for a week in the clear water of the Ionian. I've never seen one on its side, it lies flat. The whole point of the bar is to prevent it going on its side so the flukes dig in. You couldn't get it on its side if you tried, it's designed to prevent it as far as possible. (I'm sure the photo in the sand it was manually positioned that way using the sand to prop it up.)

 

[Supertramp]

And you could remove the ends before deploying. My "ends" are for walking sticks and cost next to nothing in the local market.

 

[NormanS]

NormanS

The information is all there.

The Racer is not a big seller, the Fortress is used, almost, universally as a Lightweight anchor, it comes high in almost every test that is published, it is used by the US Navy, it is accepted by most/all racing authorities. Used on Clipper yachts, Open 60s, Volvo's (the yachts, not as far as I know in cars ) - and at a more mundane level is carried by most here, we carried a FX 23 (who want a lightweight, demountable anchor.)

Fortress looks decidedly similar to a Danforth - have you seen many Danforths with the stock ends 'softened'. .......and Danforth has been used essentially unaltered since its introduction ... 1939/45 (beyond my recollection).

The market seems to have spoken.

What's the difference between Racer and Fortress (apart from softening the stock), price? depends on your geographic location, distribution (does a chandler near you stock either, or both) does it work - well maybe there is a possibility.....that Neeves, and a host of much more respected organs have cast their votes.


'Filling' the ends of the stock makes the anchor less of a hinderance to storage (great idea ) - if this is an issue - just consider what compromises your are accepting, why are you carrying an anchor whose application as an anchor might have been sacrificed to make said product easy to store...

Danforth have not bent to your ideas, Fortress have not bent to your ideas - its not me who has noted their rejection of the 'improvement' - the market has not rushed to accept The Racer

Ignore what Open 60s use, ignore what Clipper yachts use, ignore an anchor, Fortress, that has survived 3 decades of sales without much change and an even iteration of the design that has remained unchanged for, say, 80 years. Ignore history and as Fleetwood Mac might say 'go your own way'

And report back.

Sadly I'm not a recipient of funds from either Danforth nor Fortress - I just test anchors, and other strange devices, as result of a genetic flaw - what's your excuse

Jonathan

Hey, it's not my idea. In fact I'd never heard of a "Racer" anchor until you mentioned it. Someone said putting walking stick ends on a Fortress stock, to make the ends a bit "softer". You immediately said that that would stop it from working, and then introduced a previously unknown (to me) anchor, which is apparently fitted with huge end caps on its stock. Presumably the makers believe that it will work, but I don't know if they bothered to consult you.
Nothing to do with me. I have, and still use, a Fortress.