Guardian / Fortress Anchors

[Karnic]

Hi Guys. Was wandering . I have a n 18.5 ft boat and use a cheap steel bruce anchor 5Kg with 3 metres of chain and then rope. I anchor manually and would like to put some less strain in my back and also try to, during taking anchor out from sea, to not hit the bow. Otherwise never had issues with the anchor and seems to work pretty well. Lately came across an ad for the Fortress / Guardian anchors. The idea of replacing my anchor with a 3 kg aluminium light weight interested me. However im not quite sure in investing in an expensive anchor. What are your view? Not sure that these anchors will set easily due to their weight.
Thanks for your output.

 

[gjgm]

I doubt 2kg is really going to make much difference to your back? That is a 2l bottle of water. Loose a bit of chain?
Of course it all depends on where and when you anchor..if it is storm force spring tides and life saving..go for all you can..if it is just chucking the anchor overboard somewhere calm while you have lunch.. I would keep it simple and not worry about light weight anchors.

 

[Karnic]

I doubt 2kg is really going to make much difference to your back? That is a 2l bottle of water. Loose a bit of chain?
Of course it all depends on where and when you anchor..if it is storm force spring tides and life saving..go for all you can..if it is just chucking the anchor overboard somewhere calm while you have lunch.. I would keep it simple and not worry about light weight anchors.

Thanks for your reply. Would installing a bow roller help for self launching ? I bet it will. Should i use a bow roller that can sit at the bow the furthest possible? In order to when retrieving anchor does not make contact with bow?

 

[sarabande]

What sort of sea bed do you anchor in mainly ? DIfferent anchor designs perform differently in different sea beds.

And if you change anchor, the chances are that you will have to customise the bow roller to fit. Preventing the anchor hitting the stem in the last few feet of retrieval is a matter of lumpiness of sea, the boat pitching, speed of retrieval, as much as having the anchor out on an extended bowsprit.

Reducing the chain length is not a good idea; if anything your minimum should be 5 metres. That 'helps' to keep the pull angle near to horizontal, which is a Good Thing for grip.

 

[Karnic]

I doubt 2kg is really going to make much difference to your back? That is a 2l bottle of water. Loose a bit of chain?
Of course it all depends on where and when you anchor..if it is storm force spring tides and life saving..go for all you can..if it is just chucking the anchor overboard somewhere calm while you have lunch.. I would keep it simple and not worry about light weight anchors.

Hi Guys. Was wandering . I have a n 18.5 ft boat and use a cheap steel bruce anchor 5Kg with 3 metres of chain and then rope. I anchor manually and would like to put some less strain in my back and also try to, during taking anchor out from sea, to not hit the bow. Otherwise never had issues with the anchor and seems to work pretty well. Lately came across an ad for the Fortress / Guardian anchors. The idea of replacing my anchor with a 3 kg aluminium light weight interested me. However im not quite sure in investing in an expensive anchor. What are your view? Not sure that these anchors will set easily due to their weight.
Thanks for your output.

Thanks for your reply. Would installing a bow roller help for self launching ? I bet it will. Should i use a bow roller that can sit at the bow the furthest possible? In order to when retrieving anchor does not make contact with bow?

What sort of sea bed do you anchor in mainly ? DIfferent anchor designs perform differently in different sea beds.

And if you change anchor, the chances are that you will have to customise the bow roller to fit. Preventing the anchor hitting the stem in the last few feet of retrieval is a matter of lumpiness of sea, the boat pitching, speed of retrieval, as much as having the anchor out on an extended bowsprit.

Reducing the chain length is not a good idea; if anything your minimum should be 5 metres. That 'helps' to keep the pull angle near to horizontal, which is a Good Thing for grip.

True. Anchor Mainly in Sand. Found the 5 Kg Bruce ok. Used to have the danforth was ok but because i self launch and self retreive found the bruce more comfortable as no shanks swinging forward and back during retreivel therefore minimising the risk of hitting the bow during, as you said, the last few feet. Should an extended bow roller help? the one i have now is parallel to the bow.

 

[gjgm]

Reducing the chain length is not a good idea; if anything your minimum should be 5 metres. That 'helps' to keep the pull angle near to horizontal, which is a Good Thing for grip.

Well, we don't know quite what anchoring the OP is trying to do...on 18ft and benign conditions, you could do without the chain altogether. Plenty of small boats manage like that and I did for years.
Of course, if he is normally anchoring in more challenging conditions, then he needs a more substantial set up. I am suggesting that if he is finding the current set up too heavy, it MIGHT be an option...he can always put the chain back on again.

 

[Karnic]

I would not like to reduce the chain lenght. My problem is most while retrieving anchor. As anchor merges out of water ,the anchor , with boat rolling or waves will hit the bow if im not that fast. boat is high from water and mainly im on my own without any help. Im trying to extend the bow roller further out so as to pull anchor as high as possible, in order to be easier for me to put in locker. Would like to extend roller further out from bow so as when anchor emerge from water it do not hit the bow and do damage. What you think? would extending roller further out decreases risk of anchor hitting bow as soon as anchor emerges out of water.

 

[sarabande]

Can you post a pic of the sharp end please ?

Someone might have a good suggestion for a fix.

 

[BruceK]

What would probably help you is to adopt the alderney ring method of anchor retrieval which is so popular with the fast fishers and leisure fishermen.

Here is a vid of the methodology. There are some risks involved if you get too heavy handed, so practice in a safe environment until you are comfortable with the method.