The Bruce is good but keeps doing this

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KAM

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I was thinking of upgrading to a Manson. Does anyone have any experience with these on rocky weedy bottoms. Does the roll bar tend to pick up debris or get clogged with weed. So far I have managed a steel ships ladder off Dumbarton. A car tyre in the Clyde off Renfrew. An old very large fisherman's anchor at Tobermory and a total of 7 rocks and associated kelp off the Crowlins which nearly resulted in a lost anchor. What's the most unusual thing you have dragged up with an anchor.
 
The most useful thing our Bruce has hooked was an old "Admiralty" style anchor which now sits in a homemade cradle on the pushpit. I say "useful" but we've never used it!

I usually try to find sand for the Bruce, if there isn't any I swap it for a Danforth that we keep in the chain locker just in case.
 
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srah1953 said:
Why? What if it were moused?
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It's just "engineeringly" wrong. The hole thought the shank is straight, the straight pin will bear along its length. With a curved link in the straight hole the link will bear only on two points. And you can see in the picture how the link slides to one side on the straight pin, whereas the curved surface of the link would interface properly with the curved surface of the shackle.

Of course, the pin should be moused to prevent it undoing.
 
I am an engineer. The shackle will not fit through the chain link. I think its better to have the single big shackle. I would have to go down a size and the shackle would then not fit the anchor eye without using another shackle. Its the simplest attachment. The bow of the shackle fits better on the countersunk hole in the Bruce than a straight pin. The material is quite ductile and will bend before it breaks and the section is much larger than the chain link. I tried a fancy anchor coupler but the anchor did not set as well for some reason. As you can see its well moused. Its been working for me for 25 years. Any feedback on the Manson type anchor with the roll bar and their propensity to pick up rocks would be much appreciated. You can't always work out what the bottom is in Scotland so its not worth changing anchors quite often you are going for a small patch of sand or mud but the anchor drags into boulders or weed nearby or its dark and blowing and you just want to get it down and get some sleep.
 
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Hi Salty John Sorry I did not reply to your question. I think the Bruce has been a good anchor. I used to use a Delta as well but several times had real problems. Once in Aros Bay Tobermory with a force 8 forecast the Delta just would not work and had to use a hacksaw to change to the Bruce halfway through the night. Second time was the visitors anchoring area off Falmouth marina. The Delta kept dragging. I changed to the Bruce and was happy to leave the boat unattended for a few days. So I think the genuine Bruce has been a great anchor except for the problem with picking things up. Even in kelp its not bad. The Delta is a very overated anchor as far as I am concerned its just not sharp enough to dig in.
 
My experience, on West Coast but I try not to anchor in extreme conditions if I can avoid it, CQRs were fine until I was persuaded they were useless, it did once take a lot of goes to set in the kelp at Canna after nearly an hour we stuck a lighter Bruce on and it bit straight away. Later boat had a Bruce, then another bigger Bruce (22kg.) along with at least one genuine CQR, when I was sailing a boat with CQR and Bruce aboard tended to use the Bruce. Current boat has a Delta and a Manson Supreme, the Manson is an awkward thing to handle and stow (double rail pulpit) and drags as often as the Delta, we even had trouble getting it to set in the mud in front of the waterfall in Tobermory, about 6 goes before it dug in coming up clean every time. The roll bar is supposed to turn it round and the concave flukes to dig in swiftly and deep but I remain unconvinced, perhaps the performance improvement of roll bar anchors is exaggerated? I still have the 22kg Bruce but it is a bit heavy for a boat without a windlass. Spade users will tell you that they never have any problems once they have paid off the instalments
However, to answer your question, so far the Supreme has completely failed to lift anything interesting.
 
I might change the shackle to a gal, lifting, bow shackle and put the bow through the slot in the anchor. Being a lifting shackle the pin would be shorter and the bow will allow better articulation in the anchor slot. As a lifting shackle it will be much stronger than anything you can image in your worst nightmare:) But if you are to change, cut a link off to try it before you buy - shackle pins vary is size for the same sized shackles (as they are sometimes made to Imperial sizing but sold to the metric equivalent)

Most (all?) anchors will collect weed at some stage - they are after all glorified hooks (we often even call them hooks). Most (all?) concave anchors carry stuff, usually mud (sand is not an issue - it washes off easily) - its the nature of the beast. Roll bar anchors might not self right in very soft mud, the roll bar needs a hard substrate underneath to allow 'roll over'. In the absence of anything else an oversize Kobra (over sized so you get a stronger shank).

Jonathan
 
KAM said:
I am an engineer. The shackle will not fit through the chain link. I think its better to have the single big shackle. I would have to go down a size and the shackle would then not fit the anchor eye without using another shackle. Its the simplest attachment. The bow of the shackle fits better on the countersunk hole in the Bruce than a straight pin. The material is quite ductile and will bend before it breaks and the section is much larger than the chain link. I tried a fancy anchor coupler but the anchor did not set as well for some reason. As you can see its well moused. Its been working for me for 25 years. Any feedback on the Manson type anchor with the roll bar and their propensity to pick up rocks would be much appreciated. You can't always work out what the bottom is in Scotland so its not worth changing anchors quite often you are going for a small patch of sand or mud but the anchor drags into boulders or weed nearby or its dark and blowing and you just want to get it down and get some sleep.
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My main anchor is a genuine 20kg Bruce, and yes, it has occasionally brought up boulders. Do you have a fish-finder? I have found it to be invaluable for "seeing" the bottom.
 
I used to have a 22kg claw .... similar to Bruce on my Catana 40. It held up well until I put it in silt in Opua, NZ .... with 50kts blowing it dragged slowly.

I changed to a 30kg Manson Supreme, main differences:
1 it digs in much quicker
2 it doesn't stow as nicely due to the deep shank, but that's not to much of a probem
3 it doesn't bring home rocks and coral ..... but I have retrieved quite a lot of scap metal from Sydney Harbour
4 it still ploughs in Opua in 50-60 kts wind but once it starts dragging it drags faster than the claw ..... but the Fortress FX 37 doesn't : moral use the right anchor for the conditions.
5 It is more reliable at hanging on to rock
 
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Regarding the most unusual thing dragged up was a American WW2 machine gun, dropped when embarking for Omaha Landings. Informed CG, had to stay until the blue lorry arrived from Plymouth all in all that took about 2 hours. Rather exciting.
 
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