Not really Marin, because what I really have to counter is the misinformation they have fed to you, and which unduly influenced you. Why I say that is they really could not possibly know why their anchor dragged - unless, that is, they were down there with tanks on watching as it happened.
We saw one instance where the reversal in the slot was actually videotaped in a test. The anchor (Manson) was set properly and then the boat was pushed off to the side by a fair size RIB. As soon as the angle of the boat to the shank was 120 degrees or so the shackle began to move down the slot under the pressure of the RIB pushing the boat. As the boat continued to be pushed farther around the shackle continued to move down the slot until it contacted the sand the fluke end of the anchor was buried in. But at that point there was enough pull in the direction of the fluke that the fluke began to loosen its set. And the more it loosened up, the more it began to emerge from the sand. Finally it came all the way out and the boat, still under pressure from the RIB, began to drag it along the bottom.
While I have read a good number of comments on T&T and in other publications over the years from boaters who have claimed that the same thing happened to them, including one I recall with a sailboat in shallow, clear water in the Caribbean or southwest Pacific who claimed to have watched this happen from his dinghy over the anchor, it was the video that convinced me that a slotted anchor shank is a really bad idea.
Unless you specifically want the ability to back the anchor out because you are moving the boat frequently. Like if you're bottom fishing where you are anchoring in kelp or over rocky bottoms and you want to change locations fairly often. Having the ability to back the anchor out from kelp or rocks or whatever using the slot instead of a trip line can be a major plus in this case.
You can defend that slot all you want, Peter, but after reading everything I've read and particularly seeing that video taped test there is no way in hell I would ever trust our boat to stay put with the rode fastened to the slot in a Manson or Sarca. Not with our often-strong currents that reverse directions four times a day. Perhaps in a place like Hawaii where reversing current is not much of an issue but strong winds and coral bottoms can be, a slot could be beneficial.
But not here. I suspect that this is why on every Manson anchor I've seen in our marina and in marinas up in BC, the rode is ALWAYS connected to the hole at the end of the shank, never the slot. Apparently, the owners of these boats don't trust the slot, either.
A rode shackled to the slot in a Sarca or Manson will absolutely, 100 % of the time never slide down the slot to the fluke end and back the anchor out until the day that it does. I prefer to eliminate that possibility altogether.
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