Quote:
Originally Posted by sunchaser
So my Bruce soldiers on. Always doing what it is supposed to. My spare anchor for years has been an FX 55 that remains in its red storage bag, unused. Because the West Coast and PNW are boulder and hard rock strewn, the FX will remain in its bag, thinking it would bend like a Danforth is not too remote a possibility.
Brian's recent post about sizing up anchors as not "playing by the rules" I find curious. Probably because an oversized non FX anchor diminishes the obvious advantages of his product.
Again, great thread Fortress.
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Sunchaser, thank you for the kind words. I'm glad to hear that your Bruce has served you well and it is obviously one of the best anchor options for those bottoms. Our late founder marveled at the structural strength of the Bruce, and because of this fact, he commented once that it made a terrific "grappling hook" anchor for use in rocks.
It is certainly possible to get a Fortress hung up in rocks and bend a part. We drill a hole in the crown (center piece) to which you can attach a breakaway or secondary line and pull the anchor out from behind if necessary.
Regarding over-sizing anchors, rather than dramatically increasing the weight on the bow to compensate for an anchor-type's shortcomings in certain bottom conditions, I think it is advisable to use the "right tool for the job" instead and have multiple anchors of different types aboard, particularly if/when cruising into unknown waters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Djbangi
But Fortress is not only about being alloy, it also has the 45 degree fluke angle which makes it different (in addition to being light) from most other anchors.
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The advantage of a wider shank/fluke capability cannot be overstated for soft mud. Again, this is no great Fortress secret, as Bruce, the US Navy, and Vryhoff all make anchors with this capability.
On the 4th and last day of testing, and after all of the protocol anchors had been tested 5x, we tossed over the 10 lb (4.5 kg) FX-16 @ the 45° angle and the results were a bit mind-numbing.
Not only did the FX-16 hit peaks of 1,600 and 1,400 lbs without breaking free, but it also was one of the most difficult anchors to recover and it came up with a harder, grainy sediment that we had not seen with the other anchors.....including the larger Fortress....which suggests that it buried even deeper.
I think for the test attendees who were present on the boat at that time, there was no better example of "design over weight," as a 10 lb anchor out-held all of the 44-46 lbs anchors in the test, and was comparable in performance to the 35 lb Danforth......and the 21 lb Fortress FX-37 @ 32° for that matter.
Here's the video from that final day, with the FX-16 test at about 8:00.