Buying a Fortress anchor... mistake or not?

[normo]

When you get caught in a bad situation you need an anchor that works! One that doesn't but fits nicely in your anchor locker is of little consolation. Get the type and size that works best and worry about storage later.

You can carry a smaller Danforth style anchor for picnic anchoring but you need the real thing onboard if you sail in areas that can get dangerous.

I recently had a threatening situation with several hours of unforcast winds up to 50 mph winds in the middle of the night. The Danforth style dragged and put several of us and the boat at risk.

You can get away with being a cheapskate on some things but anchors are not one of them. I now have a Bruce. A Bulwagga would also be a good choice.

[Frank C]

... have a fortress that fits in the locker (just fits) been the main anchor since the boat was new,works almost everywhere i have tried it,and really like the fact that it and the rode fit in the locker ...

Me too, though mine is the six-pound Guardian G-11. It sells for about half the price of the Fortress. (Product codes refer to the weight of a same-sized steel anchor, so an 11-pound Danforth should just fit in the locker too). I didn't choose Guardian because it fits the locker. I bought it because other owners liked its performance - it's just a nice bonus to be able to stow it. With about 8 feet of chain, it's a great anchor in mud and sand - even without mud palms.

Stowage is a matter of flaking the Guardian's rode into the bottom of the locker, and topping it off with the flat anchor itself. I also bought the Bulwagga-17, and installed a Bruce anchor roller to carry it. It does not contact the bow when weighing or traveling. I hook one link on a cleat horn and wrap it with bungees to hold it. I used a 3" hole saw to cut a circle straight down thru the tip of the locker cover, then hacksawed it into a U-shaped opening. The Bul's rode leads thru this opening and flakes on top of the Guardian.

The Bul is a great anchor too. But when we anchored in the Santa Barbara channel last year I set both anchors each night. I set the Bul first since it's ready at the bow. It's rode is flaked atop the Guardian, so after setting, the Bul's rode is mostly deployed, leaving the Guardian "layer" accessible. So I have my main anchor ready on the roller, and the backup in the locker. Works well for me.

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

I'm a two anchor proponent and they should not be the same style unless you are certain in your cruising ground you will encounter the same bottom everywhere.

For my money, the Guardian line by Fortress is a better deal. I have a G16 (7lbs), will not fit in the locker for soft bottoms and a Claw (16.5 lbs) Bruce Clone for hard or rocky bottoms. It is on a bow roller, the Guardian is on a bracket on the pulpit. Both are ready to launch at a moments notice.



The locker is split to keep the two rodes and chain organized so I don't have to pay any attention to avoiding tangles. Lockers are for rodes, not anchors.



This works well for us up here in the Northwest where we have about every type of bottom you can name.

[Sloop John B]

Get the little Guardian. It weighs about six pounds and you can put it in your pocket while you look about for a neat place to toss it out.

It fits in the locker, barely, and holds very well in what everything else would (firm sand/mud).

If you have some tools aboard, it can be adjusted for soft mud.

If the waves and wind are ripping your boat to the point you are dragging a minute a foot into the rocks, why not go home and watch HBO and come out again on a better day.

If you're on a cruise, then you have to research your anticipated bottoms and come up with something like a Bulwagga.

Then say a little prayer to St. Raphael that it doesn't forget what it's supposed to do and become disconcerted while in the Dry Tortugas to allow your boat to get up enough speed on a drag to smash into somebodys prone mast and knock out a window and everything.

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

I can't disagree more.

You want to have ground tackle you can count on. Expecting to always avoid difficult conditions is a fools dream. There is no going home in the middle of the night when that un-forcast squall blows in. When the only protected anchorage has a rocky bottom you want to know that the hook you put down will work. You owe it to yourself and those anchored around you to have reliable secure ground tackle that works in tough conditions. Believe me, no one will laugh at your big anchor. Having too small of one or an inappropriate one is not only foolhardy but is downright irresponsible.

By the way, the Guardian isn't as adjustable as the Fortress. The Guardian does have removeable mud palms which I just leave on all the time. The Fortress also has adjustable fluke angles which makes it able to hold in really soft soupy mud.

Neither however is effective in foul or rocky bottoms. Originally I had two danforth style anchors on board, the aluminum Guardian and a 14lb steel version. I was fat dump and happy until I encountered a bottom with medium to large gravel and a bit of weed cover. Try as I might, neither would bite. It was near sunset, 2+ hours from the launch, no going back (we never would have considered that an option any way). We pressed on north until dusk and luckily found an empty mooring buoy to spend the night on rather than having to anchor in the dark. You'll only that mistake once. Getting more vesitile ground tackle quickly became the number one priority. The claw nicely rounded out our anchor selection. I'd have a bulwagga if they weren't so damn expensive.

[mark,97x]

use the fortess 90% of time but,if i ever had doubts i set that cqr type,which is probably the cruising comunities favorite type of heavy anchor to carry. I have seen 50 foot cats (Island Time out of p.c.b. fl)use the cqr and not drift at all. I believe in having an anchor for the ocasion thats why the 3 additionl anchors,, just thought the fortress is a good place to start,easy to handle,store and most important deploy

[Andy26M]

Lots of sources recommend having 2 different types on board.

I have a good old WM Standard 13 (13# danforth-type) for general purpose use. It fits snugly in the 26M anchor locker, along with 15 feet of 1/2 " chain and 200 feet of nylon rode. For picnicking, shorter term, and even overnight in known suitable bottom conditons, it works great. The other day I had it refuse to set for the first time this year - when I pulled it back up the reason was that a large clam (quahog) had gotten wedged in between flukes and shank. So, danforth types have drawbacks even in sand/mud if there are stones/shellfish aplenty.

I keep the aforementioned PM-1 bracket on the pulpit rail, but I only put the anchor out there when preparing to anchor, otherwise I keep it in the locker (aesthetics I guess).

My other anchor is a 22# Bruce with 15 feet of 5/8" chain and 200' of 1/2" nylon rode. I keep this one in a canvas sack sized just right. If I am just headed out to the beach for a daysail, I leave it at the dock. Recently I spent 10 days in the Adirondacks and the Bruce became my "mooring anchor" which I came and went from, while the danforth stayed in the locker for exploring and picnicking. The Bruce never budged despite a few "hard" returns to anchor from various directions, and it set very readily in the rocky bottom of the lake I was on.

One other note for claw and plow type anchors - most have a hole to attach a "trip" line and anchor buoy. Using the trip line can make the anchor a LOT easier to un-set and retrieve, since by their nature these anchors don't come loose like danforths do by simply powering past them and pulling from the other side.

- AndyS

[Tom Spohn]

Since Chip brought up the Practical Sailor idea, I went searching through my archives. I have the 1/15/01 test of anchors. They had a scoring system that considered setting in sand and mud and holding in sand and mud. The winners were in this order: Spade 80, Bulwagga, CQR, Barnacle, Delta, Danforth Deepset II, West Performance, and Fortress FX16. There were a total of 18 anchors tested. They also ran a test to see what happened when they shifted the pull on the rode to 140/150 degrees. In this test they broke the anchors into 4 groups. The top group (ie didn't break out or drag) were: Bruce, Fortress FX16, Supermax. Next group (Broke out but reset quickly) were: Barnacle, Claw Bulwagga, Dandorth Deepset Herrishoff Bronze, West Marine Performance. In their concluding comments they praised the Fortress as the best of the lightweight anchors "which simply swiveled in a horizontal plane around the shank and took up its new alighment.", Bruce for its ease of setting (but mediocre holding power) Bulwagga and Spade.

In the December, 2003 issue they tested anchors in soft sand over hard sand. Highest max load capability went to: CQR, Wasi, West Marine perf., Davis Talon XT, and Fortress. (13 anchors tested) In the conclusion section they recommended carring two anchors. They suggested the Fortress and the Spade Model 80, or the Spade and a heavier Danforth style anchor or a bulwagga (in the 27#version.)

Although I agree with Duane that Puget Sound has every type of bottom there is, virtually all of our anchorages have been in mud. We have found the Fortress to work very well in this case. In soft mud it works best if it is "soft set" at a 2:1 scope then let out to 5:1 and hard set. If I add another anchor it will probably be the Spade.

This is a complicated subject due to the variables in bottom (sand, mud, rocks, weeds, etc.) degree of protection of the anchorage, how crowded is the anchorage and hence the scope possible, tide rise and fall and related currents, and probabley some variables I forgot. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get the back issues of PS and study them carefully before picking an anchor.

[Harry van der Meer]

I have the Fortress FX16 which is recommended for boats up to 38'. I have been very happy with this anchor. We have used it all summer in Narragansett Bay and along the Maine coast. I love the fact that it is light (10 lbs) and therefore easy to retrieve. I use it in combination with 20 ft of chain.

Last year I used a small hooker that came with the boat. I had a lot of trouble setting the anchor, and it would frequently break loose. So I was looking for something reliable, light and stowable. The FX16 has met all these criterea.

I have the FX16 mounted on the pulpit with the Windline vertical rail mount bracket from WM.

I also have the Guardian G11 which fits nicely in the locker. The plan was to use this anchor for "lunch break anchoring" and install the FX16 only if going on overnight trips. I like to minimize clutter as I trailer all the time. However, I have found the FX16 mounted on the pulpit not to be in the way. As a matter of fact, it helps during the mast rasing procedure as I can lay the furler temporary on the anchor bar.

Except for on grass, both the G11 and FX16 are setting immediately. However, most of the bottoms I anchored in were mud.

[Paul S]

Just got September's issue of Practical Sailor.

They go into painful detail about anchoring and your rode - the force on the rode and different mfr's guidelines (which vary widely). They mention that the guidelines and tables generally don't take into effect the wave and wind conditions

In a nutshell..they make no recommendations.."It depends" just use common sense...knowledge and experience.

Pretty good read.

Paul