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Fortress Anchors
Has anyone else tried the Fortress anchor and been disappointed with them?
I have found once the anchor bites in and is set, it is a great anchor. The problem is if you are in a current, the anchor "sails" in the water, making it very difficult to set the hook. |
Harry,
Have you used a Fortress anchor? Even though the anchor is light, it probably is not safe to tie the rode around your leg and toss it overboard. I don't think it would help set the hook either. "HarryKrause" wrote in message ... Real Name wrote: Has anyone else tried the Fortress anchor and been disappointed with them? I have found once the anchor bites in and is set, it is a great anchor. The problem is if you are in a current, the anchor "sails" in the water, making it very difficult to set the hook. Tie the rode around your leg and toss your Fortress overboard. This has been discussed here at least 100 times. Now: Bite me, asshole! -- Let's pray the United States survives the rest of Bush's term. |
"Real Name" wrote in message ... Has anyone else tried the Fortress anchor and been disappointed with them? I have found once the anchor bites in and is set, it is a great anchor. The problem is if you are in a current, the anchor "sails" in the water, making it very difficult to set the hook. We had a Fortress on our 32 footer (I believe it was an FX 16) with 5 feet of chain rode....it held great in all types of seas in sand, mud and rocky bottoms. Light weight and good holding power. A great anchor that never let us down. |
"*JimH*" wrote in message news:... "Real Name" wrote in message ... Has anyone else tried the Fortress anchor and been disappointed with them? I have found once the anchor bites in and is set, it is a great anchor. The problem is if you are in a current, the anchor "sails" in the water, making it very difficult to set the hook. We had a Fortress on our 32 footer (I believe it was an FX 16) with 5 feet of chain rode....it held great in all types of seas in sand, mud and rocky bottoms. Light weight and good holding power. A great anchor that never let us down. |
*JimH* wrote: "Real Name" wrote in message ... Has anyone else tried the Fortress anchor and been disappointed with them? I have found once the anchor bites in and is set, it is a great anchor. The problem is if you are in a current, the anchor "sails" in the water, making it very difficult to set the hook. We had a Fortress on our 32 footer (I believe it was an FX 16) with 5 feet of chain rode....it held great in all types of seas in sand, mud and rocky bottoms. Light weight and good holding power. A great anchor that never let us down. Nowhere nearly enough chain, IMO. If it "never let you down" it may not have been all that severely tested. I personally subscribe to theory that places enormous importance on rode and scope, and a bit less on the actual "weight" of the anchor. A goofily light weight anchor will bounce along the bottom and not catch a set- but for any hook with enough mass to get down and pres against the bottom the design of the anchor is going to be more important to the set and hold than the listed weight. Old Bruce Danforth Rode to town Just to warn his daughter "Don't wish and hope, Use lots of scope When hooking under water." There is almost no such thing as too much chain. I have only 50-feet, and consider that a pretty minimal amount of chain for my mixed rode. |
wrote in message oups.com... *JimH* wrote: "Real Name" wrote in message ... Has anyone else tried the Fortress anchor and been disappointed with them? I have found once the anchor bites in and is set, it is a great anchor. The problem is if you are in a current, the anchor "sails" in the water, making it very difficult to set the hook. We had a Fortress on our 32 footer (I believe it was an FX 16) with 5 feet of chain rode....it held great in all types of seas in sand, mud and rocky bottoms. Light weight and good holding power. A great anchor that never let us down. Nowhere nearly enough chain, IMO. If it "never let you down" it may not have been all that severely tested. I personally subscribe to theory that places enormous importance on rode and scope, and a bit less on the actual "weight" of the anchor. A goofily light weight anchor will bounce along the bottom and not catch a set- but for any hook with enough mass to get down and pres against the bottom the design of the anchor is going to be more important to the set and hold than the listed weight. Old Bruce Danforth Rode to town Just to warn his daughter "Don't wish and hope, Use lots of scope When hooking under water." There is almost no such thing as too much chain. I have only 50-feet, and consider that a pretty minimal amount of chain for my mixed rode. Well it could have been 6 or 8 feet of chain rode.......my wife was the wench as we did not have an electric windlass. We never made it a habit to anchor in severe seas, so I guess it was never severely tested. Scope was always at least 7:1 and I had the line marked every 10 feet. This 'goofily light weight anchor' never bounced around the bottom for us. It is designed to catch and hold, even with minimal chain rode. Have you ever used a Fortress anchor Chuck? |
"*JimH*" wrote in message ... wrote in message oups.com... *JimH* wrote: "Real Name" wrote in message ... Has anyone else tried the Fortress anchor and been disappointed with them? I have found once the anchor bites in and is set, it is a great anchor. The problem is if you are in a current, the anchor "sails" in the water, making it very difficult to set the hook. We had a Fortress on our 32 footer (I believe it was an FX 16) with 5 feet of chain rode....it held great in all types of seas in sand, mud and rocky bottoms. Light weight and good holding power. A great anchor that never let us down. Nowhere nearly enough chain, IMO. If it "never let you down" it may not have been all that severely tested. I personally subscribe to theory that places enormous importance on rode and scope, and a bit less on the actual "weight" of the anchor. A goofily light weight anchor will bounce along the bottom and not catch a set- but for any hook with enough mass to get down and pres against the bottom the design of the anchor is going to be more important to the set and hold than the listed weight. Old Bruce Danforth Rode to town Just to warn his daughter "Don't wish and hope, Use lots of scope When hooking under water." There is almost no such thing as too much chain. I have only 50-feet, and consider that a pretty minimal amount of chain for my mixed rode. Well it could have been 6 or 8 feet of chain rode.......my wife was the anchor winch as we did not have an electric windlass. We never made it a habit to anchor in severe seas, so I guess it was never severely tested. Scope was always at least 7:1 and I had the line marked every 10 feet. This 'goofily light weight anchor' never bounced around the bottom for us. It is designed to catch and hold, even with minimal chain rode. Have you ever used a Fortress anchor Chuck? Edit: Fixed a *big* mistake. Ouch. |
*JimH* wrote: wrote in message oups.com... *JimH* wrote: "Real Name" wrote in message ... Has anyone else tried the Fortress anchor and been disappointed with them? I have found once the anchor bites in and is set, it is a great anchor. The problem is if you are in a current, the anchor "sails" in the water, making it very difficult to set the hook. We had a Fortress on our 32 footer (I believe it was an FX 16) with 5 feet of chain rode....it held great in all types of seas in sand, mud and rocky bottoms. Light weight and good holding power. A great anchor that never let us down. Nowhere nearly enough chain, IMO. If it "never let you down" it may not have been all that severely tested. I personally subscribe to theory that places enormous importance on rode and scope, and a bit less on the actual "weight" of the anchor. A goofily light weight anchor will bounce along the bottom and not catch a set- but for any hook with enough mass to get down and pres against the bottom the design of the anchor is going to be more important to the set and hold than the listed weight. Old Bruce Danforth Rode to town Just to warn his daughter "Don't wish and hope, Use lots of scope When hooking under water." There is almost no such thing as too much chain. I have only 50-feet, and consider that a pretty minimal amount of chain for my mixed rode. Well it could have been 6 or 8 feet of chain rode.......my wife was the wench as we did not have an electric windlass. We never made it a habit to anchor in severe seas, so I guess it was never severely tested. Scope was always at least 7:1 and I had the line marked every 10 feet. This 'goofily light weight anchor' never bounced around the bottom for us. It is designed to catch and hold, even with minimal chain rode. Have you ever used a Fortress anchor Chuck? 1) Never personally used a Fortress Anchor, and I referred to goofily light weight anchors in a generic sense, not to the Fortress brand specifically. 2) A heavier anchor holds a larger boat more by virtue of the fact that the flukes will be larger than because the anchor itself weighs more. Example; Let's say a 20-foot boat uses an 8-pound anchor. Our hypothetical craft, a Docknocker 195, weighs 4000 pounds. The owner of the Docknocker 195 picks the right lottery numbers and upgrades to a Pilescraper Express that weighs 40,000 pounds. Ten times the weight doesn't require a ten times heavier anchor, and odds are that 40,000 pound boat could safely use an anchor that weighs only 4-6 times as much as the 8-pound anchor on the 4000 pound boat. An anchor with enough weight to reach and bear down on the bottom should set if its the proper type of anchor for bottom conditions, and will likely hold if the flukes dig in deeply enough and can "grip" enough of the bottom to resist the pull of the boat. Heavier anchors hold better moreso because they have larger flukes rather than the additional 10, 20, or 30 pounds of weight. 3)Curious whether or not you used to carry a bass drum. In all the old movies where the galley slaves are being lashed into service, somebody is always pounding out the rowing cadence on a bass drum. It might have been a handy accessory- your could have pounded on the drum (with the hand that wasn't holding a cold beverage) and hollered "haul, wench!" while Mrs. H was up on the foredeck muscling in the wet and muddy rode. just joking! Your wife is apparently *much* better trained and more obedient than mine. :-) |
*JimH* wrote: wrote in message oups.com... *JimH* wrote: "Real Name" wrote in message ... Has anyone else tried the Fortress anchor and been disappointed with them? I have found once the anchor bites in and is set, it is a great anchor. The problem is if you are in a current, the anchor "sails" in the water, making it very difficult to set the hook. We had a Fortress on our 32 footer (I believe it was an FX 16) with 5 feet of chain rode....it held great in all types of seas in sand, mud and rocky bottoms. Light weight and good holding power. A great anchor that never let us down. Nowhere nearly enough chain, IMO. If it "never let you down" it may not have been all that severely tested. I personally subscribe to theory that places enormous importance on rode and scope, and a bit less on the actual "weight" of the anchor. A goofily light weight anchor will bounce along the bottom and not catch a set- but for any hook with enough mass to get down and pres against the bottom the design of the anchor is going to be more important to the set and hold than the listed weight. Old Bruce Danforth Rode to town Just to warn his daughter "Don't wish and hope, Use lots of scope When hooking under water." There is almost no such thing as too much chain. I have only 50-feet, and consider that a pretty minimal amount of chain for my mixed rode. Well it could have been 6 or 8 feet of chain rode.......my wife was the wench as we did not have an electric windlass. We never made it a habit to anchor in severe seas, so I guess it was never severely tested. Scope was always at least 7:1 and I had the line marked every 10 feet. This 'goofily light weight anchor' never bounced around the bottom for us. It is designed to catch and hold, even with minimal chain rode. Have you ever used a Fortress anchor Chuck? 1) Never personally used a Fortress Anchor, and I referred to goofily light weight anchors in a generic sense, not to the Fortress brand specifically. 2) A heavier anchor holds a larger boat more by virtue of the fact that the flukes will be larger than because the anchor itself weighs more. Example; Let's say a 20-foot boat uses an 8-pound anchor. Our hypothetical craft, a Docknocker 195, weighs 4000 pounds. The owner of the Docknocker 195 picks the right lottery numbers and upgrades to a Pilescraper Express that weighs 40,000 pounds. Ten times the weight doesn't require a ten times heavier anchor, and odds are that 40,000 pound boat could safely use an anchor that weighs only 4-6 times as much as the 8-pound anchor on the 4000 pound boat. An anchor with enough weight to reach and bear down on the bottom should set if its the proper type of anchor for bottom conditions, and will likely hold if the flukes dig in deeply enough and can "grip" enough of the bottom to resist the pull of the boat. Heavier anchors hold better moreso because they have larger flukes rather than the additional 10, 20, or 30 pounds of weight. 3)Curious whether or not you used to carry a bass drum. In all the old movies where the galley slaves are being lashed into service, somebody is always pounding out the rowing cadence on a bass drum. It might have been a handy accessory- your could have pounded on the drum (with the hand that wasn't holding a cold beverage) and hollered "haul, wench!" while Mrs. H was up on the foredeck muscling in the wet and muddy rode. just joking! Your wife is apparently *much* better trained and more obedient than mine. :-) |
wrote in message ups.com... *JimH* wrote: wrote in message oups.com... *JimH* wrote: "Real Name" wrote in message ... Has anyone else tried the Fortress anchor and been disappointed with them? I have found once the anchor bites in and is set, it is a great anchor. The problem is if you are in a current, the anchor "sails" in the water, making it very difficult to set the hook. We had a Fortress on our 32 footer (I believe it was an FX 16) with 5 feet of chain rode....it held great in all types of seas in sand, mud and rocky bottoms. Light weight and good holding power. A great anchor that never let us down. Nowhere nearly enough chain, IMO. If it "never let you down" it may not have been all that severely tested. I personally subscribe to theory that places enormous importance on rode and scope, and a bit less on the actual "weight" of the anchor. A goofily light weight anchor will bounce along the bottom and not catch a set- but for any hook with enough mass to get down and pres against the bottom the design of the anchor is going to be more important to the set and hold than the listed weight. Old Bruce Danforth Rode to town Just to warn his daughter "Don't wish and hope, Use lots of scope When hooking under water." There is almost no such thing as too much chain. I have only 50-feet, and consider that a pretty minimal amount of chain for my mixed rode. Well it could have been 6 or 8 feet of chain rode.......my wife was the wench as we did not have an electric windlass. We never made it a habit to anchor in severe seas, so I guess it was never severely tested. Scope was always at least 7:1 and I had the line marked every 10 feet. This 'goofily light weight anchor' never bounced around the bottom for us. It is designed to catch and hold, even with minimal chain rode. Have you ever used a Fortress anchor Chuck? 1) Never personally used a Fortress Anchor, and I referred to goofily light weight anchors in a generic sense, not to the Fortress brand specifically. 2) A heavier anchor holds a larger boat more by virtue of the fact that the flukes will be larger than because the anchor itself weighs more. Example; Let's say a 20-foot boat uses an 8-pound anchor. Our hypothetical craft, a Docknocker 195, weighs 4000 pounds. The owner of the Docknocker 195 picks the right lottery numbers and upgrades to a Pilescraper Express that weighs 40,000 pounds. Ten times the weight doesn't require a ten times heavier anchor, and odds are that 40,000 pound boat could safely use an anchor that weighs only 4-6 times as much as the 8-pound anchor on the 4000 pound boat. An anchor with enough weight to reach and bear down on the bottom should set if its the proper type of anchor for bottom conditions, and will likely hold if the flukes dig in deeply enough and can "grip" enough of the bottom to resist the pull of the boat. Heavier anchors hold better moreso because they have larger flukes rather than the additional 10, 20, or 30 pounds of weight. 3)Curious whether or not you used to carry a bass drum. In all the old movies where the galley slaves are being lashed into service, somebody is always pounding out the rowing cadence on a bass drum. It might have been a handy accessory- your could have pounded on the drum (with the hand that wasn't holding a cold beverage) and hollered "haul, wench!" while Mrs. H was up on the foredeck muscling in the wet and muddy rode. just joking! Your wife is apparently *much* better trained and more obedient than mine. :-) She was not *trained* Chuck....why do you refer to her as that? One trains a dog, not ones wife. Regardless, she had no problem with the anchor duty....we worked as a team. There was no muscling up the anchor as I had the boat do the work to break it free. And the nice thing about the Fortress is that it is light and easy to manually retrieve. |
*JimH* wrote: wrote in message ups.com... *JimH* wrote: wrote in message oups.com... *JimH* wrote: "Real Name" wrote in message ... Has anyone else tried the Fortress anchor and been disappointed with them? I have found once the anchor bites in and is set, it is a great anchor. The problem is if you are in a current, the anchor "sails" in the water, making it very difficult to set the hook. We had a Fortress on our 32 footer (I believe it was an FX 16) with 5 feet of chain rode....it held great in all types of seas in sand, mud and rocky bottoms. Light weight and good holding power. A great anchor that never let us down. Nowhere nearly enough chain, IMO. If it "never let you down" it may not have been all that severely tested. I personally subscribe to theory that places enormous importance on rode and scope, and a bit less on the actual "weight" of the anchor. A goofily light weight anchor will bounce along the bottom and not catch a set- but for any hook with enough mass to get down and pres against the bottom the design of the anchor is going to be more important to the set and hold than the listed weight. Old Bruce Danforth Rode to town Just to warn his daughter "Don't wish and hope, Use lots of scope When hooking under water." There is almost no such thing as too much chain. I have only 50-feet, and consider that a pretty minimal amount of chain for my mixed rode. Well it could have been 6 or 8 feet of chain rode.......my wife was the wench as we did not have an electric windlass. We never made it a habit to anchor in severe seas, so I guess it was never severely tested. Scope was always at least 7:1 and I had the line marked every 10 feet. This 'goofily light weight anchor' never bounced around the bottom for us. It is designed to catch and hold, even with minimal chain rode. Have you ever used a Fortress anchor Chuck? 1) Never personally used a Fortress Anchor, and I referred to goofily light weight anchors in a generic sense, not to the Fortress brand specifically. 2) A heavier anchor holds a larger boat more by virtue of the fact that the flukes will be larger than because the anchor itself weighs more. Example; Let's say a 20-foot boat uses an 8-pound anchor. Our hypothetical craft, a Docknocker 195, weighs 4000 pounds. The owner of the Docknocker 195 picks the right lottery numbers and upgrades to a Pilescraper Express that weighs 40,000 pounds. Ten times the weight doesn't require a ten times heavier anchor, and odds are that 40,000 pound boat could safely use an anchor that weighs only 4-6 times as much as the 8-pound anchor on the 4000 pound boat. An anchor with enough weight to reach and bear down on the bottom should set if its the proper type of anchor for bottom conditions, and will likely hold if the flukes dig in deeply enough and can "grip" enough of the bottom to resist the pull of the boat. Heavier anchors hold better moreso because they have larger flukes rather than the additional 10, 20, or 30 pounds of weight. 3)Curious whether or not you used to carry a bass drum. In all the old movies where the galley slaves are being lashed into service, somebody is always pounding out the rowing cadence on a bass drum. It might have been a handy accessory- your could have pounded on the drum (with the hand that wasn't holding a cold beverage) and hollered "haul, wench!" while Mrs. H was up on the foredeck muscling in the wet and muddy rode. just joking! Your wife is apparently *much* better trained and more obedient than mine. :-) She was not *trained* Chuck....why do you refer to her as that? One trains a dog, not ones wife. Regardless, she had no problem with the anchor duty....we worked as a team. There was no muscling up the anchor as I had the boat do the work to break it free. And the nice thing about the Fortress is that it is light and easy to manually retrieve. "Trained and obedient" is supposed to be humorous. Is this the first time you have heard somebody refer, humorously, to a "well-trained" spouse? In reality, training a wife is more like trying to train a cat- rather than a dog. As long as you ask the cat to do something it actually wants to do, it goes along and lets you pretend you're in charge. :-) |
wrote in message oups.com... *JimH* wrote: wrote in message ups.com... *JimH* wrote: wrote in message oups.com... *JimH* wrote: "Real Name" wrote in message ... Has anyone else tried the Fortress anchor and been disappointed with them? I have found once the anchor bites in and is set, it is a great anchor. The problem is if you are in a current, the anchor "sails" in the water, making it very difficult to set the hook. We had a Fortress on our 32 footer (I believe it was an FX 16) with 5 feet of chain rode....it held great in all types of seas in sand, mud and rocky bottoms. Light weight and good holding power. A great anchor that never let us down. Nowhere nearly enough chain, IMO. If it "never let you down" it may not have been all that severely tested. I personally subscribe to theory that places enormous importance on rode and scope, and a bit less on the actual "weight" of the anchor. A goofily light weight anchor will bounce along the bottom and not catch a set- but for any hook with enough mass to get down and pres against the bottom the design of the anchor is going to be more important to the set and hold than the listed weight. Old Bruce Danforth Rode to town Just to warn his daughter "Don't wish and hope, Use lots of scope When hooking under water." There is almost no such thing as too much chain. I have only 50-feet, and consider that a pretty minimal amount of chain for my mixed rode. Well it could have been 6 or 8 feet of chain rode.......my wife was the anchor winch as we did not have an electric windlass. We never made it a habit to anchor in severe seas, so I guess it was never severely tested. Scope was always at least 7:1 and I had the line marked every 10 feet. This 'goofily light weight anchor' never bounced around the bottom for us. It is designed to catch and hold, even with minimal chain rode. Have you ever used a Fortress anchor Chuck? 1) Never personally used a Fortress Anchor, and I referred to goofily light weight anchors in a generic sense, not to the Fortress brand specifically. 2) A heavier anchor holds a larger boat more by virtue of the fact that the flukes will be larger than because the anchor itself weighs more. Example; Let's say a 20-foot boat uses an 8-pound anchor. Our hypothetical craft, a Docknocker 195, weighs 4000 pounds. The owner of the Docknocker 195 picks the right lottery numbers and upgrades to a Pilescraper Express that weighs 40,000 pounds. Ten times the weight doesn't require a ten times heavier anchor, and odds are that 40,000 pound boat could safely use an anchor that weighs only 4-6 times as much as the 8-pound anchor on the 4000 pound boat. An anchor with enough weight to reach and bear down on the bottom should set if its the proper type of anchor for bottom conditions, and will likely hold if the flukes dig in deeply enough and can "grip" enough of the bottom to resist the pull of the boat. Heavier anchors hold better moreso because they have larger flukes rather than the additional 10, 20, or 30 pounds of weight. 3)Curious whether or not you used to carry a bass drum. In all the old movies where the galley slaves are being lashed into service, somebody is always pounding out the rowing cadence on a bass drum. It might have been a handy accessory- your could have pounded on the drum (with the hand that wasn't holding a cold beverage) and hollered "haul, wench!" while Mrs. H was up on the foredeck muscling in the wet and muddy rode. just joking! Your wife is apparently *much* better trained and more obedient than mine. :-) She was not *trained* Chuck....why do you refer to her as that? One trains a dog, not ones wife. Regardless, she had no problem with the anchor duty....we worked as a team. There was no muscling up the anchor as I had the boat do the work to break it free. And the nice thing about the Fortress is that it is light and easy to manually retrieve. "Trained and obedient" is supposed to be humorous. Is this the first time you have heard somebody refer, humorously, to a "well-trained" spouse? In reality, training a wife is more like trying to train a cat- rather than a dog. As long as you ask the cat to do something it actually wants to do, it goes along and lets you pretend you're in charge. :-) Gotcha. |
*JimH* wrote:
wrote in message ups.com... *JimH* wrote: wrote in message egroups.com... *JimH* wrote: "Real Name" wrote in message ... Has anyone else tried the Fortress anchor and been disappointed with them? I have found once the anchor bites in and is set, it is a great anchor. The problem is if you are in a current, the anchor "sails" in the water, making it very difficult to set the hook. We had a Fortress on our 32 footer (I believe it was an FX 16) with 5 feet of chain rode....it held great in all types of seas in sand, mud and rocky bottoms. Light weight and good holding power. A great anchor that never let us down. Nowhere nearly enough chain, IMO. If it "never let you down" it may not have been all that severely tested. I personally subscribe to theory that places enormous importance on rode and scope, and a bit less on the actual "weight" of the anchor. A goofily light weight anchor will bounce along the bottom and not catch a set- but for any hook with enough mass to get down and pres against the bottom the design of the anchor is going to be more important to the set and hold than the listed weight. Old Bruce Danforth Rode to town Just to warn his daughter "Don't wish and hope, Use lots of scope When hooking under water." There is almost no such thing as too much chain. I have only 50-feet, and consider that a pretty minimal amount of chain for my mixed rode. Well it could have been 6 or 8 feet of chain rode.......my wife was the wench as we did not have an electric windlass. We never made it a habit to anchor in severe seas, so I guess it was never severely tested. Scope was always at least 7:1 and I had the line marked every 10 feet. This 'goofily light weight anchor' never bounced around the bottom for us. It is designed to catch and hold, even with minimal chain rode. Have you ever used a Fortress anchor Chuck? 1) Never personally used a Fortress Anchor, and I referred to goofily light weight anchors in a generic sense, not to the Fortress brand specifically. 2) A heavier anchor holds a larger boat more by virtue of the fact that the flukes will be larger than because the anchor itself weighs more. Example; Let's say a 20-foot boat uses an 8-pound anchor. Our hypothetical craft, a Docknocker 195, weighs 4000 pounds. The owner of the Docknocker 195 picks the right lottery numbers and upgrades to a Pilescraper Express that weighs 40,000 pounds. Ten times the weight doesn't require a ten times heavier anchor, and odds are that 40,000 pound boat could safely use an anchor that weighs only 4-6 times as much as the 8-pound anchor on the 4000 pound boat. An anchor with enough weight to reach and bear down on the bottom should set if its the proper type of anchor for bottom conditions, and will likely hold if the flukes dig in deeply enough and can "grip" enough of the bottom to resist the pull of the boat. Heavier anchors hold better moreso because they have larger flukes rather than the additional 10, 20, or 30 pounds of weight. 3)Curious whether or not you used to carry a bass drum. In all the old movies where the galley slaves are being lashed into service, somebody is always pounding out the rowing cadence on a bass drum. It might have been a handy accessory- your could have pounded on the drum (with the hand that wasn't holding a cold beverage) and hollered "haul, wench!" while Mrs. H was up on the foredeck muscling in the wet and muddy rode. just joking! Your wife is apparently *much* better trained and more obedient than mine. :-) She was not *trained* Chuck....why do you refer to her as that? One trains a dog, not ones wife. Regardless, she had no problem with the anchor duty....we worked as a team. There was no muscling up the anchor as I had the boat do the work to break it free. And the nice thing about the Fortress is that it is light and easy to manually retrieve. And to think...all the training seminars & courses my co-workers and I were sent on. All the time our employer was refering to us as 'dogs'. |
Gould,
I think the Fortress makes a nice lunch hook in calm waters. wrote in message ups.com... *JimH* wrote: wrote in message oups.com... *JimH* wrote: "Real Name" wrote in message ... Has anyone else tried the Fortress anchor and been disappointed with them? I have found once the anchor bites in and is set, it is a great anchor. The problem is if you are in a current, the anchor "sails" in the water, making it very difficult to set the hook. We had a Fortress on our 32 footer (I believe it was an FX 16) with 5 feet of chain rode....it held great in all types of seas in sand, mud and rocky bottoms. Light weight and good holding power. A great anchor that never let us down. Nowhere nearly enough chain, IMO. If it "never let you down" it may not have been all that severely tested. I personally subscribe to theory that places enormous importance on rode and scope, and a bit less on the actual "weight" of the anchor. A goofily light weight anchor will bounce along the bottom and not catch a set- but for any hook with enough mass to get down and pres against the bottom the design of the anchor is going to be more important to the set and hold than the listed weight. Old Bruce Danforth Rode to town Just to warn his daughter "Don't wish and hope, Use lots of scope When hooking under water." There is almost no such thing as too much chain. I have only 50-feet, and consider that a pretty minimal amount of chain for my mixed rode. Well it could have been 6 or 8 feet of chain rode.......my wife was the wench as we did not have an electric windlass. We never made it a habit to anchor in severe seas, so I guess it was never severely tested. Scope was always at least 7:1 and I had the line marked every 10 feet. This 'goofily light weight anchor' never bounced around the bottom for us. It is designed to catch and hold, even with minimal chain rode. Have you ever used a Fortress anchor Chuck? 1) Never personally used a Fortress Anchor, and I referred to goofily light weight anchors in a generic sense, not to the Fortress brand specifically. 2) A heavier anchor holds a larger boat more by virtue of the fact that the flukes will be larger than because the anchor itself weighs more. Example; Let's say a 20-foot boat uses an 8-pound anchor. Our hypothetical craft, a Docknocker 195, weighs 4000 pounds. The owner of the Docknocker 195 picks the right lottery numbers and upgrades to a Pilescraper Express that weighs 40,000 pounds. Ten times the weight doesn't require a ten times heavier anchor, and odds are that 40,000 pound boat could safely use an anchor that weighs only 4-6 times as much as the 8-pound anchor on the 4000 pound boat. An anchor with enough weight to reach and bear down on the bottom should set if its the proper type of anchor for bottom conditions, and will likely hold if the flukes dig in deeply enough and can "grip" enough of the bottom to resist the pull of the boat. Heavier anchors hold better moreso because they have larger flukes rather than the additional 10, 20, or 30 pounds of weight. 3)Curious whether or not you used to carry a bass drum. In all the old movies where the galley slaves are being lashed into service, somebody is always pounding out the rowing cadence on a bass drum. It might have been a handy accessory- your could have pounded on the drum (with the hand that wasn't holding a cold beverage) and hollered "haul, wench!" while Mrs. H was up on the foredeck muscling in the wet and muddy rode. just joking! Your wife is apparently *much* better trained and more obedient than mine. :-) |
"Real Name" wrote in message ... Gould, I think the Fortress makes a nice lunch hook in calm waters. They are a true working anchor that never failed us on Lake Erie, not just a nice lunch hook in calm waters. Which Fortress do you own? |
JimH,
It is a FX 16, which is one anchor higher than recommended for my boat The reason I only use it for a lunch anchor is I am concerned that the anchor might break loose if the wind changes. Without the weight I am not comfortable that the anchor will reset on it's own. I have found once the anchor is set, it will hold it's own under load, but if the wind changes 180 degrees it will break free. "*JimH*" wrote in message ... "Real Name" wrote in message ... Gould, I think the Fortress makes a nice lunch hook in calm waters. They are a true working anchor that never failed us on Lake Erie, not just a nice lunch hook in calm waters. Which Fortress do you own? |
"Real Name" wrote in message ... JimH, It is a FX 16, which is one anchor higher than recommended for my boat The reason I only use it for a lunch anchor is I am concerned that the anchor might break loose if the wind changes. Without the weight I am not comfortable that the anchor will reset on it's own. I have found once the anchor is set, it will hold it's own under load, but if the wind changes 180 degrees it will break free. As will all danforth type anchors. |
JimH,
So in your experience, the Fortress set as easily as a heavier Danforth? In my experience, the Fortress was great once it was set, but you had to work harder to get it set. "*JimH*" wrote in message ... "Real Name" wrote in message ... JimH, It is a FX 16, which is one anchor higher than recommended for my boat The reason I only use it for a lunch anchor is I am concerned that the anchor might break loose if the wind changes. Without the weight I am not comfortable that the anchor will reset on it's own. I have found once the anchor is set, it will hold it's own under load, but if the wind changes 180 degrees it will break free. As will all danforth type anchors. |
"Real Name" wrote in message ... JimH, So in your experience, the Fortress set as easily as a heavier Danforth? In my experience, the Fortress was great once it was set, but you had to work harder to get it set. Perhaps easier. We have a mainly mud or sand bottom in Lake Erie. I never had a problem setting it. Once enough line were let out and tied off I would usually put the boat in reverse to ensure it was caught tight. |
"*JimH*" wrote in message ... "Real Name" wrote in message ... JimH, So in your experience, the Fortress set as easily as a heavier Danforth? In my experience, the Fortress was great once it was set, but you had to work harder to get it set. Perhaps easier. We have a mainly mud or sand bottom in Lake Erie. I never had a problem setting it. Once enough line was let out and tied off I would usually put the boat in reverse to ensure it was caught tight. edit |
This problem is not unique to Fortress. Virtually all of the light
weight type anchors with wide flukes will exhibit the same behavior unless the boat is almost stopped before dropping the anchor. The only cure is shape and weight. An anchor with a thinner profile such as a Spade, Bruce, CQR or Plow, with a decent amount of chain on it, will get to the bottom even with the boat moving. I'd recommend at least a boat length of chain in most cases, sized to match the breaking strength of the rode and holding power of the anchor. As a bonus you end up with an anchor system that will usually reset itself if the anchor pulls out for some reason. It is true that a heavy anchor with heavy chain begs for a windlass, but speed of retrieval is usually much less important than speed of setting in an emergency situation. In fairness to the Fortress (and to Danforth's), they have a great deal of holding power for their weight and are deservedly very popular for general usage. In addition the Fortress can be disassembled for more compact storage. I'm thinking of buying a really large Fortress and carrying it disassembled as an ultimate storm anchor. |
I use one as a kedge on my 48' sportfish. (Lots of windage). Many
nights the wind has switched and I have had no problems at all with the Fortress catching. I use 40" of chain and a 10:1 scope for night time use. I would use it as a main anchor but my boat came with a large danforth and I am to cheap to replace it just to save the weight. I also have one on my tender (18' whaler) with 10' of chain and it works like a champ as well. My 12' dingy also has one with no chain and it will sail a bit before catching but I just use the motor to allow it to hit the bottom first. We cruise the Bahamas (Sand and grass), South Florida (mud and sand), and the keys (Various bottoms mainly sand and grass) Real Name wrote: Has anyone else tried the Fortress anchor and been disappointed with them? I have found once the anchor bites in and is set, it is a great anchor. The problem is if you are in a current, the anchor "sails" in the water, making it very difficult to set the hook. |
On 18 Jul 2005 00:20:09 -0700, "
wrote: *snip! There is almost no such thing as too much chain. I have only 50-feet, and consider that a pretty minimal amount of chain for my mixed rode. I remember the story from near Cape Horn. The skipper had oversized his anchor to a 75 CQR and was surprised to see a same-size boat using and holding with a 45 CQR. The skipper on the other boat explained, "The chain! The chain!" He was using 1/2" all-chain rode. The weight of his chain kept his anchor firmly set. |
"Skipper" wrote in message ... On 18 Jul 2005 00:20:09 -0700, " wrote: *snip! There is almost no such thing as too much chain. I have only 50-feet, and consider that a pretty minimal amount of chain for my mixed rode. I remember the story from near Cape Horn. The skipper had oversized his anchor to a 75 CQR and was surprised to see a same-size boat using and holding with a 45 CQR. The skipper on the other boat explained, "The chain! The chain!" He was using 1/2" all-chain rode. The weight of his chain kept his anchor firmly set. Was the skipper on the 45 CQR boat a little person? "The chain! The chain!" |
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