Anchor choices

[AlohaSpirit]

Originally Posted by Oldwheels

My humble opinion after research. spade is about as good as they come. PRicey.

the Rocna Vulcan is second and also very good. Then the standard Rocna.

Thank you for your input.

[Orion Jim]

I have a Spade bower and a Mantus kedge. Both excellent anchors that I trust with my life. Both have performed exceptionally in Bermuda and New England.
I have had Navy patents, Danforth's, CQR's, and Bruce anchors and the Spade and Mantus are far superior in my opinion (my opinion was garnered over the last 50 years).

[AlohaSpirit]

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

I have a Spade bower and a Mantus kedge. Both excellent anchors that I trust with my life. Both have performed exceptionally in Bermuda and New England.
I have had Navy patents, Danforth's, CQR's, and Bruce anchors and the Spade and Mantus are far superior in my opinion (my opinion was garnered over the last 50 years).

Thank you for your input.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

This should be a fun thread. Have you considered a Manson Supreme?

Good addition. All good equipment. Must be hundreds of anchor threads on CF.

Ours is Rocna 55 (121#). Very pleased with it. Confident every time it goes out.

Rocna has a tool for downloading a full size pattern so you can make a mock up.

Live aboard, Caribbean. Anchored every night. 40 ton Camper and Nicholson 58 ketch.

[AlohaSpirit]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

Good addition. All good equipment. Must be hundreds of anchor threads on CF.



Ours is Rocna 55 (121#). Very pleased with it. Confident every time it goes out.



Rocna has a tool for downloading a full size pattern so you can make a mock up.



Live aboard, Caribbean. Anchored every night. 40 ton Camper and Nicholson 58 ketch.

Thank you for your input.

[-bliss-]

All new generation anchors will be a huge improvement. Whether you should choose a Rocna, Mantus, Spade, Ultra, Manson Supreme or some other NG- anchor is a matter of what will fit your bow roller, your preference regarding aesthetics, price and availability + weather you can live with a huge roll bar possibly interfering with bow sprit , pulpit and lanternas and so on.

My personal choice when I bought my current boat eight years ago was a Rocna. During the years of sailing I´ve accumulated quite a lot of stressful experiences related to CQR, Delta and partly Bruce anchors, not to mention all the copies, so replacing the old rusty CQR in the bow was imperative for an effortless passage back home. The Rocna I bought performed absolutely flawlessly every time I set it, and didn´t drag on one single occasion during the four years of active service. Needless to say, I was extremely satisfied with the performance of this hook, and it gave me peace of mind and approximately 300 comatose nights.

Later on, I upgraded to the next size Rocna, not because of necessity, but for added security when my buddy would raft up next to me, and also for the occasions when I would find a cozy tiny bay where I would have to anchor on a short scope. The next size Rocna works just as good as the previous one, but also comes with the unexpected added bonus of being self deploying, which the previous one wasn´t. The explanation simply is more weight in front of the roller, which makes it deploy as soon as I engage the remote control. Very convenient, especially when single handed!

In the process of upgrading, I wanted to check out the Mantus Anchor. I had heard so much positive about the performance of these anchors and the customer support of this company. On the one occasion I tested a Mantus on a friend´s boat, it seemed to bite even faster than my very reliable Rocna. Therefore I sent an email to Mr Greg Kutsen of Mantus Anchors, and he responded almost immediately. His response was very informative and friendly, and he helped me get in touch with the Norwegian Mantus distributor, in order to schedule an appointment. I sailed there and had the pleasure of assembling two different Mantus Anchors to try out on my boat. Unfortunately, neither fit, as my boat has a big one piece pulpit with an integrated bicolor lantern smack in the middle of where the rollbar would fit. Given the choice of reconstructing my pulpit and anchor roller, or just buy the next size Rocna, I chose the latter, given the excellent performance of my first Rocna. However, when comparing the two competitors side by side, I was convinced the Mantus is a significant step forward. The tip is grinded from the top- down (Rocna is bottom up), which give the tip of the Mantus a more aggressive angle towards the surface, which undoubtedly will make it penetrate more easily. The wider rollbar also helps put more weight on the tip when the anchor lands sideways, and the wide rollbar will allow thick clay to pass through the rollbar more easily than the more narrow rollbar of the Rocnas. This means less weight to lift when retrieving the hook, and possibly better performance when resetting(?) The weight distribution seems different as well, but I´m not able to comment on this as I´m no engineer.

When reporting back to Mr Kutsen just to tell him I wasn´t able to fit the Mantus, he answered just as quickly and politely as the first time, when I considered buying his product. I ´ve been in touch with him asking questions via email on several occasions later on, and his customer support is second to none. Very informative and service minded! I really think his effort should be rewarded, so the Mantus would be the one I would recommend. One fine day I´m going to buy a big Mantus beast, which will come handy on a not so fine day.

I´ve been extremely satisfied with both my Rocnas. Think the Mantus would have been even better, though.

Bottom line: Choose the new generation anchor that fits your bow (and wallet), I ´m sure they are all great! More more important than the brand of your anchor: Apply proper scope and a long flexible snubber. Then, for piece of mind, power- set the hook by engine power.

Disclaimer: I have never met Mr Greg Kutson. I have never received any discount on his products, and I don´t even own a Mantus anchor. Just very impressed with the company´s product and customer service.

Two excellent sources of valuable information:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ng-155412.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ng-126073.html

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by AlohaSpirit

I have selected three anchors a Spade, a Rocna , and Mantus. I am looking for your experience with those if any.

From reading, all of those should be good... as would several others... depending on fit, size, substrate material, etc.

FWIW, we've been using a SuperMAX for about 17 years, works well in our area.

-Chris

[Sir_Crabs_A_Lot]

Let me just throw this out there....

(No pun intended)

I had a friend, owned a, I think, 55' Buchan that he took blue water as in trans-pacific. He swore the best anchor was a Northill. Google it. Kind of rare in the States, but more often found in Canada. There are photos of them in the Trawler Forum.

Ryan

[NYSail]

I bought a Rocna 25 for new boat with 100 feet of 3/8bbb chain..... love the Rocna! Sets easy and so far no issues dragging even after multiple tide and wind changes. My secondary anchor is a fortress.... wanted to have a Different design ( fluke) in my possession (have never used). But all anchors you mentioned are good..... will add mason supreme which I had on my old boat.

Enjoy the boat show..... fun time!

Greg

[RobinNZ]

We have a Rocna 25 for our 28000lb / 13 tonne 42 footer, after getting sick of a 25kg bugel refusing to set in many cases. Rocna seems to be idiot proof, we drop it and it sets right away, sand, mud, grass and broken coral.

[LarryDW]

I purchased my boat about three months ago, and she had a 45 lb Mantus, so my experience is limited. This anchor sets, and holds, can't say much more. I did install a roller assembly on the bowsprit, the hoop on the Mantus just didn't work well with the original roller setup.
I sleep well at night!

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by andrewpollard

SEACHOICE hot dipped galvanized deluxe anchor. It is capable of holding well, so you can guarantee your safety and that of your boat as well. It is slightly heavy but does an effective job; it is long enough, it significantly helps in allowing the anchor to remain in place. You can try to use it.

Welcome aboard Andrew!

[hpeer]

My first choice is the Mantus. Buy the biggest you can fit.

I have twice had a Mantus get fouled. Once because we dropped it poorly, our fault. The second time we had just set the anchor, the wind let up and the boat did a 360 directly over the anchor and the chain hung up on it. The the wind shifted 180° and backed the anchor out. I don’t blame the anchor for that one. We were having lunch on a deck and I was watching the boat the whole time so I saw exactly what happened. Anchor came up fouled. Three times I have seen the roll bar anchors pick up boulders. The can rest in between the blade and the hoop. They have always dropped out easily.


I had a Spade not set once. Baby **** mud on a rock ledge. Probably nothing would set there. Locals came out and laughed at me, obviously I wasn’t the first.

The advantage of a Mantus over a Rocna or Mason is:
Size of roll bar, it’s bigger and won’t plug with grass.
It knocks down for stowage and shipping. That makes them cheaper.
Mantus is cheaper to start with.

Disadvantage of Mantus is the huge roll bar. It does not fit in every boat. You can then try a Rocna or Mason. If they don’t work then go to a Spade and get the biggest you can.

I have a 125# Mantus backed with a 66# Spade. I got the Spade because it was the biggest I could fit on the bow pulpit. Then when I had to replace the bow sprit I reworked the anchoring arrangement and moved up to the Mantus.

Yeah, ridiculously large. I don’t care.

[kmacdonald]

Dont oversize. The manufacturer already did that for you.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

Dont oversize. The manufacturer already did that for you.

You keep providing this potentially dangerous advice, but you fail to back it up with any facts. Please explain exactly what's wrong with oversizing? Yes, you carry extra weight around, but in the grand scheme of things, it's not all that much. And you can likely save more than that by switching to lighter, higher strength chain or other changes.

Plus, in some cases the manufacturer is conservative with their sizing, in other cases they're not at all. As an example, I'd expect the Delta sizing chart is based on a good bottom and very little wind. They seem to love the idea that a peanut will hold a supertanker in place, which just isn't the case.