Truck, Anchors, Fair Fight

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

I own a Mantus and used it from roughly July through the end of my season in November. It does set faster than my Rocna, Manson Supreme or Spade. Instead of "near instantly" or feet it sets instantly. Is this a big selling feature? In a hard bottom it certainly could be but our Manson & Rocna have not given us any issues...

Once the Mantus set too well. We had it at near 1:1 when un-setting and moving on. I had to let the weight of the vessel rip it from the bottom. As my buddy Jay was about to lift the anchor off the bottom the damn thing re-set and nearly yanked him off the bow.

I have put mine through my own series of tests, I don't trust manufacturers nor magazines to do a good job of this. With a 30' sport fishing boat, 450HP of engine and my 5000 pound digital load cell the anchor performs very well.

That said I will return my non-Chinese Rocna to the bow for next season because it fits better in my roller but not because it necessarily performs any better than the Mantus.

IMHO the Mantus is an excellent product and definitely the fastest setting anchor I own, but I don't find the differences, once set, to be dramatically different enough to not go back to my Rocna for "fit" in the roller.

One huge benefit of the Mantus is that, like my Spade, I can disassemble it and stow it for storms or on an as needed basis.. The price I found to be excellent too. It's a lot of anchor for the money especially considering how little stowage space it takes up for a back up..

Also, unlike the old group of liars & misfits at Ronco, Greg is a real gentleman and all round nice guy. There is no BS with him and he is genuinely interested in making a great product.

I happen to also know (at least what I feel from conversations with him) he's NOT in this for the money but purely out of the passion for the sport. He has a "real job" that I know pays tremendously well. I do suspect it funds this venture which I would guess has not yet turned a profit, but that is just my gut. If Greg wants to tell you more about himself he is more than welcome to.

Greg also stands behind the product well.. He is a cruiser just like the rest of us and this all started for him with a dragging incident in South America (IIRC) so he decided to try and build a better mouse trap......

Being one who is always on the look out for a better mouse trap I bought one and have not been disappointed....

Cut the guy some slack he is NOT another Craig S. and is selling these anchors at what I consider a very reasonable price. He also offers GOOD discounts to forum members from time to time. I got mine on a special Mantus promo Sailnet member discount. Pretty good deal too. So some of you, in the market for a new anchor, may actually benefit from Greg being here.....

A great testimony!

Might need to consider one of these for a knock-down storm anchor . . .

[Mantus Anchors]

Originally Posted by RabidRabbit

My opinions are never really cared for here and I suspect that I'm generally viewed as an ass. I have a very negative, pesimistic view about everything. Is it really news that anchor testing done by anchor makers is biased? I'm tempted to think that many of these new gen anchors are all a ripoff of the original "roll bar anchor". They seem to be just slightly changed enough to avoid copyright infringment and get a piece of the pie as the world changes over from the CQR of the 1960's.

The original Rollbar Design was Buggel a german design, it does not have good setting ability nor holding power, Rocna was a huge improvement on the original.
There are no inventions just innovations that come with small steps, small tiny steps building on prior knowledge...

[Mantus Anchors]

Originally Posted by jannw

I think it is safe to say that the above video is, if anything, lacking a little in sound methodology, and is potentially suffering from bias in the data represented. Then again, do any of us really trust anchor manufacturers promotional data???

I personally prefer this truly valuable anchor test, by an unbiased individual:

Fortress Anchor - tandem - test -

Let's be honest, the Mantus, Rocna, Manson, Sarca, and all other bugel anchor knock off's are substantially identical, and all perform pretty much the same.

And, at the massively inflated prices offered, you should probably just go to your local metal fabricator and have him knock one up for you out of scrap for 1/10th of the price[/URL]

Sadly you will pay much more than Retail for an anchor in the end, and then 150$ more to galvanize it... and you will get a bad copy that does not work well....
__________________

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Mantus Anchors

Guys as you know , independent test are exactly that independent, thus I have no control on when and how they get conducted. So in the Meantime:
I have to try to and let the world know what we got....
Plus I don't mind getting the heat, but I think the more data there is out there the better, reasonably manufacturer sponsored test are suspect but can be educational nonetheless.
If you guys have an idea let me know, and we will try to accommodate as time and money allows.

Great video, thanks for posting.

[David_Old_Jersey]

I had a looksee at the website - had never heard of a Mantus before.

I like the concept of a bolt together anchor, and the prices seem a lot more reasonable than some other new generation anchors (no names ) - at least they do in the galvanised steel versions!

Although I appreciate that Mantus does need to get itself known and that a bit of controversy / name calling?! is a short cut on the internet, I would nonetheless caution against taking the Rocna approach of over claiming to be best thing since sliced spread and / or by slagging the competition completely....as sooner or later that does bite on the bum.

In regard to those videos (I only saw a couple), they do feel a bit staged / one sided - clearly if all the competition was as bad as shown we would all be dragging anchors left right and centre (old and new style anchors), which is of course not the case......and that leaves me with a nagging feeling that I am being oversold.

Might also want to flag up where they are made (unless in China!). and how they work / why they are "good" (not in comparison to specific others), why constructed the way they are / with the material chosen and maybe a vid or 2 of them being cleaned of mud - by a lass in a bikini .

Anyway, I see not (yet) available in Europe........

[donradcliffe]

We can't have too many anchor tests, no matter who does them.

I'm curious about the Mantus--it looks quite similar to the Rocna and Manson, but seems to have more holding power for the same weight. I'm not sure, but it looks like the Mantus may have less material in the shank and more in the fluke surface. If so, it may have a greater propensity to bend the shank when caught in the rocks. I also wonder how the proportions and performance scale up to the 60 pound range.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

I had a looksee at the website - had never heard of a Mantus before.


......

It has been here off and on for a long time.

I wonder if you missed it while typing...................or looking at Bikinis.

[mikereed100]

Originally Posted by Mantus Anchors

Sadly you will pay much more than Retail for an anchor in the end, and then 150$ more to galvanize it... and you will get a bad copy that does not work well....
__________________

Yes, I encountered galvanized Rocna knock-offs in Thailand that appeared to be well made, but they were done in mild steel. Folks were snapping them up, convinced they were getting a good deal.
Speaking of steel, The Mantus site mentions that the anchors are made of "high quality steel". Having been burned by Rocna I am partial to specifics. Could you post the specs of the steel used in your anchors?

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Mantus Anchors

There are no inventions just innovations that come with small steps, small tiny steps building on prior knowledge...

So true. I this case the influence of Delta (shank design), Northill (certain angles) and Bugle (roll bar) are clear, and then others have taken it further.

I like the video fine, and the poster was a registered vendor. An infomercial, which is fine.

My only concern--and by NO means am saying this is true here--is that this sort of testing is only one measure. I would hate to see a anchor so optimized for one substrate that it fails in other cases. There have been a few (XYZ) like that. I have had a few anchors, and the real trouble bottoms (weed, shells, sand over rock, thin silt) are just as important as performance in firm mud and sand, where everything holds. And there will alway be a market for a specialty anchor (Fortress for kedging in soft stuff, deformable fishing anchors, moorings).

[Sailorman375]

Greg is truly a great guy. He has a passion for sailing and I believe he is interested in providing the cruising community a great product. Sure he wants to make some money, but as mentioned he doesn't need it as he is a physician and his girl friend is a top engineer at NASA, so he has some good technical back up

[sailorboy1]

I actually felt the video was pretty impressive in how it set and dug in.

Is this mostly due to the shank angle causing the anchor to pull at a my downward angle that the others?

It this going to result in the shank being buried in the bottom angle likely to get hung up when you go to retrieve it? This would be an issue in areas with more rocks etc. than just sand/mud.

I'm just asking not judging.

So many anchors ............... so little money and storage space!

PS - is it true you can disassemble the Mantus like you could for say a Fortness.

[Cotemar]

Yes, you can disassemble the Mantus anchor

[cfarrar]

To me it seemed like all the anchors in the video set readily. The Mantus's strength in this particular soil type appeared to be the wide spacing of the roll bar, which prevented the sediment from compacting as much in the fluke, allowing it to hold instead of furrowing. I wonder how the test results would scale? I mean, a 30Kg Mantus and a 30 Kg Rocna / Manson may well be similar in performance.

[boatsail]

A comparison against the boys would be great

[daddle]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

Yes, you can disassemble the Mantus anchor

That is cool. That's the next anchor I buy.