Quote:
Originally Posted by sarafina
anyone have any experience with Ultra Anchors? I saw a demo at strictly sail that was pretty interesting.
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The Ultra is a Turkish copy of the Spade.
From this you can assume certain things on the basis that the genuine Spade will be superior in both performance and quality.
Specifically, the Ultra is made from 316 stainless, which is a very weak material to build an
anchor from. (Tensile strength below mild steel). Read: inadequate. Unfortunately high tensile stainless steels are very expensive and it's not something the majority of customers question. Galvanized options are not available because the Ultra's hollow shank cannot be hot-dip-galvanized (the Spade is a two parter). Not only is constructed from a poor grade of
steel but is built in cranked sections (unlike the Spade's even curves) which introduces obvious stress concentrations (weak spots).
Stainless steel is generally very expensive - unless it isn't. A good quality stainless
anchor should cost around 4 times that of the galvanized equivalent. If not, then there are some serious compromises somewhere. The Spade is a complex design which is challenging to fabricate. Look at the
price of a galvanized Spade and do the math.
So the usual story is: avoid copies.