Anchor marketing

[geoffr]

This video just made me smile - it's great!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivDEPE7XKFg

It's pretty easy to pick it apart, but I do like it from a cool, if misleading marketing video.

(I do have a mantus anchor, so although I think the video is misleading I do think they are good anchors).

[Adelie]

Yup, good ad, poor test.

As it happens the Mantus is probably the NG anchor I'm going to get for my new baby.

Mostly because it disassembles and on a 20' boat that is a real boon.


A house is but a boat so poorly built and so firmly run aground you would never try to refloat it.

[Spade Anchor]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l59f-OjWoq0

Real world testing is best.

[pcmm]

Good anchor, really bad "test" no one would string up anchors like that to increase holding power!

[Shrew]

I'd like to see individual pull tests, not a weird spreader bar. Don't get me started on the weird 'daisy chain' of anchors. That is not a real-world scenario.

[Fortress]

We have examined this video and obviously there were numerous faults.
One of which is the unrealistic wet beach sand testing condition, but it also brought out an interesting and serious design issue with the Mantus anchor.

The shank / fluke angle is under 20°, which will insure faster setting in a very hard type of soil, but it will also result in poorer holding capacity in softer and much more common sea bottom conditions.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[GMac]

There are a couple of anchor manufacturers or anchor brand sellers that are known to be highly 'creative' in their marketing. So much so the term Bull something or other pops up nearly every time they say anything.

That Mantus thing above is simply a joke. We've tested 100's of times covering most anchors in existence and not a single thing we've seen would say a test rig like the Mantus one above would be worth more than a grain of sand off that beach.

BUT they know people will see it and believe it and there will be no consequences in doing a vid like that so chuck it out there and it'll sell some anchors. Sure sold to idiots but then the bank account doesn't care.

[SailRedemption]

Would it make a difference if the mantus was part of the daisy chain and still managed to set?

[Fortress]

Tandem or "piggyback" anchoring with only two anchors requires a very specific connection in order for the anchors to function properly in unison, and so by connecting multiple anchors together it all but insures that they will fail in setting.

Once again, wet densified beach sand does not represent a common sea bottom, and so this 'test' is not indicative of what a boater is likely to encounter while anchoring.

[barnakiel]

Marketing is just that. Not to provide information. Just to catch attention. And comparisons with what one already knows are an easy trick to get your 15 seconds attention slot.

b.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Marketing is just that. Not to provide information. Just to catch attention. And comparisons with what one already knows are an easy trick to get your 15 seconds attention slot.

b.

Yeah I could go on and on, one of my favorites is Fords "Eco Boost" But Mazda has "SkyActive" Mercedes "Bluetec" and the list goes on and on, marketing is just insane really, but what is scary is how many people buy into it.

[SailRedemption]

They aren't connected together like tandem anchoring, they are linked to a common chain. The question still remains if it was part of that chain of anchors and it set (under the same poor technique as the others) would that make a difference in this judgment?

Also, isn't compacted sand an actual sea bottom that can be experienced? Honest question, as I live near NOLA and it's pudding so that's all I know. Though I went to the Texas maritime academy in Galveston where this is taken so I do know the sand. And I will attest to the hardness of the sand both above and below the water.

[crabcake]

Originally Posted by pcmm

Good anchor, really bad "test" no one would string up anchors like that to increase holding power!

[Fortress]

Originally Posted by SailRedemption

They aren't connected together like tandem anchoring, they are linked to a common chain. The question still remains if it was part of that chain of anchors and it set (under the same poor technique as the others) would that make a difference in this judgment?

Also, isn't compacted sand an actual sea bottom that can be experienced? Honest question, as I live near NOLA and it's pudding so that's all I know. Though I went to the Texas maritime academy in Galveston where this is taken so I do know the sand. And I will attest to the hardness of the sand both above and below the water.

Thanks for your questions. As I stated in a response to Mantus, this 'test' put the competitive anchors at a embarrassing disadvantage with the chain connection, whereby the performance of one anchor can be influenced by that of the others. You can also see the chain sliding under one of the Fortress flukes, which certainly did not help it dig into the hard wet beach sand.


Mantus believes that this was a legitimate test, and I asked our consultant, a retired 45+ year US Navy soil mechanics and anchor design expert, for his opinion of the soil, along with hard sea bottom clay that I have heard of previously. His response:

"What they [Mantus] don’t understand is that the density of the sand on the beach is different than that for exactly the same soil when it is submerged. Quartz has a specific gravity of about 2.5 when dry but its effective weight is reduced by the displaced water volume.

For example, a dense sand may have a submerged unit weight/density of 55 pcf (pounds per cubic foot) while above the water table and wet it will be closer to 120 pcf.

The bearing capacity of the soil is directly related to the density. It becomes much more difficult to penetrate the wet sand above the water table than below the water table.

Also, you are correct that there are over-consolidated clays and glaciated bottoms that may have gravel and cobbles (very hard bottoms) but they tend not to be located in anchorage areas."

[uncle stinkybob]

It's a commercial, plain and simple. It s not a fair test that's obvious. I have a Mantus 25lb and it has been great to use. It set's rapidly and has not broken free so far in all bottom types, including medium mud,but only have anchored in perhaps 20knt wind, but lots of big waves and roller's from nearby freighter traffic, rough enough to prevent much sleep and tossed all lose gear about inside. I should add that I use 30' of 1/4 g43 chain and then 1/2" 8 plaite rode. So far Mantus has met my needs very well, despite the cheezy commercial, I'm happy with Mantus.