Damaged anchor?

[Kettlewell]

When I was down in Panama I did a survey of anchors on the bows of most of the boats in Shelter Bay Marina and I was surprised by how many damaged anchors I saw. Similarly, when in Cartagena I saw numerous damaged or retired anchors at Club Nautico. Closer to home, I see numerous bent and otherwise damaged anchors on boat bows and sometimes thrown out in the boat yards. Personally, I have never bent or seriously damaged a large anchor in close to 50 years of cruising, but maybe I have been lucky? Tell us your first-hand tales of damaged anchors and what happened.

[Kettlewell]

Thinking back on it, I was anchored next to a boat about my size once in the Florida Keys, and after a frontal passage with a 180-degree windshift I observed them haul up a very bent Bruce-type anchor. The shank was seriously bent. It may have been a Claw anchor. It looked to be around the correct size for the boat. Holding was excellent in sandy mud. The anchor must have been well buried and just didn't pivot before the shank bent. The boat didn't drag. I recommended he scrap the anchor instead of bending it back.

[Mike OReilly]

I don't recall ever seeing a bent anchor in person. I've seen pictures, of course, but not in real life. I've not gone looking though, so perhaps I just haven't noticed. They would have to be seriously bent to catch my casual eye.

[markxengineerin]

Big rocks can do it, when they catch on a spot that wasn't designed to be loaded. Like putting any aspect of the anchor in bending. When caught in a rock, the temptation is initially to try to pull it out by force, which can cause some very high loads when waves and a chain stopper are involved.

[Don C L]

My neighbor has a big Danforth with a bent shank. He buried the anchor deeply and then the wind shifted. The anchor didn't pull out, but the shank couldn't handle it. He says the anchor still works! I'd not trust it now though. I once buried a 5 lb Danforth so deeply it was a hopeless case. I actually broke the shank off on that one trying to pull it straight up. If I'd had a trip line it would have come out MUCH more easily. In fact trip lines would have saved just about all the anchors that get bent. Often fishing boats around here have bent anchors of all stripes after they have been jammed in rocks. For an anchor like a Bruce to come up bent I am betting it was fouled on rocks, coral or debris.

[s/v Jedi]

The biggest contributing factor to damaged/ruined anchors is buying low quality anchors.

I notice many are more focused on price or holding power than build quality. And in places like Colombia and Panama, where boats have been in places other than the marina queens, you find the results.

The Bruce knockoffs are a good example, but I have seen original Bruce anchors with a (slightly) bent shank as well.

The aluminum Spade (they still sell those..) have a hollow shank like the steel ones do. I have seen them peeled open like bananas.

The Viking anchors have superior holding but inferior build quality. I can see those being added to the piles too as people start buying them.

A Danforth or Fortress is a special case as you may simply not be able to pull those out without ripping them apart. I have two very large Fortress anchors, one the largest FX-125 and I only set it in water where I can easily dig it out like just in the water at a beach etc.

The other one is a FX-85 and I do use that one normally from the bow or stern. I never failed to retrieve it but sometimes hard pulling was needed. Once a palm tree came up with it… didn’t bend the anchor.

[donradcliffe]

I'd say the bent Bruce was a knockoff. because I repeatedly tried to bend mine in rocks without success. I've seen many bent CQR shanks. The Danforth HT will bend both the flukes and the shank, but still hold. There was a period with the Rocna anchor when they first started making them in China and the Chinese used out of spec steel.

[Panope]

I bought a second hand genuine Bruce 50kg. that had about 3/4 of an inch broken off one of the side fluke tips. No sign of bending. Clean break. I repaired by welding.

[Jim Cate]

I fouled an original Bruce 20 kg on an abandoned cement block mooring in Twofold Bay, NSW some years ago. After much labour got it near enough to the surface to get a line under it and freed the anchor. Found that one "wing" of the anchor was distorted enough to be obvious to the bare eye. Took it to a shop with a 60 tonne press and they could not budge it back into shape at all! It still seemed to work but I lost confidence in it and traded it away.

Jim

[Kettlewell]

I've seen quite a few bent Danforths and Fortress anchors over the years, and some of them are still on the bow roller. Personally, I wouldn't trust a bent anchor. Still, I know from personal experience they can take a lot of abuse. After Hurricane Bob it took me all day to gradually retrieve two Fortress FX-23 anchors from the mud bottom where I estimated they were buried around 6 feet down judging from how the mud was caked on the chain. I used the windlass to get directly over each one, then winched the bow down as far as I dared. Then my wife and I went to the stern of the boat and jumped up and down. Probably did that 100 times to get each one out of the bottom. There was no way either of those anchors would have dragged before something broke. A couple of times I have snagged things and had to gradually windlass or winch them up to the surface. I once helped a guy in the Alligator Pungo canal retrieve his small Danforth. He had anchored in the fog and couldn't get the anchor up. We put the line on a cockpit winch, then led the line to another cockpit winch and grandually cranked a huge stump up near the surface, but suddenly it capsized and the anchor popped free and rocketed at us out of the water, but luckily glanced off the side of the boat without killing anyone. Still, the anchor was fine after that.

[Thomas1985]

I bumped my head on ours while washing the boat once…

I’m fine, but the anchor didn’t fair so well.

[s/v Jedi]

I have seen Danforths with the sharp points completely bent over… still mounted on the bow like if in use. Not sure if they were original though but the shank had the original look.

[boatman61]

Only anchor damage I've ever suffered was with a CQR and it could have cost me my boat.
Was sailing down to the Med from the UK and stopped in Cascais.. I dropped the hook in the bay late evening with the intention of going ashore the next day to buy some fresh veg etc and a look around.
However by noon we were getting a kabatic wind whistling down the back of the Cabo from the NNE gusting to 45kts, to much for the dinghy ride ashore and back.. we settled down to wait it out but it lasted for the next three days.
When it finally eased we dinghied ashore early where a deaf and dumb guy made us tie up at a different spot as from his signing the dinghy may have entered a storm drain and been trapped as the tide came in.
A few hours later we were sat eating lunch when the same guy appeared and started signing and going Unhunhhhaa..
Finally got it that he was saying the dinghy was adrift so told the missus to grab the shopping and head for the quay then legged it closely followed by the guy.
Got to the quay and the dinghy was fine so I turned to him and said What.?? with palms upwards.. he shook his head and pointed and then I saw my Longbow drifting toward open water..
By then Liz had caught up so we jumped in the dinghy and I started franticly rowing to intercept the drift.. luckily she drifted close to an anchored fishing boat and they snagged the chain with a grapple and held her till we got aboard where upon I started the engine and dashed to the bow and signaled them to let it go.
On hauling in the chain all that was left of the anchor was 50% of the shaft.. it had snapped right where a previous owner had drilled a hole in the shaft so it could be secured at the roller with a pin.
3.5 days of the boat yawing back and forth in high winds had proved to much with the excellent holding in the sand.
Luckily I had a spare on board.. a 33lb Bruce which I slapped on, and the love affair began..
Don't drill holes in your anchor shaft.

[Panope]

6 anchors have bent during my anchor testing.

1) A Viking 20kg rollbar was bent backward during a straight line pull (5000lbs) in Sandy Mud. Rollbar required welding during the repair. (sorry, no picture).

2) A Mantus M1 17lb. rollbar was bent backward during a straight line pull (600lbs) in Soft Mud. Rollbar was pushed back into position by hand/foot.


3) A Mauntus Dinghy anchor rollbar was bent backward during a straight line pull (600lbs) in Sandy Mud. Rollbar was pushed back into position by hand.


4) A Fortress FX-16 shank was bent sideways during a highspeed reversal test in Sandy Mud. I am 99% sure that no objects other than mud and possibly clam shells were touching the anchor during the bending event. Shank was replaced under warranty by the Factory.


5) A Quickset 22 lb. (Stainless Steel) shank was bent sideways during a highspeed reversal test in Sandy Mud. I am 99% sure that no objects other than mud and possibly clam shells were touching the anchor during the bending event. Shank was bent back into place using a come-along winch.


6) A Viking 7kg. Fluke toe was bent downward during a straight line pull (1000lbs.) when lodged against an large, immobile boulder. Fluke was bent back into shape, however, the metal was severely compromised.

[Don C L]

Interesting about the fortress shank. Maybe just pack a couple extra shanks before you go?