Do you really believe that anchor shanks don't bend?

[Fuss]

I see that there are people on these forums that don't believe that their anchor is capable of bending the shank.

They all can, its normal. Just bend it back.

crack testing makes more sense than worrying about bending. Its nice of some manufacturers to replace them though... maybe in the future they should replace them after the 3rd time bent.

All that has to happen is that your anchor does not rotate fully in a wind shift and if the wind is strong enough, then it might bend.

If you have a meter of shank, then there is a possibility of it bending no matter what steel its made out of. Especially when the thickness is under 20mm.

But in fairness, if I had an anchor with under 20mm of shank thickness and it bent under normal retrieval, I might get a bit annoyed about that.

[Kenomac]

When the anchor is dug in deep or stuck and the wind changes by 90 degrees.... something has to give when the force increases and pulls sideways to the set. The more often one anchors, the more chances for this sort of thing to happen. It's not rocket science.

It's also the reason why I chose not to do what was requested of me by a fellow on the forum the other day. Which was to pull back on my Ultra anchor with 80-100% 3200 revs in 20 knot winds after a 90 degree wind angle change.... to see what would happen.

[valhalla360]

Who exactly told you they couldn't be bent?

Of course it depends on the particular anchor type. Some are easier to bend then others but get it caught up is bolders or coral and if the anchor line doesn't break, something will give.

By the way, lots of anchor shanks are less than 20mm thick. All depends on how big the anchor is.

[Fuss]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

When the anchor is dug in deep or stuck and the wind changes by 90 degrees.... something has to give when the force increases and pulls sideways to the set. The more often one anchors, the more chances for this sort of thing to happen. It's not rocket science.

It's also the reason why I chose not to do what was requested of me by a fellow on the forum the other day. Which was to pull back on my Ultra anchor with 80-100% 3200 revs in 20 knot winds after a 90 degree wind angle change.... to see what would happen.

Ah, That was me, I understand if you were concerned that something might get damaged, fair enough.

I don't remember that I specifically said after a 90 degree wind shift as this part is of no real interest.

You said you pulled it in at 2000rpm

I asked for 2 tests, one at 2700rpm as well.

3200rpm with your engine is roughly 70hp and 70hp through a folding prop in 20kts of wind would in my opinion, probably create a force on your anchor equal to 50kts of wind.

It had the makings of a very interesting test of how anchors cope with weed.
What it would have shown had you done the 2 tests is whether your anchor would have dug in further through the weed at 2700 rpm and then what occurred at 3200rpm and that would have provided very informative information and pictures for the sailors viewing the photos of anchors.

[boatman61]

Never had one bend.. but I have had a CQR snap on me.. to be fair it did snap exactly where a previous owner had drilled a hole in the shaft so it could be pinned onto the roller.. looked neater.
Did nearly lose the boat but luckily a Portuguese fishing boat grabbed her as she headed out to sea.. gave us the much needed time to row back from shore.. doubt I'd have caught her otherwise..

[nautical62]

I bent one by hand to about 45 degrees. The wind shifted 90 degrees over night. My diesel had died, so I couldn't motor up on the anchor. The shaft bent.

[onestepcsy37]

My genuine 45lb cqr had a bend in the shaft, about 1 inch off center. Still worked well.

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Fuss]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Who exactly told you they couldn't be bent?

Of course it depends on the particular anchor type. Some are easier to bend then others but get it caught up is bolders or coral and if the anchor line doesn't break, something will give.

By the way, lots of anchor shanks are less than 20mm thick. All depends on how big the anchor is.

Doesn't matter about the size Valhalla, of course the bigger the shank length to thickness ratio, the easier they bend, but they all can bend.



Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Adventurebound]

My Rocna anchor looses it's warranty if I drill a hole

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Who exactly told you they couldn't be bent?

That's what I was wondering. I've never heard anyone suggest that anchor shanks cannot be bent.

[wingless]

The Fortress anchor has a full lifetime warranty, so they will send replacement parts if anything becomes damaged. My FX-37 has been a great anchor for my usage.