Fortress anchor no chain? Just rope rode?

[Patrick of M]

I was on a boat recently and when the backup anchor came up it was a fortress 23 (37' sailboat), and the rode was rope (some braided 3/4") no chain at all. In the end we untangled our main anchor without needing the spare. My question is how effective would a Fortress be without some chain?

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by Patrick of M

I was on a boat recently and when the backup anchor came up it was a fortress 23 (37' sailboat), and the rode was rope (some braided 3/4") no chain at all. In the end we untangled our main anchor without needing the spare. My question is how effective would a Fortress be without some chain?

Fine. When the wind blows and the chain lifts off the bottom and becomes straight, the chain is no different than rope.

[CarlF]

My Fortress 2nd anchor has no chain to make it lighter to set using the dinghy as a kedge. Holds very well as long as there’s enough scope (I use 7:1 or more)

[Jim Cate]

In very soft mud the weight of a chain can drag the shank below the level of the flukes which tend to sit on the top of the seabed. This pretty well cancels the attack angle for the anchor to dig in and set... can be a problem.

I have a vague memory of (in the old days when Fortress used to post here) them saying something about this and advising an all rope rode in very soft bottoms.

Jim

[wyb2]

Depends. Mud/sand? Should work just fine. Pulled around a rock or coral head? It will work flawlessly for a short period of time.

That’s the main reason for a short section of chain on a mostly nylon rode.

[Don C L]

Hmmm, I'd like to see that in action. I would think that even if the chain did sink into the mud and pull the shank down, as soon as the chain is pulled, the crown should still be the element that is working to cause the flukes to begin to bury. Eventually the flukes will dive below the shank if they get a bite on something.

As far as all rope, I'd say as long as you don't start pulling till you have a decent scope out, it should set fine. It's just that you have lost one major benefit of chain which is chafe protection.

[Kettlewell]

Sure, why not? Danforth has always recommended just short lengths of chain, and Fortresses are just refined Danforths in aluminum. I believe Fortress recommends only 6-feet of chain or so, and that's just for chafe protection. That little short length does almost nothing for holding power, even in light winds, assuming you have enough scope out. Fortresses love long scope. I've used two FX-23s as secondary anchors for decades. I was an early adopter of them, and always with just a short length (6-10 feet) of chain. My secondary anchor is set up that way, but the third anchor, another Fortress, would be attached to an all-rope rode to take out in the dinghy if needed. Lots of places with coral also feature really clear water, so you can often check on your anchor set to make sure the rode isn't chafing on anything. And, if it is a secondary anchor with pull mainly from one direction the anchor rode won't be wandering around across the bottom much. One advantage of no chain is how much easier it makes things when setting from the dinghy, or when snorkeling out an anchor, which you can do with the FX-23.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

Sure, why not? Danforth has always recommended just short lengths of chain, and Fortresses are just refined Danforths in aluminum. I believe Fortress recommends only 6-feet of chain or so, and that's just for chafe protection...

Fortress recommends 6 ➛ 12 ft (2➛4 m) of chain, and a minimum of 5:1 scope.
or
A minimum of 6 ft (2 m) of chain should be used for every 25 ft (8 m) of water depth.

An “FX-23" with 3/8" Chain & 5/8" Nylon would be good for a typical 37 Ft boat.

➥ https://fortressanchors.com/selection-guide/

[Kettlewell]

An “FX 23" with 3/8" Chain & 5/8" Nylon would be good for a typical 37 Ft boat.

I rarely anchor in more than 20 feet of water, and my normal setup for the FX-23 is 6-feet of 5/16" chain and about 200 feet of 5/8" 3-strand nylon. That anchor has held me many times in winds up to and including hurricane strength, with good holding. The most difficult part is retrieving the anchor after a big blow. It took a day to pull two of them from the bottom after Hurricane Bob. The only time I suffered serious chafe, even after a couple of years in the Caribbean, is when a fisherman drove over the rode when I was using really long scope in anticipation of a hurricane. I was out of the channel, but the local guy decided to take a shortcut across where I had set my anchors in shallow water. I also occasionally put a long length of 1/2" nylon (no chain) on an FX-23 to take out in the dinghy or to swim out.

[wrwakefield]

Drew Frye [AKA Thinwater] experimented replacing the chain leader on a Fortress anchor with a Dyneema leader covered with tubular webbing for added chafe resistance in the muddy Chesapeake with great success.

It is also in his book Rigging Modern Ancors [Worthy of any ship’s library…]

Here is the Practical Sailor article describing the testing and methodology.

FWIW

Cheers, Bill

PS: Because we anchor in deeper water sometimes with rocks, etc. on the bottom, we adhere to Fortress’ recommendation of 6’ chain for every 25’ of water depth; up to 24’ of chain.

[Don C L]

It's a bit curious to me how these threads often talk of turning to a Fortress or Danforth when a "secondary" anchor is needed, and then that anchor holds in a raging gale when the primary is in doubt...
Just sayin', not tryin' to start a fight.

[wrwakefield]

Originally Posted by Don C L

It's a bit curious to me how these threads often talk of turning to a Fortress or Danforth when a "secondary" anchor is needed, and then that anchor holds in a raging gale when the primary is in doubt...
Just sayin', not tryin' to start a fight.

Good point, Don.

In this case, the OP specifically asked about Fortress, but as you infer, there are many choices for a back-up anchor depending upon one’s needs and the circumstances. [We have 5- including 2 Fortresses…]

Adding fuel to the non-existent fire…

Cheers, Bill

[donradcliffe]

The Fortress is a great storm anchor as long as the wind or tide direction doesn't change.

The chain is not needed in soft mud, but I had a hell of a time trying to get the Fortress to set in hard sand and switched to a Danforth HT.

[Cheechako]

I think the chain is necessary when first anchoring. As said, once it's deep in the bottom doesn't matter much.
A Fortress saved my 47 ft boat in 70 mph winds by simply throwing it overboard with 20ft of chain and rope rode.

The main anchor didn't fail, the bottom failed.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by Don C L

It's a bit curious to me how these threads often talk of turning to a Fortress or Danforth when a "secondary" anchor is needed, and then that anchor holds in a raging gale when the primary is in doubt...
Just sayin', not tryin' to start a fight.

That's because the Fortress and Danforth are a bit special purpose in terms of bottom types and situations where they work well (vs where they show issues). But in the situations where they work well, they work really well.

Personally, I don't consider them to be versatile enough for a primary anchor, but as another tool in the kit for the rare times the primary isn't going to work (or for something lightweight that can be dinghied out) they're hard to beat.