General consensus on Ultra Anchor

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by tarian

Now I believe in fairies If someone dragged with a rocna in mud or Sand Ill believe in Santa Claus as well (or better still I ll believe they cant set their anchor properly )

I have drug my 88ln Rocna in mud with a 40’ boat.
But as you say, it probably wasn’t set properly. It was very soft mud and I knew from experience that if I backed down hard there, I would drag it, so I backed down, but not hard. It seemed there that given time the anchor would work itself deep into the mud and hold well, but if you backed down hard without giving it time to set, it wouldn’t.

My theory, and it’s only theory is that the anchor landed on its back, and the mud was so soft the roll bar just set into the mud and it wouldn’t self right, but it drug in strong winds a significant distance, it was a controlled drag in that it didn’t just let go, and as an experiment I kept letting more and more rode to no avail.

Point is that within reason even an oversized, good quality anchor is no guarantee it will hold no matter what.

This morning my anchor alarm went off, I was dragging in Pipe Cay Exuma, I had set it in some grass, and backed down hard, 3000 RPM and held that for quite awhile, cause I was worried about the grass, current changed 180 degrees and it came loose, happily dragging across the bottom with a big scoop of grass and no attempt at resetting.
I moved and am now in sand, I have found my Rocna just isn’t a good anchor in grass.

Just as in boats, if there was one perfect example that was better than all the rest, then that’s about all there would be sold, no one would have anything else.

Back to that mud example where I said I drug, I bet if I had put out my Fortress I wouldn’t have drug. Hard for one of them to land upside down

[lhuff35204]

Panope does have a Rocna video https://youtu.be/WL9JL9AK6ss. It failed to reset under his severe testing so it never made it to the finals. You

[Muaddib1116]

Originally Posted by lhuff35204

Panope does have a Rocna video https://youtu.be/WL9JL9AK6ss. It failed to reset under his severe testing so it never made it to the finals. You

Yes, I know. I said he doesn't have the Rocna Vulcan, Mantus M2, or Ultra anchor in his testing videos. I did mention the poor performance of the Rocna and Manson Supreme.

[lhuff35204]

Sorry. I misread your post.

[Muaddib1116]

No problem. I wish Panope had all the anchors to test, but that's a bit much to expect from a regular person, even somebody as obsessed with anchors as he is. At a certain point, getting a critical mass of actual user feedback is helpful enough, I think. Although, that can obviously be flawed.

I haven't done any actual research to back this up, but it almost seems as if prior to Panope's videos got wide spread, there are very few accounts of Rocna's underperforming, but since then there is a representative amount. Does that mean people with poor experiences weren't willing to say anything about them, instead chalking that up to user error on their parts? I don't know.

I've never heard anything convincingly bad about the Mantus M1, and that is pretty widespread at this point. I also haven't heard anything bad about the Ultra, but that's a much less common anchor, despite having been around for quite a while. I've heard a lot of good stuff about the Spade, but also some poor reviews.

At this point, I think if I go for a roll-bar anchor, it'll be a Mantus M1, and if I go for one without a roll-bar, it'll be an Ultra. I will of course continue to absorb as much information as I can to keep that assessment as valid as I can.

[rslifkin]

I've seen Rocna issues mentioned a few times. They seem to only occur under very specific conditions, so most of the time, it works fine. The Mantus M1 is likely less susceptible to clogging related issues as the roll bar is much larger and harder to clog.

[Muaddib1116]

It also seems to have a sharper tip with a better angle and more tip weight. Angle and tip weight seem to be the most important factors for setting quickly, and I assume they greatly affect how the anchor buries itself.

It is sort of remarkable how long the plow-style anchors where the top of the game. A plow being a device specifically designed to move through the ground, rather than stay still...

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by lhuff35204

Panope does have a Rocna video https://youtu.be/WL9JL9AK6ss. It failed to reset under his severe testing so it never made it to the finals. You

Realistically, would a turn of wind or current cause a boat to back over its anchor at 3.5 knots? Conditions of the test do not seem to conform to the parameters of sensible anchoring.

[Muaddib1116]

The point was to test a condition that exceeds the normal scenario. I think it's basically true that most anchors set best when they loaded gently and gradually up to a full back down load, so it stands to reason that setting it at a higher speed will be a greater test of it's setting ability, especially in regards to a 180degree shift.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by Lodesman

Realistically, would a turn of wind or current cause a boat to back over its anchor at 3.5 knots? Conditions of the test do not seem to conform to the parameters of sensible anchoring.

Current, no. Wind, possibly, but it would take a pretty extreme weather shift and a boat anchored with quite a bit of scope out, I'd think.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by Lodesman

Realistically, would a turn of wind or current cause a boat to back over its anchor at 3.5 knots? Conditions of the test do not seem to conform to the parameters of sensible anchoring.

You are absolutely correct, a fact that Steve of Panope concedes when he describes his testing procedure, but they still hold true because the procedure and location is the same for all anchors, actually highlighting the underperformers.

[Muaddib1116]

I wasn't specifically quoting anything, but that's my recollection of my takeaway from when I watched all of those videos.

[Akapeterc]

Have you had a look at the SARCA EXCEL?

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

You are absolutely correct, a fact that Steve of Panope concedes when he describes his testing procedure, but they still hold true because the procedure and location is the same for all anchors, actually highlighting the underperformers.

Yes but he also stated the Rocna was 33 lbs in comparison to the 45 lb competition - not really in the same league.

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

Current, no. Wind, possibly, but it would take a pretty extreme weather shift and a boat anchored with quite a bit of scope out, I'd think.

And if there was a reasonable amount of scope the anchor shank would be kept flatter with less chance of the anchor skipping across the bottom.