Maxwell Anchors

[J2Chula]

Hi,

Has anyone had any experience with Maxwell Delta style Anchors? Recently bought a big 40Kg anchor from them and it has come but it looks like to me it has not been finished properly. The weighted tip has two holes one at the very tip of the anchor and the other in the middle. When they formed the anchor it looks like they filled this area but did not finish it smooth. Would this not present problems in later life with salt water?

Any views would be welcome.
Thanks!

[B-Baysailer]

Looks like holes for pouring lead in try scratching the material in the center to see if it's soft

[groundtackle]

J2Chula,
Wasn't a top side view pic but my guess is a Vetus / Maxwell called Maxset.
I also don't know anything about their business relationship but I'll bet Vetus might help. They have been good to me over the years.

https://www.vetus.com/en/catalog/category/view/id/389

It does depend on how they are made. The holes are to either pour lead / molten steel or to vent air during the hot galvanizing process.
My guess as the anchor has already been galvanized its a steel pour as the lead would have been melted out. The galvanizing would certainly appear different in that hole, two different materials.
Or more likely - the entire cavity is filled with zinc and those holes are to vent air and let the zinc in and you see zinc spillage. In that case its just fine
Or... they poured in lead after galvanizing then painted the anchor a nice silvery color.

Failing all your investigation efforts - I did see that Walmart carries them, perhaps a call to their sporting goods department for some technical support.
Chris

[noelex 77]

That does look quite crudely done. Also, the toe of the anchor that is important for performance does not look very well made, but perhaps it is just an artifact from the photo.

I cannot find any information about this anchor's ballast material. You could try a small magnet in the holes to see if it is lead or steel. If it is lead, the holes would be less of a concern, but I suspect it is steel. Unfortunately, even some of the expensive plow anchors use steel ballast. They often claim this is more environmentally friendly, but it makes the ballast chamber much larger than if they used more expensive lead.

The relatively inexpensive Delta and Kobra anchors use steel ballast, but the tip weight is cast so the tip is completely filled with steel, with no chance of water penetration, or concerns about air pockets when re-galvanising. This construction also keeps the steel ballast as compact as possible. Other, even expensive, plow anchors use steel ballast. Sometimes with a cover plate welded over the top. I don't think this is an ideal solution.

An air space needs ventilation holes before it can be galvanised. Air spaces are not ideal for a ballast chamber that should be as small as possible to reduce the resistance to penitrating substrates such as weed.

The Maxset anchors I have seen seemed to be reasonably designed, with decent weight distribution, tip weight, and self righting ability. I have not seen this anchor's performance underwater.

If you really want a plow anchor, the Kobra is worth considering. This is an inexpensive anchor, but has good performance and the solid cast ballast chamber removes the risk of water penetration, with corrosion of the steel ballast. The anchor can be re-galvanised without any concerns about potential air pockets. However, if you are anchoring frequently the new generation concave anchors offer considerably higher performance. The rollbar anchors use the rollbar instead of large ballast chamber to orientate themselves into the correct setting position. The Spade anchor uses a lead ballast chamber. These are both high performance solutions.