Replacement Anchor much larger than Factory

[mcneilms]

I have been looking at a 48' Catamaran and the factory anchor is a 55lb Delta.
When looking at the Mantus site, it seems a 85lb is recommended.

What gives? Just the manufacturer saving money?

Thanks,
Scott

[rslifkin]

The Delta sizing guidelines are very optimistic. They basically size for anchoring in good weather only, so that's probably what the manufacturer followed.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by mcneilms

I have been looking at a 48' Catamaran and the factory anchor is a 55lb Delta.
When looking at the Mantus site, it seems a 85lb is recommended.

What gives? Just the manufacturer saving money?

Thanks,
Scott

Many of the recommendations for new generation anchors are much heavier than were given previously for older style anchors.

People with 85lb anchors will experience less dragging than people with 44lb anchors, hence more satisfied customers.

This is the primary reason, in my view, why most feel the new style anchors are perceived to hold better: they are larger.

Many cruisers now simply buy the largest anchor which can be fitted on their boats. Then they also leave the old anchor in place, adding weight to the bows of their boats.

The boats sail less well with the excess weight on the bow but the owners feel more secure and claim to sleep better.

[roverhi]

Because of the weight factor many multi's were equipped with stupidly light anchors. The owners apparently looked at the displacement only and disregarded the much greater windage of a multi hull over a mono. Remember one 40' trimaran that used a 25#
CQR which was bad enough but they'd bent the shank on the anchor and it would only set if it landed right side up.

[a64pilot]

Walk down the dock and look at most of the power boats. Most have ridiculously small anchors. I believe it’s because most aren’t meant to anchor.
A small anchor saves a manufacturer a lot of money, because small anchor also means small windlass.

Pound for pound a new gen anchor holds better than the old plows etc. people have always bought an anchor by weight, which I think strange, but that’s the way it is.

[s/v Moondancer]

We fitted the largest Rochna that would fit on the bow, 122lbs, and never regretted having to modify the roller to make it fit. The backup was a Fortress 55 that held us in 60 knts and the storm anchor was a Fortress 85.

[Lepke]

The anchor is part of your safety equipment. It needs to be able to stop and hold your boat in any conditions.

[rslifkin]

a64pilot has a good point. Many manufacturers go for the "well, we can't sell it without an anchor" sizing metric. Looking around my marina, I'm not the largest boat in here, but I've definitely got the largest anchor of anyone (power or sail). A few other boats have what I'd consider adequately sized anchors, and pretty much all the rest have something ranging from a somewhat undersized Delta to a claw so small it looks like a toy.

[Mr B]

I have a 24 KG and a 40 KG anchor on the front of my boat, Plus 100 feet of chain, Ready to go,
My plimsol line is 3 inches above the water line at the bow,
My rear is about one inch above the Plimsol line,
Im 34 feet long,


I have a bit of water in my bilges, Its dry where the pumps are,
So in order to get the pumps working, I and my girl walked down to the bow to see if it would make the bilge water flow forwards,

Our combined weight on the bows should make it sink, So Ive been told in all these anchor threads,
Nope, I didnt make the slightest bit of difference, My bilges are near flat and level,

Our combined weight would be close to 180 Kgs,

There is some thing wrong where people say that one extra anchor will make the bows sink so far that the boats bow will be near under the water, And very Unseaworthy,

I cant see how a 20 or 30 KG extra anchor would make any difference on the bow of a yacht.
Does a normal person, 70 to 100 kgs make your bows sink and its noticable, If you walk onto the Bows of your boat, ???????????????

Cheers, Brian,

[rslifkin]

It really depends on the boat. Some boats carry weight up forward nicely, others don't. Of the ones that don't, sometimes they end up trimmed down, other times they look fine in the water but just don't perform well with too much weight forward.

[TheOffice]

The Delta chart does not differentiate between monos and cats. A pound a foot works for monos, but not for cats.

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

It really depends on the boat. Some boats carry weight up forward nicely, others don't. Of the ones that don't, sometimes they end up trimmed down, other times they look fine in the water but just don't perform well with too much weight forward.

As I was reading the posts in this thread, these were my exact thoughts.

We carry a 40kg Rocna on our mono as a primary and can feel the performance difference w/this size anchor and then the additional chain forward.
Can only imagine the added weight forward on a multi would have even more performance issues than we experience.
So the trade off is performance vs. solid holding. If you anchor out almost all the time as we do, then IMO the trade off is acceptable.
Would ask others w/the same boat and larger anchor if they feel any performance issues. Only problem here w/this approach is many people don't care or aren't that observant to notice slight differences, so take these opinions for what they are worth (an opinion and nothing more).

[BenBowSirocco]

Originally Posted by wingssail

Many of the recommendations for new generation anchors are much heavier than were given previously for older style anchors.

People with 85lb anchors will experience less dragging than people with 44lb anchors, hence more satisfied customers.

This is the primary reason, in my view, why most feel the new style anchors are perceived to hold better: they are larger.

Many cruisers now simply buy the largest anchor which can be fitted on their boats. Then they also leave the old anchor in place, adding weight to the bows of their boats.

The boats sail less well with the excess weight on the bow but the owners feel more secure and claim to sleep better.

All independent tests that I have seen show that new style anchors are FAR more efficient than old style- in every way.
Lloyds literally gave them an entire new category of Super High Holding Power they are so much better.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by BenBowSirocco

All independent tests that I have seen show that new style anchors are FAR more efficient than old style- in every way.
Lloyds literally gave them an entire new category of Super High Holding Power they are so much better.

Beat me to it . All independent testing I've seen shows these "new-gen" anchors outperform most older-style across the board. This also coincides with most anecdotal evidence, as well as my own experience.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Beat me to it . All independent testing I've seen shows these "new-gen" anchors outperform most older-style across the board. This also coincides with most anecdotal evidence, as well as my own experience.

I guess I'd like to read a couple of these tests, searching on this forum for "anchor holding test" came up with nothing, and internet search came up with one west marine test.

Do you know of some?