spade or delta anchor vs fortress. any ideas for the adriatic?

[Justis]

Originally Posted by davidmilne

hello,
after reading what seems like 200 articles and reviews i have decided to go with the excel anchor, 47 pounds.. i will keep my delta as a backup. the lighter delta i will keep as a stern anchor. and may god bless us all. the spade, the mantus were all contenders, as was the ultra.

any ideas on chain? galvanized, stainless, 8 mm or 10 ?

there is no end .

i want to thank everyone for useful information. if i drag it's my fault.

Oh on the idea of stainless steel chain, you would have to get the proper tested stuff that is made for use as anchor chain and that is expensive.


Ordanary 316 will not do, it's hard and can just break without warning were as steel chain will stretch before breaking

[davidmilne]

on the other hand, you have a slightly lighter chain with much longer catenary. and you can slide a weight down the chain as well, i forget the name. which will have a spring like effect as well. the advantage of the heavier weight chain is increased chain strength, but i don't know if that is an issue. the advantage of the lighter chain is that it is far easier to handle on my windlass , if it fits. my windlass is the last largest hand operated , well lever actuated, windlass that ideal made. today it is redundant, but you avoid going to the gym for weight training, and it NEVER breaks down.

[CarinaPDX]

A lot of this depends on your boat: most boats don't like a lot of weight forward in the bow, and sometimes the chain locker is small. If we take weight and space as a constraint then the issue becomes getting enough length - which should be in the range of 300' or 100m. If you can fit and carry that much 3/8" (or 10mm) chain then it would be preferable to 5/16" (8mm) chain of the same length. Usually you would be comparing BBB 3/8" to HT 5/16", which have similar strengths, and as long as a snubber is always used strength is not likely to be an issue. If handling chain with a manual windlass or by hand then the smaller chain makes for less work, and for the same weight has more rode length. In truth, most folks just stay with the chain that fits their gypsy.

Greg