Anchor Geekdom

[Panope]

Thread title credit: Bob Perry.

This thread is a continuation of the discussion we were having over on the CA Raft Up Thread. http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=167755&st=0

I had posted some videos of various anchors setting and Alex W offered to let me use his Fortress anchor to test.

Here is the result:

 

[Panope]

Here is the camera/float lashup used for the first 6 videos:

It was pointed out to me that the buoyancy of the camera float could affect the setting performance of an anchor. I do not believe this was a factor previously as the camera float was very small. That said, for the recent, Fortress anchor test I removed some material from the float to further reduce buoyancy.

Steve

 

[DRIFTW00D]

Please tell me you have the camera strap on a line going go the surface.

 

[Panope]

DRIFTW00D, The camera was only connected to the anchor. No surface line.

Steve

 

[kimbottles]

Steve, that is some of the best anchor testing I have seen, thanks! Kim

 

[Panope]

Kim, It is my pleasure to make the videos. Next time you come up to Port Townsend, bring some of your "porch art" and we can put it to the test.

Steve

 

[kimbottles]

Kim, It is my pleasure to make the videos. Next time you come up to Port Townsend, bring some of your "porch art" and we can put it to the test.

Steve

My buddy Paul Jenkins gave me a FX-16 earlier this year, your video gives me a lot of confidence in it when used in that kind of bottom.

 

[Hike Bitches!]

God dammit Driftw00d. stop polluting every fucking thread I think is interesting. Ignore ignore ignore!

 

[Elegua]

It's these kinds of threads that makes SA/CA worth coming to. Thanks, Panope!

 

[jack_sparrow]

Not that I troll anchor tests ....have never seen that done before. Excellent bit of videovestigation Pan.

 

[10thTonner]

It's these kinds of threads that makes SA/CA worth coming to. Thanks, Panope!

Yopp! Thanks Panope and keep up the good work!

(I have a little fortress anchor for my little boat and it instantly holds like a 16 ton weight in that mud/sand/slime bottom you tested it in. Now I know I don't make this up in my mind.)

 

[Alex W]

Thanks, that was great. I've been looking forward to this video since hearing that you did the test. I got a smaller Fortress FX-11 (the FX-16 is a bit large and didn't fit into my boat's anchor locker) and will feel confident using that as my "always available" anchor, leaving the Manson Supreme for cruising purposes. I always wondered how the Fortress would do under resets.

 

[Panope]

Thanks everyone,

Alex W, was kind enough to lend me the Fortress but after the test I ended up buying it from him (Alex, did you get my check in the mail?).

Today I bought 12 feet of 5/16" chain and some 9/16" nylon and I am splicing it up right now. Tomorrow I will try and re-test the Fortress with this mixed (mostly rope) rode and see if the anchor behaves differently. This smaller sized, mixed rode will likely represent what most people are using with this Fortress anchor.

Another test I want to do with the fortress is to set it up on the stern rail and deploy it (throw it overboard) while under-way and see if it will hook up and crash-stop the boat. That test might be very difficult to video as the motion may have the camera pointing every which way but at the anchor.

Steve

 

[DDW]

Steve, where are you doing this testing? Water is pretty clear, or maybe the GoPro is just good enough to pick up light anyway.

BTW, nice picture of Panope in your avatar .

 

[Panope]

DDW,testing area is just to the South West of the big marina at Port Townsend. I have no reason to believe this area has water that is any clearer than other Puget sound waters. But I am not a diver so I really do not know. I will say that it makes absolutely no difference weather the sun is shining or if overcast.

I owe the avatar photographer a beer.

Steve

 

[Alex W]

Yup, the check arrived on Saturday. Testing with that rode makes a lot of sense, the rode that I use with my Fortress is 15' of 3/8" and 150' of 1/2". Pretty short and light for around here, but good for a stern anchor or my emergency anchor.

 

[blurocketsmate]

Today I bought 12 feet of 5/16" chain and some 9/16" nylon and I am splicing it up right now. Tomorrow I will try and re-test the Fortress with this mixed (mostly rope) rode and see if the anchor behaves differently. This smaller sized, mixed rode will likely represent what most people are using with this Fortress anchor.

Another test I want to do with the fortress is to set it up on the stern rail and deploy it (throw it overboard) while under-way and see if it will hook up and crash-stop the boat. That test might be very difficult to video as the motion may have the camera pointing every which way but at the anchor.

Looking forward to seeing this. I've been working on this technique for singlehanding, with mixed results. And yes, most Fortress users would have mostly rope, especially in smaller boats.

Thanks for the great tests! I watched them all.

 

[Ishmael]

Today I bought 12 feet of 5/16" chain and some 9/16" nylon and I am splicing it up right now. Tomorrow I will try and re-test the Fortress with this mixed (mostly rope) rode and see if the anchor behaves differently. This smaller sized, mixed rode will likely represent what most people are using with this Fortress anchor.

Another test I want to do with the fortress is to set it up on the stern rail and deploy it (throw it overboard) while under-way and see if it will hook up and crash-stop the boat. That test might be very difficult to video as the motion may have the camera pointing every which way but at the anchor.

Looking forward to seeing this. I've been working on this technique for singlehanding, with mixed results. And yes, most Fortress users would have mostly rope, especially in smaller boats.

Thanks for the great tests! I watched them all.

You need to get out more.

To be fair, so did I, but I did skip a lot of the basic "anchor sitting in the mud" with some judicious jumps to bits with subtitles.

 

[Panope]

Ish, I hear ya on the "anchor sitting in mud" thing. Being new to these public anchor discussions/debates/quagmires/shit fights, I was worried about credibility - hence the lack of editing (I did not want to hear someone say that I clipped or spliced the videos to sway the outcomes). I'm a lot less concerned about that now so in the future I will cut out the boring parts.

Here is my latest offering from today's test of the Fortress. This time I used a rode consisting of 12 feet of 5/16" chain, spliced to a length of 9/16" nylon rope. I deployed this from the stern of the boat while underway at a steady 3.6 knots. The Idea was to simulate an emergency stop using the anchor only.

Steve

The video is only 3 minutes, 8 seconds long so it should require little fast forwarding: