Best all-around anchor

[Herb Olson]

Bullwaga is no bull

Although I have other anchors, I prefer my Bullwaga. I anchor in Kelp, rocks, and sand, the holy trinity of the west coast and never have a problem with holding or setting. It is the most dependable and predictable anchor that I have used. It is also easy to retrieve. Their advertising and the review in Practical Sailor have proved to be spot on!

 

[Bill]

This would be the same Stu (+)

who constantly reminds posters to use the archives? Suggestion--if a post doesn't interest you, pass it by.Fair winds, Bill

 

[Tom S.]

I've got the 44lb SPADE and am very happy

Seems to work very well. Always a very quick set, but even resets and still holds very well. Yeah a little more pricey, but I look at it as cheap insurance.I know someone who has a bullwaga and is much happier with it than their old fortress. But the problem is that it really wouldn't stow on my bow roller very well (if at all) and not sure its self launching like my SPADE, which is important because I like to use the remote windlass control from the cockpit.See link for Pics, etcBut for ultimate holding power I use a sunken battleship and tie 2" chain to it.

 

[Dan McGuire]

Sandbags-weak defense

The sandbags were not intended to dig in. They were just pure weight. Many people use rocks, etc. A sandbag is no different. I never claimed that they worked well.

 

[David Lewis]

Bruce, Baby

I have a 44# bruce with 100' 5/8 bbb, backed up with 250' 1" New England 3 strand for my c-36. I have held in over 50 knots in 50' of water.Mostly used at the Channel islands off the Santa Barbara, Ventura Coast. use S/L 555 two speed windlass to pull her up. I won't say never dragged do to karmatic repercussion.Don't go with the cheap knock offs "Bruce Lee's". They do not have the forging down as well, and metorological issues can come into play.

 

[David Lewis]

Can't find the photo.

I could not see the photo. Could you shoot it over to me.Thanks,David

 

[Gil C. - the Wanderin One]

Two Fortress on chain

I have two Fortress on 100' Chain each, plus rhode, and no windlass. I prefer them because of their good reputation, and especially their light weight. If I had a windlass I would have a heavier anchor such as a CQR, but also keep the Fortress, as they have done a great job for me so far.

 

[Gene Keller]

Bruce on the Chesapeake ......

Hey, all I have an 86- H-34, We keep it at Mears in Kent Narrows, Our primary anchor is a 33 pound Bruce with 105' of 5/16 Ht chain and 200 feet of 5/8 NE Nylon 3 strand. This anchor has served us well thru the Chesapeake and on many trips to New England and Maine. Most noteable was an evening raft up in the Corsica River when around 2230 we experienced a late evening thunder squall that pulled out the 36 pound CQR that we were lying to. We being a 36' Cape Dory fast Trawler (anchor boat), a 38'83 Catalina, 31'Pearson, 31 foot Cal and my hunter. The Squall hit and broke the anchor free, the skipper of the Cape Dory started the Diesels up and was able to slow our drift, how ever we were not able to re-set the CQR. I let the Bruce go and once all the chain was paid out and i had the nylon in hand I cleated it off which almost immediately stopped our movement! We kept the Diesels idling until the squall passed. That same night as a result of the same squall in a Creek on the opposite side of the Chester River a raft up was not as lucky and was grounded and the landward boat's hull was seriously damaged. I feel that we were lucky to have the engine power to slow our drift until I deployed my anchor. The next morning I discovered that the bruce had buried it-self 8' into the bottom, which took me about 1.5 hours to manually extract.

 

[Brad Newell]

All-around anchor

If there is one question that will bring on a serious discussion, it is "what's the best anchor?" I've been sailing almost 40 years and have been as far afield as across the Pacific, mostly anchoring except for the big cities. For many years we used Danforths or one of its clones. Those things have tremendous holding power. Unfortunately, raw holding power is seldom the issue. More often it is a case of how quickly it will set...and then reset WHEN it pulls, for whatever reason (it will).Anecdotaly, I've been in a harbor (Honiara)with about a dozen boats on the hook when we had a wind shift of only 15 knots, giving a rotten chop where we were. (A little Aussie boat was taking water over the bow.) The only two boats that did NOT drag were two of us on Bruces. I have lost count of the number of times that our Danforth pulled when the wind or current changed 180 degrees. We carry both 20-kg and 25-kg Bruces, chain for the bower and line for the little one. If I were to head out again, particularly to somewhere I might find hurricane, I'd carry a disassembled Fortress - provided I was sure the wind would not shift. That light aluminum stock has been reported to bend (according to the grapevine).With the arrogance of long-time sailors (and fighter pilots in general), I haven't even read what others have to say on the subject. Only "new guys" will be influenced by anything we say.By the way, the most secure mooring we have ever picked up was a chain connected to a sunken Japanese bulldozer, at Tulagi.With the pathetic treatment that history gets in the schools, these days, only the sailing community has any idea where Honiara and Tulagi might be found.

 

[Trevor - SailboatOwners.com]

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

Thanks to all so far for sharing you expreiences. I have owned/cruised extensively on small coastal sailboats to large full keel cruisers and am still learning like the rest of us. I spent 9 weeks sailing around Vancouver Island on my 28' Islander and successfully set my light Danforth practically every night (never used that 33lb Bruce I lugged along). The 45lb CQR on my Formosa 51 held us remarkably well on a 30k blow in Barkley Sound a few years later, even though it was light for the weight of the boat. However, I'm still a believer in the Bruce, of which I carried an oversiced 44lb aboard our Catalina 36 around Vancouver Island the 2nd time. I still like the Danforth for it's weight to holding power ratio, but if it breaks, it's a kite in the water and it's difficult to reset. My current almost 30.000 lb boat currently has a 45lb CQR which has worked well so far, but I am looking for a Bruce as a primary.Like Stu said (hey, we're lucky to have him here!), everyone has an opinion!Best,Trevor

 

[henkmeuzelaar]

Hi Brad, when are you heading out again?

I seemed to remember that you planned to start cruising again last December or so?At any rate, the Bruce and the Fortress are also our favorite anchors in the Pacific. We carry a 43lb Bruce plus 27 lb Fortress on the bow and a 19lb Fortress on the stern as a kedge anchor. The relationship with our Bruce has been a love-hate affair because I used to dive on it in the California Channel islands and often used up a lot of air trying to reset it properly. So, from a scuba diver's prospective, I started to think of Bruce as that big lazy slob that I would often find lying on his back rather than working.On the other hand, in Vanuatu where we have to anchor time and again amidst coral heads and rocks in swelly, unprotected bays and roadsteds the performance record of our Bruce has been stellar. The last time we dragged was in 2001, after we returned from a tiring but successful night search for the yacht of a friend that had dragged and blown 5 miles offshore.... I simply must have been too tired to re-anchor properly and would have been blown offshore by the katabatic winds coming down the flanks of the Ambrym volcano if we had not happened to drag past the anchor light of another cruising vessel that momentarily lit up our stateroom. This triggered my built-in "copra boat alarm" and got my attention. Instead of finding one of these fearsome old rust-buckets entering the anchorage (which is always a good time to get one of the million candle cordless spotbeams out and light up your anchored vessel), I found we were making a high speed exit from the sharply dropping underwater flanks of the volcano instead and would have found ourselves many miles offshore the next morning.....Have fun!Flying Dutchman

 

[Bob Bass]

Bahamas Bound????

Due to the frequent grass patched in the Bahamas, after going through a Danforth, CQR, and Bruce, I have found that a Delta Quick Set works the best. Oh, I almost forgot.....use all chain with a nylon snubber, also.

 

[tomD]

Bruce Almighty

Bruce anchors are Good in almost every bottom except silty organic muck, sets first time, and with crowded moorages, a real godsend--they hang on in normal tides & currents with a short scope and can take a tide change and reset. It is my Primary, but I would also add that for a storm anchor I go with a Fortress and long scope. Bruce will hold on a normal day with 3-1 scope, The Fortress likes 6 or 7 to 1.

 

[Ben]

Danforth

I mostly daysail in a smaller boat, so I've only anchored a few times, and none of those instances involved wind of any strength. But my Danforth (with about 10 ft of chain before the rode) has held me just fine on a sand/muck bottom through the 1-2 knot tidal currents. I get the feeling that it would hold just fine in strong winds, especially if I add a small mushroom anchor somewhere up the chain. I do wonder how well it will reset itself after a wind/tide shift; perhaps I'll find out this year.When I get a little spending money, I plan on buying a Fortress. Not because I think it will hold that much better, but just to make the chore of pulling it up that much easier. A lighter anchor would be nice.

 

[W. Hamilton]

I like my cqr

My CQR has never skated over the bottom like friend's danforth's have. It has long been my contention that a lot of anchoring failures is not the anchor but a failure to have adequate chain and rode. A seven to one ratio includes the 4-6 feet from the water to the rail. This means 28-42 feet additional rode which many people fail to include. My cqr mounts nicely on the bow fairlead where a danforth will not. On the down side, at 36 lbs and the chain lead it is heavy. Dependability to me is worth the weight.

 

[Mary Lou Hunt]

Bruce rules Huron's North Channel

The Bruce anchor is a must up in Lake Huron's North Channel. It has never let us down and we have seen it hold in wild conditions. Our secondary anchor is a Delta.Coming down to Florida from Canada in the next year.What do you recommend?

 

[Benny]

Sail at Anchor

We have sailed a 320 in the Florida keys witha 4.4' wing keel. We find that this boat will sail at anchor thus pulling the danforth out and it will not easily reset thus dragging. After spending 3 or 4 very uncomfortable nights in stormy conditions we opted for getting a CQR. The boat still sails and will pull the anchor out but it immediately resets with very little drag. We have asked Hunter about the reason for this unusual behavior on this boat and were told it was because of the wing keel.

 

[Steve Christensen]

Try an anchor sail!

You might want to consider using an anchor sail (see link).Steve Christensen

 

[tom]

wing keel on a Catalina 34

When this anchor sticks it's stuck!!!!!

 

[Ben]

Anchor sail...

Steve, that looked like a great idea. I don't usually have to worry about anchoring in a crowded place, but it would be nice to make the boat settle down a bit. That might be a nice wintertime project to work on. (not that I don't have a thousand of them already!)