Fortress Anchor Question.....

[Alain POIRAUD]

perfectly right Rich !

You are perfectly righ..- designer of the Spade and the Oceane anchors - and author of the book " The complete anchoring handbook".

 

[Gary]

Wow...I'm impressed

to get replies from a notable author and inventor of the spade anchor....and.....Fortress company. This forum is truly amazing. I got the mud palms from Fortress promptly and have changed to 45 degrees. Anxious to give it a try. I know now what my problem was.....the chain making a "rut" for the shank to follow and thus, the flukes were pointing up. Cause as I would pull on the rode, there was no resistance whatsoever. I'm sure setting with a short scope first, then adding more rode will remedy this. Almost all the bottoms in my area are muddy. Thanks to all.......Gary

 

[Bill N]

FX16 but with more chain

I used a Guardian G11 on my Catalina 30 (10k displacement too) with similiar results to yours, even with the mud-palms. However, after upgrading to the Fortress FX16, it has always held, albeit I also increased my chain length to 45' at the same time (5' less than minimum rode I would ever use).Perhaps your anchor chain length is too short. Lightweight anchors actually require longer chain than heavy steel anchors.I increased my chain length beyond, but based on corrected recommendations now found at Boat/US's web-site -- see the link below (I actually assisted BoatUS in revising Catalog's rode chain recommendations a few years ago based upon Earl Hinz's recommendations).So, if the mud-palms don't do it, review the link's chain recommendations and try that before getting a 'back breaking' heavier anchor.Hope this helps..