Should I upgrade the anchor and chain?

[RJM]

My 53' came with an approximately 60 lb Danforth and 300ft 5/16th chain. I am getting a new windlass and the question is, do I stay with the 5/16 and the Danforth or should I consider a different setup. I don't think that I will ever anchor in water much deeper than 20 feet, but one should never says "I won't"... Just curious as to what you are using and are you happy with your setup.

 

[SIGMACHI]

My 53' came with an approximately 60 lb Danforth and 300ft 5/16th chain. I am getting a new windlass and the question is, do I stay with the 5/16 and the Danforth or should I consider a different setup. I don't think that I will ever anchor in water much deeper than 20 feet, but one should never says "I won't"... Just curious as to what you are using and are you happy with your setup.

IMHO...Check out Mantus Marine M1 Anchors, Mantus Swivel, Mantus Snubbers, Mantus Anchormate, & Mantus Anchor Bridles....https://www.mantusmarine.com/ground-tackle-2/?v=28886f13f578

Tight Lines!
Alan
M/V SIGMACHI

 

[divert00]

If you sleep overnight on the boat AND want a good night’s rest, upsize your anchor. We have 110# on a 63’. Unless you anchor exclusively in sand, there are better performing anchors of many makes.

 

[Pascal]

5/16 chain is fine and 300’ is very good. The 60 danforth is a bit light though. I upgraded to a 110 lbs claw / Bruce on my 53 and it sets and holds very well.

I m a big fan of them. I ve used them for years on boats I ve run from the Bahamas to New England and they ve never let me down

 

[dar636]

For the PNW and Canada we use 375' of 5/16 chain and about an 90lb Navy (Forfjord) anchor. No problems with either.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

We run with 200ft of 3/8HT and an oversized stainless Danforth clone that came off of a 60 Hatteras MY. I had to modify the anchor some to get it to grab and hold like it was intended. The clone used different angles presumably to keep from infringing on Danforth patents so we cut and welded it to mimic the angles of the Danforth and its great now.

 

[firbanks]

I had a fortress and dragged a number of times in sustained 15-20 knot winds in sand and grassy bottoms. I ditched mine and replaced with a 125 pound Mantus M2 that fit my pulpit with no mods. All chain with big Mantus swivel. Now I sleep at night on the hook much better than I used to (relative scale of course). My vote is to ditch it for something more suitable and much heavier but good luck.

 

[RJM]

5/16 chain is fine and 300’ is very good. The 60 danforth is a bit light though. I upgraded to a 110 lbs claw / Bruce on my 53 and it sets and holds very well.

I m a big fan of them. I ve used them for years on boats I ve run from the Bahamas to New England and they ve never let me down

Did you stay with the 5/16 chain?

 

[Pascal]

Actually mine came with 1/4” chain. I got new chain 4 yeas ago and stayed with that as i didn’t want to replace the gipsy

 

[firbanks]

By the way, my Galley Maid windlass had some obscure gypsy when I bought it (per Rick at Galley Maid). It definitely didn't match the 3/16 G4 chain that was on the boat. I cut a foot or two of chain off and sent it to Galley Maid and they were able to send my the proper matching chain gypsy and clutch/friction plates which were very easy to swap out.

Rick at Galley Maid suggested that Hatteras had some custom size chain that they used to contract out for newbuilds and that the chain was no longer available. Not sure that makes complete sense to me - my boat has an "Ideal Windlass" branded raise and lower buttons in the flybridge and pilothouse.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Has anyone used a Fortress in rocky areas like New England? How did it perform?

 

[Pascal]

I used to have an FX55 but it s all sand here. In rocks the flukes should grab ok but no experience

I never liked it because while it has great holding power it wouldn’t not reset well.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

My experience with the FX55 was that it was hard to set. I like they are just too light. Once set it was okay but I went back to a heavy SS anchor.

 

[firbanks]

I used to have an FX55 but it s all sand here. In rocks the flukes should grab ok but no experience

I never liked it because while it has great holding power it wouldn’t not reset well.

+1 here. That's the situation that impacted the most for me. Initial set was fine but if wind heading moved a bunch in sustained winds (60-90 degrees maybe?) it would break free and not reset. Typically at night and under heavy weather with other boats not that far away, just to test the crew.

 

[JD5652]

600 feet of 3/8" of BBB chain with a Vulcan 55 kg for me. 58 LRC is a heavy girl and the 65# Danforth was not even close to hold her in a strong wind and/or shifting tide situation.
Ran the boat for several years in New England where it was not uncommon to anchor in > 60 feet of water.

 

[Sadey]

We had the Danforth anchor that Sky now has. It was attached to 300’ of 3/8 chain. Occasionally it took a few tries to get it to set however, once it was set it was sold. Sky’s modification explained the difficulty in getting it set. We switched to a Rocna Vulcan 55 attached to the same 300 feet of 3/8 chain and a Mantus bridle. We absolutely love the Vulcan! Sets on the first try every time. We’ve been through some rough weather including a few 180° wind swings and have yet to have to reset the anchor.

 

[warrenw]

When we bought our 47 Commander it had a 20lb Danforth Hi-Tensile and 1/4" chain. I considered that setup seriously undersized considering we anchor out overnight every summer weekend in Georgian Bay. The Danforth was reassigned as our stern anchor and now lives on a mount tucked behind the transom ladder. I called Rick at Galley Maid and confirmed he had the correct 3/8" gypsy available, which I purchased. I paired that with 200' of 3/8" GR43 chain, a Rocna Vulcan 33 (73lb), Mantus swivel and Mantus bridle. I only use the bridle when it's going to be windy as we have the Galley Maid chain stopper. Like Dave has experienced, our Vulcan has set first time every time for us in 3 seasons of use and has never broken loose during full swings at anchor. We sleep well at night.

 

[Streff]

IMHO, I think of the equipment in terms of complimentary anchoring. It’s the combination of an all chain rode, scope, bridle and an upsized anchor. Irrespective of the size of the anchor in 20feet of water in high winds in a 53’.. I deploy 200 ft of 5/16” chain, always a bridle.. In tight anchorages where a 200ft scope may not be practical.. a heavy anchor (like the Mantus M2 105#) & long bridle will go a long way to substitute for a shorter than ideal scope.

To be prepared for the various scenarios, I have a 125# Mantus M2 (have also used an 88# Rocna and 122# Spade), 300ft of 5/16” G4 chain (I wish I had 400ft) and mantus bridle. The spade anchor is an almost perfect anchor and fits the pulpit better than the Mantus.

Streff

 

[jim rosenthal]

I'm curious- has anyone here ever used an Ultra anchor? They are supposed to be very good at setting and holding but I have not personally met anyone who uses one.

 

[Streff]

There are several boats with Ultra anchors in our marina. I frequently chat with 2 of these owners, 58 KK & 65 GB. I would consider their anchors to be undersized. They both say that the Ultra has excellent holding and never a concern in difficult conditions. I spoke at length to an Ultra rep in a boatyard about 5 years ago & I almost bought one for our previous boat. They only came in SS back them. In my research, it seemed that the Spade anchor is very similar in terms of design & performance and came in galvanized steel. For much less $$, I bought an oversized Spade… it served us well for many years including a long cruise to Alaska.

The Ultra swivel is known to be very well designed & bulletproof.