Need a new anchor

Since you have a windlass you can go as heavy as you want, bigger is always better, no need for the aluminum Fortress. I dont like danforth pattern because they get plugged with oysters, stones, sticks, sail in current etc and dont like grass and have a difficult time resetting. Did I mention I dont like danforth types?? A lot of chain and some sort of plow such as delta or even Bruce type would be my choice for trouble free anchoting in most anything.
 
If I did most of my boating in Florida, I wouldn't have a fluke-style like an Danforth either. But in the muck of the Chesapake, fluke-style anchors are fine and are probably the most common type used.

Greg, if it helps any, here's what I have:

Boat - 30' at 7,500lbs

Primary Chesapeake Bay Anchor - Fortress FX-16 (w/ 75' of chain and 200' of rope)
Back-up Chesapeake Bay Achor - Fortress FX-11 (w/ 20' of chain and 200' of rope)

Primary cruising anchor for sand/grass - Delta 22lbs (w/ 75' of chain and 200' of rope)

I very much like the Fortress anchors, but a fluke-style isn't worth a darn in grass. Thus, we change when not in the Bay.
 
I have a 88# Delta as my primary and a 60# HT Danforth as my back up, which is rigged on deck and ready to deploy in an instant. When I bought the boat, it was in Baltimore and we cruised the Chessie happily with the Danforth as the primary (that is what came with the boat), anchoring out overnight in several places on both sides of the bay, a couple of times in very bad conditions. We subsequently cruised on down to North Carolina, anchoring in Hampton Flats, North River, Bond Creek, Belhaven and Broad Creek (Neuse River, New Bern), all muddy, and help quite well. I bought the Delta, along with a WASI Powerball swivel, for our journeys further south which entailed a lot of reversing current situations and the winter winds. We anchor out a lot, that is the main reason we boat.

Whenever we have returned to the Chessie, I have always given some thought to switching back to the Danforth; there are a couple of places where the Delta took longer to get a set I was comfortable with. If the Chessie was going to be our full time home, there is no question I would switch back to the Danforth HT.

George
Hatteras 56MY
Boston Whaler 130 Sport
 
Thanks guys. Anybody know why the lighter Fortress anchors have more holding power than heavier steel Danforth type anchors? Is it the mud palms?
 
I have used several different anchors in many locations for many days at anchor and just dont trust danforth patterns. The first time a danforth picks up an oyster, rock or other junk and wont set or fails to reset after a tide change you will change your mind.
Nothing hold better than a danforth on clean beach sand, if you frequently anchor there that’s the best anchor.
 
Beento ywo marinas this week. Danforth type anchors sem to be the overwhelming favorite in this part of the Chesapeak Bay.
 
I know, that's what I said :-)

I think your ground tackle might not be broke. Why don't you give yours a try and see how it holds?
 
Just need to add some chain. But my Danforth is way too small.
 
Greg, i have an F16 but only had 12 feet of chain. It held fine in anytihng as long as i lots of scope. Just bought a new rode with 25' of chain and im sure i will be fine now.
 
I'm very happy with 75' of chain and oversized anchors. I usually anchor in 6' or less, so I'm only letting out about 60' and it's all chain.

If you don't feel like buying all new rode, you can add chain to your existing. I use use an over-sized connecting link. It's about 4 years old and looked like it was getting rather rusty, so I went to replace it last weekend. BIG MISTAKE! It was just surface rust and was very difficult to cut with bolt cutters (but since I started, I went ahead and finished). That's 4 years of hard Chesapeake usage with a few months of true salt water hard usage as well. Adding 60' to the 15' that came on the pre-spliced rode was a great investment.
 
I need to do a rope/chain splice so it will run thru the windlass. To easy to just add a link!
 
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