Re: what anchor
On boat I have had over the years I found the danforth to be very good.
A 8 pound with 4 foot of chain worked great on our 21 foot boat. In one lake we fish and Play in that has a hard bottom it would sometimes drag some before digging in.
Also when we fish in the fog down in the San Francisco Bay area the wife does not like to drive the boat up on anchor when she can not see something to guide on so when we were alone she would get stuck pulling the anchor. That 8 pound anchor with 4 feet of chain pulled deep in the mud from 5 knots currents was all she could do. Even with Gloves it hert her hands and My pride so we looked for another anchor. When she did get it off the bottom she could still just bearly pull it up. It would come up covered in mud.
We found the Fortress FX-7 4 pound anchor rated for 27 foot boats.
The price was kind of high but after reading the Navy test and the Power Boat test I had to try it.
I bought it and 2 feet of chain and 250 feet of line. Took it up to the the lake with the hard bottom and to our suprise in dug in faster and held better than any anchor we had ever used. Down in the bay same thing dug in fast and held all day. First time the wife pulled it when it lifted off the bottom she almost fell over and accused me of attaching the line incorrectly as the anchor came loose. To her surprise it was on there and she could pull it with ease. Even better it was clean with no mud on it.
We have always carried 2 anchor and still do but have never ever used any other anchor since.
The Fortress FX-7 is 4 pounds made of Aluminum - magnesium alloy with a Anodized finish. It is light and the flutes are sharpened to dig in fast. It will not rust and mud does not stick to the slick finish. The shank is thinner and has tapered edges to allow it to sink deeper under load.
For us is it is the best anchor ever and worth every penny.
It does have one thing that some people do not like.
Since the anchor is so light You can not pull up to your spot and put the engine in reverse and lower the anchor. Since it is so light it will stay up off the bottom almost like a fishing lure and never hit bottom.
So to use this anchor instead you come up on your spot and put the motor in reverse like normal but as soon as you get some sternway you take the motor out of gear. You lower the anchor until it hits bottom then can put motor back in reverse if required and pay out proper scope. Tie it off and it will dig in as soon as the line gets tight.
We actually like this problem because we use it to our advantage. The lake I talked about with the hard bottom we like to have out about 100 feet of line or a little less. At this lake we fish and later will go and anchor near shore to Eat, Rest and Swim. We anchor with the bow pointed to open water and back into a beach where we attach a stern line to shore. I was never very good at saying drop it now we are 100 feet out. If get More than 100 feet out the bow will tend to swing side to side more and also fishermen sometimes hook out anchor line.
So with this anchor we pull out 100 feet of line and tie it to the bow cleat. We pick our beach and out in deeper water put the motor in reverse. Gain some stern way and lower the anchor the anchor will not go down until we reduce out stern way. I back into the beach with our kicker motor and when within a few feet of shore kill the kicker and raise kicker and step off the boat with an attached stern line. as the boat slows the anchor settles to the bottom I tie off the stern line and get back on the boat and pull the bow line tight and it dig in right where I want it. Adjust the disiance form shore with the stern line and we are set for the day.
http://www.iboats.com/Fortress_Anch...211610479--**********.625808170--view_id.4943
Check out some of the test data on the left side of the page.
http://www.fortressanchors.com/
