Anchor Upgrades

The other day I “installed”our new anchor. Although putting a new anchor on the boat is not terribly difficult it has made a significant change to the appearance on the bow of the. I like these small projects as you get a lot of bang for your buck time wise.

The old Lewmar Delta anchor was a 55 pound anchor that came off of Kristine’s parents 50′ Benneteau that they swapped out prior to heading offshore. This anchor has done the rounds around the pacific north west and up in desolation for the last 10 or so years and had done an admirable job, however the galvanized tip has started to rust and we felt it was time to get a slightly large ground tackle set up.

I decided that I wanted to go with a plow type anchor and spent a lot of time researching the Rocna and Manson Supreme anchors. I really liked the Rocna and they have a lot of good reviews out there from real world sailors, however unfortunately the sizing was perfect for our boat. The Rocna comes in either an 88 lb or 121 lb version but I really wanted something closer to 100 pounds, which led me to look at other manufacturers. Once I found the Manson Supreme anchors I was very impressed. They have a 100 lb model which is exactly what I was looking for, plus all their anchors have he built in retrieval system for anchoring in rocks. The retrieval system was not something I was really looking for and I was concerned about the strength of the shank with so much material cut out for the retrieval system, however there were a number videos online that showed both destructive and non-destructive testing of the anchors and the forces Manson was putting on these anchors were significantly greater than any that the anchor will see in the real world. The other factor was that the 100 pound Manson was a couple hundred dollars less than the smaller 88 pound Rocna.

The anchor shipped via UPS ground and so came completely wrapped in bubble wrap. Although the anchor looked large in the wrapping, once I got it out of the bubble wrap it looked HUGE.

The first task was to get the old Delta off the bow which was a relatively easy as I was able to pick the anchor up with one hand as I held into the genoa with the other.

The second task of getting the new Manson Supreme on the roller was a whole different experience. The anchor is just too heavy to lift over and around the pulpit without the risk of dropping the anchor the side. I had Kristine give me a hand and we grabbed an extra halyard and attached it to the roll bar of the anchor. Kristine then took up the weight on the halyard and eased it out as I walked the anchor forward. This system worked amazingly well and we were able to walk the anchor out and around the pulpit and then Kristine lowered the halyard as I guided the anchor into the anchor roller.

Unfortunately the anchor shackle from the old anchor wasn’t large enough for the shank of the new anchor and we’ll have to pick up another in the next couple of days.

All in all a really easy install that worked out well and looks good on our bow roller. The side picture of the old and new anchor really show just how large the new anchor is.

My only concern now is that the anchor windless won’t be powerful enough to lift the anchor up. I didn’t think this was a problem when I was researching which anchor to get however I have had a number of people ask if he windless would still be strong enough. Does anyone have any experience with this?