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I have found fortress anchor and another similiar one (name escapes me) to work really well. Only issue is that they seem to break free when boat swings on tide. Do these anchors bear out claims of being superior? How do they get away with being lighter? How much lighter can they be to obtain the same results.

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Your assessment is 100% correct - they hold well in straight lines, but do not behave well in many of the other measures that constitute a good general purpose anchor.

This applies to any Danforth style, the Fortress is not alone, and it is down more to the general design and not the fact that it is "light" per se.

The aluminium Spade is probably the best anchor which is both light, being mostly alloy (but also having a lead tip insert), and a good all round anchor. I would recommend this over a Fortress and it should be nearly as efficient in terms of holding power per Kg of weight.

It's a good example too because you can compare it to the steel version of the exact same anchor. In this light, pun not intended, the alloy version doesn't perform as well; its setting performance is hampered and it is significantly weakened in terms of strength and durability.

So the best anchors are still steel, and alloy attempts can work but are compromises. Frequently a smaller but steel anchor would be a better solution, as newer generation anchors offer surplus holding power which can be traded back for weight savings.

Look where the Fortress is on this chart. The FX-37 is around 10Kg (alloy); most other anchors are 15Kg (steel). "Max before releasing", i.e. the tan bars, is the effective measure of holding power.



The black bars, "max pull", is peak resistance recorded. Clearly it is ideal to have "max before releasing" as close as possible to this peak. The greater the difference, the less consistent/reliable the anchor.

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Craig Smith
Rocna Anchors
www.rocna.co.uk

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