[krisscross]

Some more customers feed back

Just to let you know that the Mantus 8/9 pound anchor is doing great on my Bahamas cruise. Since l sailed over here in my 12 foot boat, I could only carry one anchor and I'm glad I choose your product. As advertised it sets quickly and holds well in many bottom types. Of course the little boat gets a lot of attention and people also ask about my ground tackle which I'm happy to show them since I'm often in the shallows or dried out in the flats.

What kind of boat is that?

 

[One]

What kind of boat is that?

Probably one of those "Microcruisers":

Microcruising

Microcruiser

 

[krisscross]

Probably one of those "Microcruisers":

Dang... you need to have balls of steel to take one of those to the Bahamas...

 

[One]

Dang... you need to have balls of steel to take one of those to the Bahamas...

Ha, ha, yep, but I like how many of them don't let a lack of money stop them from going out there. The sunsets are the same as the ones enjoyed by people with more boat.

Some even cruise two-up in them!

 

[marianclaire]

MikeOReilly: I use my FX-37, on the mud setting, as my storm anchor and it has never failed. But that is when I anchor in our local very soft mud in the creeks off of the Neuse River. I have used a 15 kg Bruce type, a 15kg Rocna and a 35# Manson. All preformed well in squalls, T-storms and Tropical storm conditions in a variety of bottoms from the Chesapeake to the Keys. So to me it all depends on the bottom. My Manson is the first thing in and the Bruce is second unless I KNOW I am over very soft mud then the FX is my first choice. Dan S/V Marian Claire

 

[MastUndSchotbruch]

...

In my case, where the bow area is occupied with two other anchors, I plan to use the boom (as a cargo boom) to deploy/recover the anchor: Connect mainsail halyard to boom for support, connect a block & tackle with a Johnson Grab and Go hook to boom, connect anchor to hook and swing over the side, well clear of hull. For recovery, use anchor windlass forward to recover rode, use boat to break out the anchor and transfer anchor with appropriate line back to where I can hoist anchor into cockpit with boom as above. Cockpit is a good place to disassemble the anchor as it has room and is next to storage locker. Sounds complicated, but it is not and I already have all those other items that I mentioned.
...

Seriously? What kind of boom do you have that you need to support it by a halyard to lift a 35lb weight? That's less than a 5 gallon bucket of water.

Honestly, my solution would be to grab the 35lb anchor using my Mark I hands and arms and just lower it into the water. I am not exactly a body builder but I have no trouble doing that with my own 33lb Delta.

 

[Tim R.]

I bought a 65lb model to use as a storm anchor. I can break it down and store this much larger anchor very easily. It also will fit on my roller although I need to add a SS tang to lock it in place. The weight distribution is such that the anchor wants to deploy.

 

[MikeOReilly]

MikeOReilly: I use my FX-37, on the mud setting, as my storm anchor and it has never failed. But that is when I anchor in our local very soft mud in the creeks off of the Neuse River. I have used a 15 kg Bruce type, a 15kg Rocna and a 35# Manson. All preformed well in squalls, T-storms and Tropical storm conditions in a variety of bottoms from the Chesapeake to the Keys. So to me it all depends on the bottom. My Manson is the first thing in and the Bruce is second unless I KNOW I am over very soft mud then the FX is my first choice. Dan S/V Marian Claire

Thanks marianclaire, good to know. Our boat is probably a bit bigger than yours (37-ft/28,000#) so I'm still leaning towards a FX-37 or 55 as a storm anchor. As you say, these anchors would only be useful in soft bottoms (clay, mud, sand). Our bower is a 25 kg Rocna, and so far it has proven itself in a number of nasty blows. We also carry a large danforth and a 15 kg bruce as our stern/kedge.

I'm still toying with the idea of a Mantus as well. I expect they will perform as well as similar types (rocna, manson, etc.). My hesitation with the Mantus option is whether it I will actually use it. If I get it big enough to act as a storm anchor, we're talking likely 85lbs. That's not the kind of thing that will be used easily. The big Fortresses will be difficult as well, but certainly lighter for theoretically higher holding power (assuming appropriate bottom/set).

 

[kellysails]

I do enjoy these anchoring threads.
I love our Spade anchor, sticks quick, holds and resets easy. I have been debating which storm anchor to get. I like the concept of the Fortress but longer term we are not likely to encounter much mud situations. I have actually been leaning towards an up-sized aluminum Spade. It disassembles like the Mantus, one bolt and is light and easy to store and deploy.

 

[NCC320]

Seriously? What kind of boom do you have that you need to support it by a halyard to lift a 35lb weight? That's less than a 5 gallon bucket of water.

Honestly, my solution would be to grab the 35lb anchor using my Mark I hands and arms and just lower it into the water. I am not exactly a body builder but I have no trouble doing that with my own 33lb Delta.

Two thoughts here:

1) the boom will allow me to keep anchor's sharp edges away from the hull of the boat. I don't want to have the anchor bouncing off the side of the boat, with its sharp edges.

2) depending on depth of water, when you retrieve, you will be picking up 35 lb. anchor, ~15-20 ft. of chain @ 1lb./ft., plus possibly a large mud ball, so the weight could be more like 60-70 lbs. Ok for young bucks with strong backs, but 73 yr. old backs don't like that.

As to the halyard, a good topping lift will work also.

But like most things, simple is best, and if you don't mind the weight and can keep the anchor clear of the boat, do it by hand.

 

[MastUndSchotbruch]

Two thoughts here:

1) the boom will allow me to keep anchor's sharp edges away from the hull of the boat. I don't want to have the anchor bouncing off the side of the boat, with its sharp edges.

2) depending on depth of water, when you retrieve, you will be picking up 35 lb. anchor, ~15-20 ft. of chain @ 1lb./ft., plus possibly a large mud ball, so the weight could be more like 60-70 lbs. Ok for young bucks with strong backs, but 73 yr. old backs don't like that.

As to the halyard, a good topping lift will work also.

But like most things, simple is best, and if you don't mind the weight and can keep the anchor clear of the boat, do it by hand.

Nobody has called me a young buck for many, many years. Thank you, I appreciate

 

[Mantus Anchors]

More feed back on the Mantus from our customers:
I have been living on my Pacific Seacraft Orion 27 since Nov. 2011 I started from Cambride, MD , spent the first winter in Farendena, FL. Went back north as far as Washington,NC. proceeded south to Southport NC. I left Southport June 22 2012 arrived at Clearlake TX August 25 2012 and was hit by a Searay speed boat 2 hours after arriving. I have lived on the hook all but 9 days of that time. I have a Rocna 10 kilo and a Rocna 15 kilo that is presently my primary anchor, I have been very happy with them up to this point. We were having easterly wind of sustained 15 to 20 knots with gusts of up to 35 knots. When I noticed that I was draging down wind at a very slow rate of under 1 knot. My primary has never done that with all the varied bottoms that I encountered traveling the ICW from Southport around the Keys to Clearlake. I pulled the anchor and noticed that it hadn't completely burried itself having the rollbar showing the upper third clean of mud. I have an all chain rode of 5/16 " g4 and always set my anchor by backing down at 2300 rpms on the 2Qm15 Yanmar engine that is in Thalassa. I have been doing my own tests with a Mantus 8lb that I purchased at Boaters resale. I do admit that my testing is a little ruthless but I have no time in my life for fabicated truth. I have had the Mantus taking all the strain for the past 2 weeks on Clearlake with 12 feet of 1/4 chain and 3/8" rode of about 15 meters. I have reset the anchor every other day from my dinghy, and am very pleased with the holding as well as the retrieval. It sets quickly, holds fast and can be retrieved with the dinghy. It has come to the surface with no mud clogged on the fluke but once, and that time there was only about 20% of the fluke covered, witch was easily cleared with a few dunks in the water. The performance has been as good or better than my 16.5 lb claw anchor that I have to retrieve with Thaalassa, not being able to pull it out of the bottom with the dinghy.

This customer, later contacted me and bought two anchors, one as primary and one as a spare...

 

[Mantus Anchors]

Dang... you need to have balls of steel to take one of those to the Bahamas...

Microcruising.com

 

[kellysails]

Did a google search of the site "spade" site:sailnet.com and saw a MaineSail posting where he said the Aluminum Spade sucks, although he does like the steel version. Hmmm, certainly not going to get the Aluminum Spade now. Back to square one on storm anchor selection.

 

[Mantus Anchors]

Some more feed back on our "BABY"

John Young
7:35 PM (14 hours ago)

to me
Hi Greg,
We are in Georgetown Bahamas and headed for the Turks and Caicos tomorrow, just wanted to update that we LOVE THE ANCHOR and have named it Monte! Monte digs in hard every time we stop. We have not dragged once since we left Key west over a month ago and have anchored out all but about 5 days in some pretty tough conditions including a sleepless night at Allen Cay in the Exumas when the wind shifted from E to W and we knew Monte could not hold but he did.. We did have one instance where I let the chain out to fast and it got wrapped around the shank of the anchor and it never set but that was my fault! Anyway the Anchor, the Combo tool, the Chain hook and the bottle opener are all working perfectly for us.

Thanks for the great product,

John Young
S/V Jacasso
Sailing Jacasso

 

[smackdaddy]

I've become convinced. I'll be getting a Mantus for our boat.

I'll let you guys know how it works out for us.

 

[smackdaddy]

Check out what's gracing the bow of our beautiful new boat!

Is that thing gorgeous or what?!?!?

I bought it through the Sailnet store, of course. Flawless experience. And since Mantus is located pretty near our marina, I just arranged for pick-up instead of shipping. Sailnet made that happen without a fuss.

BUT, I just couldn't seem to get free when Mantus was open. So what did Greg K. do? He put the thing together for me and dropped it off at my boat!

Killer anchor - even more killer customer service. I'm a die-hard Mantus Dude now.

 

[sww914]

Cool!

 

[blt2ski]

Check out what's gracing the bow of our beautiful new boat!

Is that thing gorgeous or what?!?!?

I bought it through the Sailnet store, of course. Flawless experience. And since Mantus is located pretty near our marina, I just arranged for pick-up instead of shipping. Sailnet made that happen without a fuss.

BUT, I just couldn't seem to get free when Mantus was open. So what did Greg K. do? He put the thing together for me and dropped it off at my boat!

Killer anchor - even more killer customer service. I'm a die-hard Mantus Dude now.

So did you get service with a smile? or a frown? hmmmmmmm

Good on Greg!

Marty

 

[northoceanbeach]

If bolts are good enough for my keel they're good enough for my anchor. They seem a good choice. Expensive, but not overpriced like the ultra.