Anchor shopping

[jclays]

Having a hell of a time finding a genuine Bruce in the 44 thru 66 pound range. Been eyeing a Spade in the 55 LB range. Pricer than I thought.

Mod edit - you ended up with two threads on same topic, so I've merged them.

 

[jclays]

Having a hard time finding an Genuine Bruce in the 44 to 66 pound range.
Thinking of a Spade in the 55 pound range.
Anyone with a MS 350/390 what are you using.
Anyone with a Spade?
Does it fit the bow pulpit/roller?

 

[High Wire]

A Rocna Vulcan is essentially a Spade. 25Kg Vulcan would be very good even in GA/SC/NC mud if it fits. Not that you will get there though.

 

[rslifkin]

I'll second the Vulcan. From the tests I've seen, it's in the same league as the Spade, but cheaper. And I've been quite happy with my 73lb Vulcan so far. Both of those, plus a bunch of the other modern choices (Sarca Excel, etc.) give pretty good dimensioned drawings for their anchors. And some have templates you can print out and assemble to make a full-size mockup. All are useful in determining what will fit.

 

[jclays]

I was watching the anchor testing videos on YouTube done by Steve from SV Panope. He had a Knox anchor on his bench. Interesting looking however I haven’t seen the test of this particular anchor.

 

[Peter B]

I was watching the anchor testing videos on YouTube done by Steve from SV Panope. He had a Knox anchor on his bench. Interesting looking however I haven’t seen the test of this particular anchor.

Yes, do go back and watch all those. I think you'll find not being able to find a new Bruce type not so much of an issue after that. Later designs like those mentioned are better overall. It's called 'inevitable progress and development', I guess.

 

[Flatswing]

I had a Rocna, then a Vulcan on my GB36CL -both outstanding except in weed. Now I have a Spade on my DeFever replacing the Lewmar. Spade is also outstanding. Any of the newer styles per SV Panope seem to do the trick. Best fit for your bow roller would seem paramount else you won’t be happy.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Check out Steve’s vid’s of the ARA Excel.
Many here on the forum have them but Steve’s vids says it all.

 

[rochepoint]

Check out Steve’s vid’s of the ARA Excel.
Many here on the forum have them but Steve’s vids says it all.

Agree
We bought an Excel direct from Rex at AnchorrRight in Australia before the boys at Ground Tackle Marine became the North American dealers, we love it, it just sets and holds ......

 

[Duetto]

hi,

we have 2 boats, one has a rocna and the other (pilot 34) has a 40 lb spade. not sure the ms 350 anchor roller and our pilot roller are the same but the spade fits perfectly on the pilot roller. with that said we "upgraded" from the spade to the rocna. we used the spade for years on the icw & fl. when we began going to bahamas the spade had trouble in say a foot of sand on top of the limestone. i believe it's because of the v bottom whereas the rocna is flater. we have never tried the rocna on our mainship so i don't know if it would fit/work.

 

[jgwinks]

I don't think they make the real Bruce anymore, but the Lewmar Claw is really close. I had one in a previous boat and liked it a lot, but as so many have said above, the newer designs appear to be better. The Lewmar is inexpensive though, 66# for under $200 from some sellers. Three or four times that much for the newer ones.

 

[C lectric]

Bruces are no longer available and that has been the case for , I think, at least 10 years.
THey still make huge anchors but our little toy anchors no longer.

The only option is used but people with them are loathe to give them up even if they get another anchor.

There are other good anchors such as Rocna, Spade, Excel and so on.

 

[markpierce]

Lewmar Bruce knock-offs work well for me.

 

[C lectric]

I went to a ROcna about 7-8 yrs ago because I could not find a larger Bruce as they were off the market and no one was selling off the REAL Bruces

THere were a lot of copies, poorly made, and they were a waste of otherwise good metal????????

I see the Lewmar copies seem to be OK but I now have a good anchor and won't go back.

So I changed and have not been sorry.

Check used marine equipment places, Ebay, if you still want a real Bruce but be carefull about it being a real Bruce.

 

[Nomad Willy]

When one looks for a substitute for the old Bruce there is one thing that’s easily identifiable and that’s the throat angle. Lewmar Claws are very wide as in the angle between the upper part of the shank and the center fluke.

The Bruce has a rather shallow angle and this could be the reason they “seem” to work better. As you walk down the float you can clearly see the difference. I have a 33lb Lewmar and never have used it. Used a 22lb No Name Claw quite a bit w a fairly narrow throat angle. Not going to rave about it but it’s OK. It’s been modified twice now.

 

[DrissZougari]

I have a Delta (45LB) with 100ft chain and 200ft rode.
I also carry a Fortress FX-85 (47LB) equivalent to 70lb-90lb steel as a storm anchor hanging up on the rail up in the bridge aft deck.

 

[FF]

The original Bruce like the original CQR were forged and are preferred to the many crap copies.

 

[jgwinks]

I had the 22# Lewmar on a 28' sailboat. Anchored a lot in sand or mud and never dragged. Rode out a 60 knot storm once and only moved about 100 feet. I won't call that dragging as the anchor never released and judging from the effort required to recover it, it must have buried six or eight feet into the sand. I was pretty impressed.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Bruce or Claw they all seem to work in mud. A lot of SF bay boaters have no issues. No reason to switch to anything else. I went all the way to Ak and back using a 22lb Claw w my last boat (an Albin 25) and had almost no problems. Wasn’t eager to set a few times but that was all. Also there was no real wind to speak of that season.

But w any other bottom they become more limited in performance.

 

[Nomad Willy]

The original Bruce like the original CQR were forged and are preferred to the many crap copies.

The original Bruce is forged and thus far stronger. But calling non-bruce Claws “crap” is not accurate.

If you want to call something crap look at the cheapest danforth copies. They really are crap but Claws (on average) work at least fairly well. And I can only recall seeing one bent. That was on a fish boat. Old fishboat.

 

[jclays]

The boat that I am putting for sale has a genuine Bruce anchor. I’ve used this for 16 years. It’s a great anchor. Only failed once when I hooked up some underwater vegetation and the root ball pulled out.

 

[Nomad Willy]

I had the 22# Lewmar on a 28' sailboat. Anchored a lot in sand or mud and never dragged. Rode out a 60 knot storm once and only moved about 100 feet. I won't call that dragging as the anchor never released and judging from the effort required to recover it, it must have buried six or eight feet into the sand. I was pretty impressed.

Winks,
Here is a photo of a Lewmar Claw on a Canadian boat.
The bluntness of the fat fluke tips is very evident.
I have a 33lb Lewmar that I spend considerable time grinding away the excess (and then some) and it actually looks like it should work.
But I've never been sufficiently motivated to deploy this Big (to me) anchor. Still have intentions of trying it but .... so much to do.

 

[jclays]

Ya those Lewmars are pretty blunt. Not too fond of them. There are plenty around with the genuine Bruce being harder to find.

 

[motion30]

It is your money and your decision, you will buy a claw anchor if you wish. But compared to a new generation roll bar anchor it is like comparing a 55 Chevy to a 2021 Chevy. ,well maybe that's not even a good analogy because the 55 Chevy is a classic. the point is you can do much much better than an old fashioned claw anchor. But you pay your money and make your choices

 

[rsn48]

I agree with the above post. Anchors are divided into traditional and modern. Just about any modern will beat a traditional. Now having said that, something like a fortress will set up better in a sand bottom than a Rocna, but the Rocna will work over a wider range of ocean bottoms.

I'm not going to recommend an anchor except to say, get a modern one, Bruce and Bruce copies are traditional.

 

[Nomad Willy]

One of the things I like about traditional anchors is that most like Navy and Dreadnought anchors is that they rely more on weight and more importantly probably aren't as fussy about bottom type.

Looks at all the ships that travel the world and are more or less expected to be able to anchor anywhere. Especially w the Navy anchor.
I don't have a Navy in my locker but I do have a Dreadnought. The only big difference that I can see is that the shank on the Navy is a bit on the short side and square. Whereas the Dread's is really long and round. I've heard it was designed to use w/o chain. I didn't buy it w that in mind but I can see how the long shank (round and solid steel) could take the place of a boat length of chain.

I've only used it once and the standout performance feature was instant setting. It was like it was already set into the seafloor. No dragging to set. I backed as usual .. the slack came out of the line and I slowly applied power .. probably 1500 rpm. and the line just stayed straight. I actually had two Dreads. A 45lb (shown on the carpet) and a 35lb shown in bottom pic not long before I deployed it. I show a Navy (pic4) as some may not be familiar w it. The one in the third pic is the biggest Dread I've ever seen. Talked to the skipper of "Rauma" and was brave enough to ask him how it held. He said it holds in 50 knot summer gales but slowly drags in 60 knot winter gales".

Modern anchors are designed to hold as well as possible. Holding power is/was everything. Traditional anchors (before the Danforth) were apparently designed to do well enough wherever they found the seafloor.
I sorta think the goal w the traditional anchors was more useable. I've had many many anchors drag too much during setting or never set but I've not had an anchor fail to hold after I got it set to my satisfaction.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Ya those Lewmars are pretty blunt. Not too fond of them. There are plenty around with the genuine Bruce being harder to find.

Yes, harder to find.
But I see them quite regularly on CL.
They seem to know the Bruce is more sought after than the others. The prices of some list are almost shocking. I’d not pay much for a Claw but people know there is some demand for them.
I suspect that there are Claws that are a match for the Bruce (or even possibly better) but the trick is knowing which one. Maybe¢¢ the one called the Shark and possibly the “Sea Hook” by Sea Dog marine products. How many you see of any one brand is probably more a matter of their marketing an not a reflection of anchor performance.
I’m not impressed w the Lewmar either but quite a few seem to get good consistent performance. Notably Mark (w the Coot) and “FlyWright” have had years of good service w the Claws. The reason of course is the river and estuary mud bottoms. A perfect match for the Claw it seems.

 

[jclays]

Anchor shopping done!
A 20kg Genuine made in Belgium Bruce practically fell in my lap. A guy in the next marina recently purchased a sail boat and the Bruce that came with the boat did not properly fit his pulpit. He purchased a CQR . I gave him 100 for the Bruce. I’m now happy. Been looking for an original Bruce. Very hard to find in 44lb. Lots of copies.

 

[Shrew]

I have a Mainship 350 with a 44Lb Rocna Vulcan and around 130 feet of 5/16 chain backed by about 150 feet of 5/8 line. I only anchor is shallow water, so the line never leaves the anchor locker.

 

[jclays]

I have a Mainship 350 with a 44Lb Rocna Vulcan and around 130 feet of 5/16 chain backed by about 150 feet of 5/8 line. I only anchor is shallow water, so the line never leaves the anchor locker.

My new to me 97/350 came with a Danforth knock off , 12ft 5/16HT chain and 150’ of 3 strand nylon line. Not sufficient to do much.
Now that I have my anchor I need to buy 100ft of 5/16HT chain and 300ft of 5/8 three strand nylon line. I usually anchor in 25 to 100ft.