Manson Boss

[Jim Cooper]

Defender has the Manson Boss 45 lb. anchor on sale for $149


Can anyone comment from experience on how the Boss performs compared to the Manson Supreme or SARCA Excel?

 

[Pau Hana]

Had the Supreme, now have the Boss.

Excellent holding power, and no hoop- so it fits our bow pulpit.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Old Deckhand from Sitka has had one for 4 years about.
He’s always had good things to say about it.
I saw the sale and was thinking of buying one myself. Too bad Steve didn’t get his hands on the Boss. Should be about like the Vulcan but w more fluke area and hence more holding power. But it’s just a guess.

 

[Tonic1]

I have a 35 lb Boss on a Mainship Pilot 34 and it sets fast and secure every time I have used it. One of our favorite Anchorage is soft mud/sand but with a heavy grass cover and it is always completely buried when we swim out to check on it. I've not used the Supreme or Sarca, but am thoroughly satisfied with the Boss. We too bought from Defender on a sale and don't think you can go wrong. Check dimensions, it is a large anchor for its weight. Tons of surface area on the flukes. The 35 is absolutely as large as I could go on our boat..

Brett

 

[4mo]

I had a 35lb Boss and just upgraded to the 45lb Boss on my Carver 370 Voyager this spring when West Marine had it for ~$150. Dragged once last summer, but was running way to short a scope due to tide miscalculations. I've been impressed with the anchors, build quality seems great, but no experience with holding power vs. a Supreme.

 

[Rain Dog]

When I was considering the boss I ran across this review that I found helpful.

https://maiaaboard.blogspot.com/2015/12/manson-boss-anchor-18-month-review.html

I certainly agree with what they have to say about the slot. I am not sure why Manson persists with this dumb "feature" on their anchors. Everyone hated it on the Supreme too.

 

[4mo]

I'm a huge fan of the slot!

When West Marine sent my 45lb anchor (literally on my doorstep with a UPS label stuck on the fluke!) the "Preventer" was missing. After a few emails in which they mentioned shipping the anchor back to them and in turn shipping it back to the manufacturer (and I mentioned just sending me a nut and bolt), they decided the best course of action was to refund my money via a gift card and let me keep the anchor.

I will never use the slot, but I am a huge fan

 

[Tonic1]

4mo,

I was not a fan of the slot either, but you've convinced me it has a purpose!! I added an eye bolt to attach my tensioner to using the slot, but your use was much better.

 

[Rain Dog]

I'm a huge fan of the slot!

When West Marine sent my 45lb anchor (literally on my doorstep with a UPS label stuck on the fluke!) the "Preventer" was missing. After a few emails in which they mentioned shipping the anchor back to them and in turn shipping it back to the manufacturer (and I mentioned just sending me a nut and bolt), they decided the best course of action was to refund my money via a gift card and let me keep the anchor.

I will never use the slot, but I am a huge fan

Score!

 

[Bigsfish]

I had a Boss on my 43 GB and it performed flawlessly in winds as great as 40 mph. It is big, real big! When I bought the 54 GB I needed a 120 lb anchor, a Boss would have been way too large to have two anchors on the pulpit so I went with a Spade (Rockna was very large also with the hoop). Personally I think most of the new generation anchors are just fine.

 

[Shrew]

Everyone hated it on the Supreme too.

Hmm, I guess I missed that poll. I had a Manson Supreme and loved it. I also had a traditional Rocna and loved that. The only reason I went from the traditional rocna to the Manson was because, at the time, the Rocna had a recall on the Chinese made models because of issues with galvanization.

I currently have the Rocna Vulcan (a competitor to the Boss) and love that as well.

I would say that Rocna, Manson, or Spade you will do well with.

 

[Bigsfish]

What he said.

One advantage to the Spade that I grew to really like is that since it is painted yellow it is easy to see it bury, but then you could paint and anchor yellow.

 

[Rain Dog]

Hmm, I guess I missed that poll. I had a Manson Supreme and loved it.

You loved the rock slot? How did you use it?

 

[Nomad Willy]

Shrew wrote;
“The only reason I went from the traditional rocna to the Manson was because, at the time, the Rocna had a recall on the Chinese made models because of issues with galvanization.”

The way I heard it the shank was mild steel.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Re the slot it would be good on any anchor that was very dependable re setting. Like the ARA SARCA. In Steve’s vids it just dove into the seafloor every time. So it should re-set easily. There is a feature on the shank end of the SARCA that prevents slot tripping unless the rode is basically vertical. Best of both worlds. And in the PNW w considerable logging debris on the bottom the slot should save your buns more often than not. It’s like having a trip line all the time w/o any of the associated hassle. I wouldn’t disable the slot on the SARCA.
But I did on the Supreme, however it has almost the best holding power in the world and in Steve’s vids it was the best at short scope. I bought my Supreme mostly for that reason. Setting and short scope is most important to me.

 

[Rain Dog]

Re the slot it would be good on any anchor that was very dependable re setting. Like the ARA SARCA. IN Steve’s vids it just dove into the seafloor every time. So it should re-set easily. And in the PNW w considerable logging debris on the bottom the slot should save your buns more often than not. I wouldn’t disable the slot on the SARCA. But the Supreme has almost the best holding power in the world and in Steve’s vids it was the best at short scope. I bought my Supreme mostly for that reason.

Are you saying you attach your rode to the slot of your Supreme instead of to the eye?

 

[Nomad Willy]

Rain Dog,
That’s what I did (using a bolt and flat washers) but my Supreme is so modified now you would no longer recognize it as a Supreme.
But re your question I used the slot because it gave a slightly wider (greater) throat angle and at the time I was of the opinion that it would contribute to holding ability on short scope.

Now with an unmodified Supreme I’d use the “eye”.
It may have better setting.

 

[Bigsfish]

I never trusted the slot so I put a bolt with a nylon lock nut through the slot so it was not used .

 

[Phil23]

Supreme is the Boss

 

[Simi 60]

You loved the rock slot? How did you use it?

I've used ours exactly as advertised when day anchoring on reef.
80 ft was to deep to dive if jammed
150 lb anchor and the chain was to expensive to simply sacrifice if jammed.

 

[Simi 60]

Of interest, I was being sold on the Boss by a reseller in Australia.

When I sent details of our vessel with pics to Manson NZ and told them to suggest the "Armageddon" anchor they said no to the boss and were quite firm in pushing the Supreme.

I even tried to talk them up a size or two, more $$ for them, but the assured me it was not required.

Having seen 80+ knots and not a single inch of drag (but did stretch the chain) in 3+ years of full time cruising I reckon they were possibly correct.

I suspect, and I could be wrong, that the Supreme is a more robust anchor.
Less surface area but thicker metal is probably more important on a heavy boat.

 

[Nomad Willy]

I agree w you Simi,
I held a Boss at a boat show about when they came out and thought of them being a bit “frail”. “OldDeckhand” in Sitka Ak has had one for years and always has good to say. Others have them on TF and I’ve heard no horror stories or other negative comments.

For holding power most of the road to success seems to be getting as much fluke area as possible while minimizing other parts of the anchor. Looking at the Boss I see little chance of improvement. Of course there’s more to it than that. Look at the highest holding power roll bar anchor .. the Rocna. And compared to others it has a fairly high surface area. Never seen the Boss and the Rocna in an anchor test done on/in a typical bottom. I see the Boss to best the Rocna but ???