We finally decided on our new anchor and picked one up from the Toronto Boat show.
We finally bought our new boat anchor at the Toronto Boat Show to replace the anchor we lost leaving Toronto. After a lot of research and discussions. We originally looked at the following:
- Rocna
- Vulcan
- Spade
- Mantus
- CQR
- Delta
- Bruce
- Fortress
We wanted something easy to set in sandy and weedy areas. Most of our discussions and what we found online pointed to the Mantus being the best for this type of holding. However, we knew to be skeptical, we also found information on the internet for each anchor saying they were the best.
Round 1
Right away we saw that the CQR, Delta and Bruce were considered an older generation of anchor and less desirable than the Rocna, Vulcan, or Mantus. We’ve already had experience with a Fortress anchor on our previous boat, a Macgregor 26x. It is fantastic light weight anchor for the right conditions (sand, no weeds). We had difficulty setting it in the thick weeds around the Thousand Islands. We might consider a Fortress for a secondary (non-storm) anchor in the future. This left us with the following options:
- Rocna
- Vulcan
- Spade
- Mantus
Round 2
There are a lot of promising YouTube videos for the Mantus. But I’m not sure how unbiased they all are and how many are supported by Mantus. The following, is directly from the Mantus website.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdURE1-X0j8&w=560&h=315]
The YouTuber, SV Panope, put together a great video comparing anchors.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuVcCKzdxtU&w=560&h=315]
The Rocna and the Mantus are pretty much the same style of anchor with a roll hoop. Rocna seems to be the local favourite and it’s easy to find everywhere. The Mantus was a bit more difficult to find. I eventually decided on the Mantus because I think the slightly larger hoop is less likely to get clogged by weeds and I sometimes like to be just a little bit different from everyone else. Looking to the future we may want a secondary massive storm anchor and I like the idea of consistency and so having two Mantus anchors, one 35 lbs on the bow and a much larger one stored flat below deck seems like a good plan to me.
Anchor sizing
After reviewing the sizing on the Mantus site, we originally decided on the 45 lbs anchor based on this chart and went one size larger than worst case scenario.
Our boat is 34 feet and approx 10,000 lbs. We are planning to attach this anchor to 50 foot of 5/16″ high test chain with 150 5/8″ rode.
Based on the above chart, our boat could use the following anchors:
Day Anchor, recommended for winds < 30 knots: 25 lbs
Cruising Anchor, recommended for winds < 50 knots: 35 lbs
Storm Anchor, recommended for winds > 50 knots: 45 lbs
We also looked at the sizes, and started to get a bit worried about it fitting in our bow roller.
35 lbs sizing: 19.4″, 21.1″, 30.1″
45 lbs sizing: 21.8″, 23.7″, 33.8″
After talking with the salesperson, we decided to go with the 35 lbs and bought it from one of the few Mantus dealers in Canada, Marine Mart. We had found out ahead of time that they were going to be at the Toronto Boat Show. We picked up our anchor for $439.98 CAD, including taxes.
Our anchor unboxing
And here it is, all wrapped up in a lightly damaged cardboard and plywood box. Strange to buy a flat anchor.
Everything inside was nicely secured with easy to follow instructions.
Happy to find that they supplied the suggested grease for the bots.
I was a bit surprised that the anchor wasn’t as smooth and perfect as I was expecting.
The dimensions and the alignment of the pieces and bolts are perfect, but there are some imperfections in the galvanizing. Not sure if this is common in all of their anchors.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with this anchor and during our continual watching of sailing vlogs over the winter we keep seeing other boats with Mantus anchors so I still feel it was the right decision.
Waiting to complete our anchoring system with a Mantus Anchor Mate to help secure and protect our bow as well as 50 feet of chain and 150 feet of nylon rode.
April 14, 2019 at 9:38 pm
We have a cs34 as well, which came with a cqr, and we beginning to want cruise in the T Islands. We are looking at a Rocna, but also the boat has no windlass. Is Your boat setup with a windlass? and if so could you post the type and how it is mounted?
Kevin.
April 14, 2019 at 9:04 pm
Hi Kevin, congrats on the CS34!
On our boat we have a Lori windless and she works pretty well. Sometimes complains, but not that often.
We’ve been looking for a manual windless but they are hard to find. Not interested in an electric windlass since it needs a lot of power and a very thick power cable. We are going to try another season without a windless. Thought we could try running the nylon rode back to a winche when it’s really stuck. But will probably need to get one eventually, don’t want to break my Lori windlass.
Check out the Yahoo CS forums, maybe someone there will have better advice.
April 15, 2019 at 7:47 am
I found some information from Far Star from Brampton, ON. They installed a Lofrans Progress-I electric anchor windlass. But they found that the built-in mount in the anchor locker was too narrow for the motor to fit underneath so they glassed in a box to the right and then added an access panel (watertight circular hatch) inside the v-birth.
Site doesn’t exist anymore so had to use the Way Back Machine to see it:
https://web.archive.org/web/20051107090416/http://exmsft.com/~davidco/FarStar/upgrades.htm
There’s some talk about this in the Yahoo CS Owner’s Forum:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CSOA/conversations/messages/2944
Another option is the Lewmar, sounds like it’s more expensive but doesn’t need as much modification to the anchor locker.
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CSOA/conversations/messages/12151
Good luck, let me know how it goes!
April 17, 2019 at 9:10 pm
Shane,
Thanks, for the information including the links. For right now we probably will continue without a windlass and I am leading toward the mantus anchor as well.
Kevin