Great video. Incredible public service. Bruce copies are amongst the most common anchors I see at my marina. It is surprising how poorly these perform when compared to the genuine.
Steve, very interesting. My boat (14tonnes fin keel 44ft yacht) originally had a Bruce but the former owner lost the Bruce and replaced it with a 30kg Lewmar Claw. This season, before we swapped out the Claw for a Vulcan, the Claw dragged on us twice. Having used a Rocna for the past decade we were very surprised as we’re not used to the anchor dragging. I studied the Claw before I fitted the Vulcan, I too was surprised at the thickness of fluke and the “bluntness”, difficult to imagine how it would aggressively set. I can report that the Vulcan, downsized compared to the Claw, to 25kg, has been excellent, no problems no dragging. Rob
I love watching your anchor tests and despite your repeated tests of Lewmar claws not looking like they are good, our 15kg (stainless) Lewmar Bruce style anchor has never dragged in strong winds and grabs quickly every time we use it in different anchorages. Our experience with it has been great. We normally cruise in the Pacific Northwest area.
Thanks for your reports. Very interesting and very valuable. Hope you get to testing the 30+ pounders. I'd love to see the Vulcan and M2 compared. Regards.
These are surely not good for anchoring large boats while cruising, etc., but they are great fishing anchors. One size oversized with 25' of chain and it's worked very well in both 25' and 19' boats (22 and 16.5 lbs version respectively). It holds in current and wind, in sand, mud, and rocks, doesn't get hung up easily, and can be rigged to break away. True that even in wind and current I probably don't even need 100 lbs of holding power. Plus they are cheap so they can be replaced. They have a place...
I wonder if you may have some interest in producing a video comparing two anchors off the bow such as Bahamian style versus one oversized anchor. I have found with my small sailboat two anchors off the bow reduces fishtailing in the wind but I don't know if it actually makes any difference. I really enjoy your videos and have learned so much please keep it up.
Two anchors off the bow in a "V" pattern will reduce yawing (fishtailing) and may increase holding power. However, if the wind shifts there is a risk of having all force concentrated on one anchor which may drag into (and foul with) the other. Also, if anchored for longer periods (days), the boat may drift in circles, which will result in the rodes being wrapped around each other, which can cause problems on retrieval. If crew is able to manage these issues, then multiple anchor deployment can be a great thing. Personally, I lean toward a "one big anchor" philosophy, but I would not hesitate to deploy a second in a special circumstance.
@@flygoodwin thank you for your reply. I found this also to be the case. My primary ground tackle is oversized but the recent big blow that came through where I live on Vancouver Island I did deploy a second anchor and with gusts in the 40 knot range and steady winds blowing 25-30 my small boat didn't move. Thanks again for all your videos.
Is there a difference in the twist of the side flukes of the lewmar vs the bruce? It seemed like the bruce has a more twist in certain camera angles. If there is, I wonder if that also affected the lewmar's ability to right itself and have increased holding power.
Overall, the twist of the side flukes appear similar to the genuine Bruce. However, near the leading edge of the Claw, a generous radius or "camber" exists while the Bruce in this area is flat. It is very difficult to predict how this difference might affect performance, but I am sure that it does in some way.
Ive complained before about some of your subjective spreadsheet categories. I gotta say this new factor of price/weight is whacky. I'm not clear exactly how you calculate it. For me, the key to all of this is performance per weight. Performance per cost is of some importance too. In terms of performance per weight the M2 is a beast. It tops out your charts but is maybe 20% less heavy than the anchors toping the category. The M2 deserves a boost for performing so well given its weight but in your final rankings it gets pulled down in the rankings because you divide the price of an anchor by its weight. A lighter anchor gets a lower score. This is backwards. I also note pricing differs by jurisdiction. Here in BC Mantus anchors are about half the cost of Excel and Spade anchors, it appears your pricing is different. I suggest you add a category called performance per weight. Otherwise, Mantus should send you their 25lb M2. It would not be the heaviest but would likely dominate the rankings. Thank you for your work.
It appears that you are unaware that in the charts depicted in this video, the holding performance rank is calculated by dividing the holding power by the anchor weight.
My Formula 34PC year 2000 came with a genuine 22lb Bruce claw. Terrible anchor. Ditched that as quick as I could and went with a 35lb Mantus. So much better. The claw is the worst!!
As many, I have to praise your dedication to the testing of anchor to avoid us to make our "bad" experience. May I encourage you to test also some fluke kind of anchor common in south of Europe (France, Italy...) like the Britany, the FOB HB and FOB THP or even the french system "stop-ancre" which enhance the performance of fluke anchors (here : th-cam.com/video/CAdufHJwvUE/w-d-xo.html )
Great video. Incredible public service. Bruce copies are amongst the most common anchors I see at my marina. It is surprising how poorly these perform when compared to the genuine.
Steve, very interesting. My boat (14tonnes fin keel 44ft yacht) originally had a Bruce but the former owner lost the Bruce and replaced it with a 30kg Lewmar Claw. This season, before we swapped out the Claw for a Vulcan, the Claw dragged on us twice. Having used a Rocna for the past decade we were very surprised as we’re not used to the anchor dragging. I studied the Claw before I fitted the Vulcan, I too was surprised at the thickness of fluke and the “bluntness”, difficult to imagine how it would aggressively set. I can report that the Vulcan, downsized compared to the Claw, to 25kg, has been excellent, no problems no dragging. Rob
Thank you for that report, Robert.
I love watching your anchor tests and despite your repeated tests of Lewmar claws not looking like they are good, our 15kg (stainless) Lewmar Bruce style anchor has never dragged in strong winds and grabs quickly every time we use it in different anchorages. Our experience with it has been great. We normally cruise in the Pacific Northwest area.
Thanks for your reports. Very interesting and very valuable. Hope you get to testing the 30+ pounders. I'd love to see the Vulcan and M2 compared. Regards.
Great video. Apperciate the chart at the end. Thank you.
You're welcome, Lee
These are surely not good for anchoring large boats while cruising, etc., but they are great fishing anchors. One size oversized with 25' of chain and it's worked very well in both 25' and 19' boats (22 and 16.5 lbs version respectively). It holds in current and wind, in sand, mud, and rocks, doesn't get hung up easily, and can be rigged to break away. True that even in wind and current I probably don't even need 100 lbs of holding power. Plus they are cheap so they can be replaced. They have a place...
Thanks for your nice videos, I keep following 😄
My intention is not to mock - but, a tin bucket semi filled with lead would maybe make a better performance?
I wonder if you may have some interest in producing a video comparing two anchors off the bow such as Bahamian style versus one oversized anchor. I have found with my small sailboat two anchors off the bow reduces fishtailing in the wind but I don't know if it actually makes any difference. I really enjoy your videos and have learned so much please keep it up.
Two anchors off the bow in a "V" pattern will reduce yawing (fishtailing) and may increase holding power. However, if the wind shifts there is a risk of having all force concentrated on one anchor which may drag into (and foul with) the other.
Also, if anchored for longer periods (days), the boat may drift in circles, which will result in the rodes being wrapped around each other, which can cause problems on retrieval. If crew is able to manage these issues, then multiple anchor deployment can be a great thing.
Personally, I lean toward a "one big anchor" philosophy, but I would not hesitate to deploy a second in a special circumstance.
@@flygoodwin thank you for your reply. I found this also to be the case. My primary ground tackle is oversized but the recent big blow that came through where I live on Vancouver Island I did deploy a second anchor and with gusts in the 40 knot range and steady winds blowing 25-30 my small boat didn't move. Thanks again for all your videos.
Is there a difference in the twist of the side flukes of the lewmar vs the bruce? It seemed like the bruce has a more twist in certain camera angles. If there is, I wonder if that also affected the lewmar's ability to right itself and have increased holding power.
Overall, the twist of the side flukes appear similar to the genuine Bruce. However, near the leading edge of the Claw, a generous radius or "camber" exists while the Bruce in this area is flat. It is very difficult to predict how this difference might affect performance, but I am sure that it does in some way.
what is the chepest of the best new anchor ?
Ive complained before about some of your subjective spreadsheet categories. I gotta say this new factor of price/weight is whacky. I'm not clear exactly how you calculate it. For me, the key to all of this is performance per weight. Performance per cost is of some importance too. In terms of performance per weight the M2 is a beast. It tops out your charts but is maybe 20% less heavy than the anchors toping the category. The M2 deserves a boost for performing so well given its weight but in your final rankings it gets pulled down in the rankings because you divide the price of an anchor by its weight. A lighter anchor gets a lower score. This is backwards. I also note pricing differs by jurisdiction. Here in BC Mantus anchors are about half the cost of Excel and Spade anchors, it appears your pricing is different. I suggest you add a category called performance per weight. Otherwise, Mantus should send you their 25lb M2. It would not be the heaviest but would likely dominate the rankings. Thank you for your work.
It appears that you are unaware that in the charts depicted in this video, the holding performance rank is calculated by dividing the holding power by the anchor weight.
My Formula 34PC year 2000 came with a genuine 22lb Bruce claw. Terrible anchor. Ditched that as quick as I could and went with a 35lb Mantus. So much better. The claw is the worst!!
Ultra ??
As many, I have to praise your dedication to the testing of anchor to avoid us to make our "bad" experience. May I encourage you to test also some fluke kind of anchor common in south of Europe (France, Italy...) like the Britany, the FOB HB and FOB THP or even the french system "stop-ancre" which enhance the performance of fluke anchors (here : th-cam.com/video/CAdufHJwvUE/w-d-xo.html )
Bruce. The only anchour that has failed me and dragged. Never been a fan of the design.