The Mantus anchor has a sharp tip to cut through seaweed.
photographs and video by the author
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Some of us have found that a drywall bucket makes a pretty good non marring carrier for a claw anchor and rode in a little boat. Take the bail off and replace it with a rope bail. Anyway, will the Manta anchor fit into a bucket? Length and width? The bucket walls keep you from gouging the boat with the anchor and the rode dropped into the bucket will not foul when you are setting it. Danforths won’t work this way but you can make or have made a bag for it, a bit wider and narrower than the usual “coal” bag carrier. With all anchors I put a small slipped lashing to keep them in the container and to keep the container in the boat, something I have learned about the hard way.
The Mantus Dinghy anchor is 16 1/4″ long and 10 5/16″ across. The wide tail end of the anchor fits into the bottom of a 5-gallon bucket with about 3/4″ to spare. In length the anchor is about 3″ longer than the bucket is tall.
Here is a link from the Mantus site with the dimensions of their dinghy anchor. The idea of a modern anchor which disassembles to flat is great.
Thanks for finding that link. Although the dinghy anchor is called a 2-lb anchor the weight listed at that linked site is 2.5 pounds, the same figure I recorded.
I use a small Mantus as the main for my Compac 19 because it is very unobtrusive on the bowsprit, and it has worked very well in weeds and muddy bottoms. I keep a larger Fortress in a locker for those nights when stronger winds are expected. I’ve never had a problem swinging to Fortress and Danforth anchors, even in weeds (where they are supposed to not work well). I used to have a Bruce on my former Alberg 30 and found it highly unsatisfactory, having dragged many times.
I find that buckets, while useful, can take up a lot of room. Instead, I’ve made a roll-top bag out of canvas, with a snap buckle at the top like a dry bag. It’s easy to carry and deploy my little anchor from the bag and it prevents paint or varnish from getting scratched easily.