Love it! I used claws for l5 years from cape cod to the exumas and I can count on the finger of one hand the failed first set or drag event. It held us in some nasty squalls too. The key like every anchor is to oversize it and use enough scope.
Your talking about the Bruce Styled Claw anchor? Luv it. Been our main hook for many, many years now.
Yes. It’s a 66 lb. For a 42’ motor yacht. A little oversized not much for a 30k pound boat. I’ve always been a Mantus or rocna fan but seeing this large enough and if you all recommend it I’ll keep it!
Mantus and Rocna are two of the "new generation" anchors that often spark endless debates in forums, youtube video comparisons, and whatnot. My take on that is that Pascal pretty much said everything that can be said about anchors: any large brick, deployed with enough scope, is good enough for "normal" anchorages. As opposed to extreme conditions of gale force winds, often referenced by keyboard warriors but irrelevant in practice, because avoiding that type of situations is what seamanship is all about, rather than find an anchor that can cope with them!
I used a 176 lbs Claw on an 84 skylounge for 5 years and before that on a 70’ skylounge for almost 10 years. As oversized as an anchor can be but I value my sleep at night. And yes we anchor a lot like about 90% of the time when in the Bahamas. avoiding weather isn’t always possible… sometimes docking isn’t an option and wind may come from a direction with limited or no shelter. many worst anchoring experiences came after I took over the lazzara 110 I m running now. It had two 200lbs Poole type anchors which simply wouldn’t hold the boat even in everyday conditions without at least 10:1 scope. First trip to the exumas was a nightmare. I eventually found a 400 pounder which solved the problem. Drop and done. No worries. It looks a little funny on the bow but I don’t care . It sticks out of the pocket and we had to add a couple of SS blocks for the flukes to snug against but again I value my sleep…
I guess I'll be the other opinion. We had 2 Bruce claw 110's on our vessel. we are about 80 loa and 160k lbs loaded. Now, this vessel has been all over the world and I can only imagine has spent many nights at anchor, and the originals were still there 20 years later. However, I just have had the worst time getting them to hook reliably here in the PNW. Muddy / and sometime seaweedy moorages. I would put out extra scope in calm anchorages and still just had a hard time hooking them. I'm not new to anchoring, having had probably 1000+ anchorings in my prev 5 vessels and have always been that guy that is proud that I have never slipped anchor and usually always nailed it on the first shot. The previous owner (a friend) had it for 5 years and I watched him slip a few times and again he is a seasoned yachtsman. So, I swapped one out to a mantus m2 and upsized to the 175. Obviously this is a huge upsize from the 110. Since doing this, I haven't moved at all. I have reduced scope to 2:1 in calm anchorages, and 3 or 4:1 when on the sound. Not exactly scientific as I upsized and changed style, but for me its been peace of mind. I had a Mantus M1 on our prev 55' and in 3 years never slipped. Again, I oversized it. I think that's the theme as Pascal has also noted. I am sure the claw is amazing.. and likely should have just looked for a larger one of those, but I figured if I was going to spend it, I may as well go with what I know and am comfortable with. ultimately, Id say give it a try. see how it is over a month or two and go from there. best of luck JP
For a chance to snorkel the anchor today, at Big Majors Exuma and took come pictures. It s been pretty good so far since we installed it last year but I still miss a Bruce/Claw. I have to use 50% more chain than I used to. With the 84 Getting the 176 Bruce out of the bottom in this very same spot felt like pulling a teeth… I would often just wait a couple of minutes with the chain right above the anchor for it to pull out of the bottom. This 400 pounder comes right up without putting a fight.
Sorry if this comes across as an attempt to teach grandma how to suck eggs, but it seems to me that you should give that anchor a bit stronger reverse pull, after dropping it. In fact, I don't see any sign of drag in front of the anchor, and it looks very lightly buried in the seabed. I guess your previous Bruce was faster and very good to set into a sandy bottom - though I wouldn't trust it a lot in a weed seabed. But when I had a boat with Hall anchors, which arguably are even more rudimental than Pool (and just about anything else!), here's how one of them used to look after a decent reverse pull on a compact sandy bottom... ...and the winch did struggle a bit to recover it!
I ve never had to do this with the Bruce, the weight of the boat and windage, 84’ with 176 lbs anchor, once the chain was out the boat would just snap into the wind. that said, the windage should pull enough to set it deeper. I don’t think it would set any deeper using power Couple of days Ago the wind picked up to 20/25 and we dragged about 50’. No big deal but that never happened with the Bruce. Extra wind should be the same as using power to set.
Pascal, on that BA Poole; Could some adjustments (with a big grinder?) be made to increase the fluke angle? Maybe some grinding to help the flukes poke into the sand a lil better also? I'm wondering if a BA Claw anchor would look better in that hawse anyway. But I do feel your pain. 20 years ago, our Bert came with a BA 60H Danforth High Tensile. We learned the hard way, that big, heavy and pretty anchor could not hold a canoe on a calm morning. Then our first Bruce styled, galvanized Claw,,, Been hooked ever since.. I keep these FX85s for backup, never needed them.
Thanks guys I think I’ll give her a try . Give it the ole back down on her hard and see how she holds?
