This channel is great ... it will force all anchor manufacturers to up their game!

Thanks for that great work. Came in a Knick of time as I am in the process of buying a 33kg Mantis in prep for a cruise from Europe to Australia. It seems the best twin anchor combination to have aboard includes a Fortress.

Great videos. And a great service to the boating community.

My boat anchor choices is the Fortress for sand and kedge with the Excel for everything else.

Steve, Very useful information once again, thanks, I am anchor buying this spring and hoping that Lewmar send you an Epsilon for testing before I have to make the purchase decision. Robert

Hello Steve What a great job ! I am wondering if you are planing to test the new Lewmar Epsilon as it looks a very interesting design and good value for money . Costas Corfu , Greece

After having watched many of your videos, it seems that Spade might be quite reliable anchor for general purpose (main bower) use. Nice if testing in loose sand will be included in future testing schedule. Spade and Excel seem to priced quite similarly in the USA and Canada, but does Excel have a distributor in Northern Europe?

Steve. I had a thought about the clumping/sticking of the seabed on the fluke. I tried this experiment in my prop after two season's ago season's "furry" prop. In the pre-season, every time I went to work on my boat, I sprayed Teflon on the prop. I ended up putting on about four coatings. After pulling the boat, the prop was clean. I thought of this when the Teflon spray keeps the snow from sticking to a shovel. Do you think a few coatings of Teflon would help the seabed from sticking and preventing the anchor from diving? I may give this a try and see if my Rocna comes up with less mud on it!

Are there compelling reasons you wouldn’t test a fortress that is of a similar weight as the other ⚓️anchors? And thank you for exploring the various seabed’s and updating your protocols ...looking forward to #100 .... maybe a ‘greatest hits compilation ‘...

Forgive me if this question is answered elsewhere - this is the first of your vids I have watched so far - but where can I put the Lbs of thrust into context compared to a boat in the wind? i.e. what would 500lbs of thrust compare to? A 40ft yacht in a certain wind strength for eg?

Can you test the fortress in the difference fluke angle? My fortress only allows it to sit in the roller in the 45 degree setting. The 32 degree setting the flukes contact my pulpit. I am worried the 45 degree setting might not be the best for sand where I usually anchor

Nice, a new seabed! That’s almost of the same kind we’ve here in the Mediterranean, so far really interesting. Regarding Rocna it’s quite embarrassing it didn’t perform well on any seabed you’ve tested and what scares me is that it’s one of the most used anchors worldwide. That formation you’ve encountered seems more like calcium or a thin layer of concrete, shouldn’t foam float?

The seashell fouling; wonder if there’s merit in maintaining a sharp edge (like an axe) on the anchor tip?

Would it be possible for you to get the mantus m2?

Can you or have you ever tested a large fisherman anchor as a storm anchor, say a 90lb Luke?

Can we buy Excel in the states?

I think all anchors will fail if the pull is up, not horizontal. Scope and rode WEIGHT is important. Here is a test I would like to see. Attach an all rope rode to a the base of tree and the other end to a backhoe or maybe a crane. Discover how much force it takes to "lift" a certain length of rode with a certain scope off of the ground completely so the pull is now somewhat up and not entirely horizontal. Do the same with rope and 20' of chain. Then all chain. Vary the length of rode, composition (rope/chain) and scope. I'd be very interested to learn of the results.