- The Spade Anchor -

- A Problem that is Resolved -

The Spade anchor works great in our experience, just like the tests indicate. We have been using our aluminum A80 version of the Spade Anchor constantly for 7 years, since 2004 in New Zealand.

It's been our primary anchor since Chrissi flew in with it from the States - ah, the advantages and pleasures of lightness! At only 7 kilos, it's been perfect for our 3 ton, low windage high-performance trimaran. We've loved it for its quick sure sets, good holding, easy storage and general ease of use.

But there was a problem, at least with our older Aluminum version of the Spade. The internal balast near the tip that makes it work so well was corroding away the aluminum body of the anchor! See the photos below.

We had to test the Spade anchor lifetime warantee because it is was failing us catastrophically. Happy to say, Sea Tech and Fun respected the warantee and went out of their way to make sure we were happy at our long remove from their company - half way around the world in Borneo!

Added later:
The warantee worked, and Evan at the American distributor Sea Tech and Fun went out of his way to ensure that getting the anchor went as smoothly as possible.

Here are a couple of photos of the new anchor. It is actually a new upgraded model- changed a few years ago due to the corrosion problems - that cannot suffer the same problems as our old Spade. The balast is now insulated from the aluminum body and the corrosion problems are solved. Click the photos for a more detailed full-size view in a new window.

And this one:

The Problem that was resolved:

In these photos you can see how the old anchor was eating itself.
Click for a full-size view in a new window.

Our aluminum Spade A80 anchor
still works great after 7 years of constant use as our primary anchor.

Spade Anchor Problem? Yes. This old version suffered electrolysis problems.
Our Spade was disintegrating. The internal balast that makes it set so well
was reacting with the aluminum body of the anchor and eating it away.
See the dramatic deterioration in the following photos:

How long will it be before the body of this Spade anchor will explode?

Happily this problem has been addressed by Spade and
they replaced our defective Spade anchor promptly.
So it's back to having a great anchor now, and great service too.

AND THEY DID!! THANKS.

More Yachting Equipment - good and bad - coming soon.