The consensus among anchor makers (Fortress, Bruce, Manson, Mantus) is that holding power in soft bottoms increases in approximate proportion with anchor mass; exponents range from 0.92 to 1.0. While there are differences between models and manufacturers, a 35-pound Mantus should hold roughly 18 times more than a 2-pound Mantus, and a Fortress FX-16 should hold four times more than a Guardian G5.
If we compare our soft mud 2.5-pound Mantus holding result (35 pounds) with the 45-pound Mantus result (750 pounds), the scale-up error is about 20 percent. The same is true for the Guardian/Fortress comparison and the Claw comparison: about 20-percent scale-up error. The drag-in distance to full holding was proportional to the anchors physical size, a trend supported by U.S. Navy testing; Anchors tested at Solomons Island took 30 to 40 feet to develop full hold, while the small anchors took 4 to 10 feet. These are averages; variations between runs were often 50 percent or more, often due to trash in the mud.
Overall, the burying behavior, turning behavior, and relative holding power of the pint-sized anchors in consistent sand and soft mud is consistently proportional to full-size anchors. In other bottoms, especially those that are hard to penetrate, the results are less comparable.
