Fluke Angle

Fluke Angle is the angle between the centre lines of shank and flukes.

If you use a fluke angle of 36 degrees in soft clay, the anchor head will penetrate deeply, but the shackles - and eventually the chain - will slide on top of the soft clay. Thus the shank will make an angle of about 30 degrees to the seabed, forcing the flukes into an almost horizontal position and consequently the anchor cannot penetrate deeper and it will drag at a low resistance. What happens in that case is that the pendant buoy is pulled under water. The anchor is not going that deep. What actuallly happens, is that the anchor tunnels through the clay and the pendant line follows its horizontal path.


With the fluke angle set to 50 degrees, the shank will go in the same 30-degree position to the bottom, but there will be another 20 degrees left for the flukes to enable them to penetrate the soft clay deeper for more resistance.

1. A Flipper Delta Anchor® has standard the most universal angle for its design = 36 degrees. This angle can be used in 80% of worldwide soil conditions.


2. For very soft clay and mud, the angle must be increased to 50 degrees by cutting out the marked and pre-cut pieces of the tripping palms. Weld these pieces somewhere inside the anchorhead and do not let them get lost, because for other soil conditions they MUST be welded in place again. Then weld sides only, not the sloped pre-cut side.


3. For very hard bottom soils like rock, cemented sand or coral we recommend to reduce the fluke angle to 28 degrees to achieve a higher penetration force on the fluke tips. Be sure that the fluke tips are not blunt but sharp.