Rocna's new anchor/ Hey, Anchor thread!!!

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by HopCar

I was very impressed by how clean and even the welds were. The same holds true for the Rocna.

Originally Posted by Dockhead

But here are some observations:

1. It's all cast! That's a good idea. How many of the weaknesses of modern anchors come from trying to form them out of plate.

Hmmm...

Are we talking about the same anchor here?

Which of you normally factual guys are right here?

Jim

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by cwyckham

. I'm not sure I like a cast shank. Castings tend to be brittle and prone to inclusions. I prefer forging or plate.

While this observation is often true, consider that the genuine Bruce anchors were all cast and had a very enviable record for strength and reliability.

Jim

[cwyckham]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

While this observation is often true, consider that the genuine Bruce anchors were all cast and had a very enviable record for strength and reliability.

Jim

I didn't know that! I do see that it was heat treated which would solve the brittleness problem but not the problem of inclusions or other potential QC issues. I still prefer forged or plate.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Hmmm...

Are we talking about the same anchor here?

Which of you normally factual guys are right here?

Jim

The *.mp4 movie (a fun watch for any anchor tragic, especially for the two scenes of semi-excavated well set Rocna Original and Rocna Vulcan anchors) available for free download from http://www.rocna.com.au/video/rocna-...-film_720p.mp4 both shows and states that the Rocna Vulcan is welded.

Footage includes scenes of the robot welding process. Which explains HopCar's report of a quality fillet weld.

I'm uncertain that the robot welding set up (as shown in the movie) is the production process. By which I don't mean to doubt that the Rocna Vulcan will be assembled by robot welding, but instead that what is shown in the movie likely is not the production welder.

The Vulcan is not cast! But it can be thrown. Or dropped.

Al

[Kenomac]

It's hard to figure out why so many folks seem to get so excited about a new anchor from the Rocna people? Several years ago, my oversized Rocna dragged in weed, then a couple of months later it was re-called for being made of crap Chinese steel. I switched to another anchor using my recall money, but it's puzzling why so many get so excited about the same company making a new anchor which looks exactly like a copy of several others.

I guess their aggressive marketing works.

[transmitterdan]

The Vulcan looks as if the fluke is a single cast piece welded to the shank. The shank appears to be machined from a plate.

[model 10]

Originally Posted by transmitterdan

The Vulcan looks as if the fluke is a single cast piece welded to the shank. The shank appears to be machined from a plate.

That would be to expensive. It needs to be a forging or a casting.

[Opie91]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

but it's puzzling why so many get so excited about the same company making a new anchor which looks exactly like a copy of several others.

I guess their aggressive marketing works.

I suspect it may be Ultra = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Ronca= $$$

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by Guy

That would be to expensive. It needs to be a forging or a casting.

The video doesn't make it clear. The shank might be forged. They show a laser cutter cutting something out of a plate and then machining what is obviously a Vulcan shank. But not clear if they are the same. It could be the Vulcan shank is forged and the fluke is cast. Maybe the video was showing prototypes being made and not real production parts. It's a marketing video after all.

[CAELESTIS]

I have one, the shank is welded.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

It's hard to figure out why so many folks seem to get so excited about a new anchor from the Rocna people? Several years ago, my oversized Rocna dragged in weed, then a couple of months later it was re-called for being made of crap Chinese steel. I switched to another anchor using my recall money, but it's puzzling why so many get so excited about the same company making a new anchor which looks exactly like a copy of several others.

I guess their aggressive marketing works.

I would have to agree with you.

[HopCar]

The Vulcan shank is machined from plate. It is welded to the blade.
You should bear in mind that this anchor is not made by the same company that made the re-called anchors. The current Rocna and Vulcan is made by Canada Metals in their own factories, not contracted out. Canada Metals has very high quality control. I bet many of you have their anodes on your boat or outboard.

[noelex 77]

I think the new Rocna is an exciting development, at least to us anchorholics

The steel Spade anchor is one of the top anchors with the valuable attribute that without a roll bar it will fit virtually all crusing yachts.

The Spade does have some drawbacks. It cannot be re-galvanised, which is a pain for full time cruising boats that need the coating replaced frequently. It is also expensive and has poor distribution in some countries, making it hard to source.
Finally, it does not have a warranty that covers deformation, although it is such a strong anchor that bending is unlikely.

The Rocna solves all the above problems, although I have not heard the price yet.

The question is will it work as well, or better than the Spade.

Rocna are playing down the performance. If you read between the lines of their advertising spiel it implies that original Rocna is the superior performer. With the Vulcan reserved as the model to pick only when the roll bar prevents the original from fitting.

I don't think we should pay much attention to what Rocna say in their advertising. Rocna need to be careful promoting an anchor that looks like the Spade. Many years ago Spade produced and sold an anchor that was nearly identical to the Rocna. The Seablade. It was a clever bit of marketing. By selling both designs, but promoting the Spade as the better anchor they could effectivly knock the opposition (Rocna and MS) without attacking their products directly. I suspect part of marketing of the Vulcan is returning the favour.

I don't think the Seablade, Spade's roll bar anchor was even Intended to be a commercial success (did they sell any?), whereas the Vulcan is being marketed in much more serious way. However, we will need to wait for some independent reports to assess the Vulcan.

The Spade has been out a long time. Rocna would have obviously compared the Vulcan to the Spade so there is some hope that they have managed to improve on the design. Even if they have produced something with similar performance to the Spade it will be a great option.

This is the Seablade:

[Pelagic]

Why can you not re-galvanize a Spade?

[noelex 77]

The lead in the tip creates problems when re- galvanising.

In theory I understand it should be possible to melt out the lead, galvanise the anchor then reinsert the lead, but in practice galvanisers don't seem to be prepared to do this. It should also be possible to "flash" galvanise the anchor, but once again it does not seem to happen in practice.

Spade have released an epoxy refinishing product that can be applied by owners, but like most paint systems it has a much shorter life than galvanising.

Lead is of course much denser than steel and the high tip weight without making the tip enormously thick and bulky is one of the keys to Spade's excellent performance. Anchors like the Delta and Kobra use steel ballast which is easier and cheaper to manufacture, but without a roll bar the ballast is important to orient the anchor correctly. Without lead, manufacturers are forced to make the ballast chamber bigger which inhibits penetration or reduce the amount of ballast which inhibits initial penetration in hard substrates.

The holy grail of anchor design is produce a non roll bar anchor that can still orient itself correctly without any (or very little) ballast. The Manson Boss is an example of this sort of development. I expected something similar from Rocna with this new anchor. The Vulcan is nothing like the Boss and from photographs (I have not seen the real thing). It looks very similar to the Spade and Ultra. However, the patent application does hint that the fundamental design works without ballast and the ballast chamber looks quite small. So perhaps they have come up with some sort of compromise. On the other hand, perhaps lead ballast was just too expensive .