Experience with Rocna Vulcan

[Boatguy30]

Being a small cat owner, I'm keen to have the lightest anchor capable of doing an adequate job.

After 4 months with a US made Delta copy a "Kodiak" weighing 38 lbs, I was looking at the spade A80. But at $750 or so bucks I was unsure the weight savings was worthwhile.

I settled on the 12kg Vulcan, roughly half way between my 38lb anchor and the 7kg A80. The Vulcan has 80 mm'2 more than the A80 and roughly the same as the Kodiak. Also the shank is much shorter so will fit better over my front beam without wearing the net.

Here is a pic of my Vulcan "set" outside my backdoor a little while after being delivered by UPS in my sandy backyard.

Not much online about experiences in actual use. One guy in OZ apparently had it drag one night. A Newick 38 tri has been using an A80 in the pacific and SE Asia for 8 years. Claims it has never dragged. Vulcan is basically the same design less the longer shank.

anything to watch out for?

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

anything to watch out for?

You really should use some chain on that - if your house swings around anymore, you could chafe on that post...

Mark

[Boatguy30]

It's actually a double wide trailer so given the right wind conditions some chain maybe needed.

I guess the Vulcan was designed to fit more easily on powerboat bow platforms so maybe most of them have been tucked safely away in marinas. Still odd the lack of real world experience on any websites after more than a year.

[CSY Man]

More scope...
Your house could drag anytime now..

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

It's actually a double wide trailer so given the right wind conditions some chain maybe needed.

I guess the Vulcan was designed to fit more easily on powerboat bow platforms so maybe most of them have been tucked safely away in marinas. Still odd the lack of real world experience on any websites after more than a year.

I've posted a few photos and experiences with my Vulcan on the anchor photos thread.

[mserafi1]

I have found that once deployed at anchor, my Vulcan gives me great peace of mind and a great night sleep.

[kas_1611]

We have a 33kg Vulcan on duty on our 40ft Bavaria after dragging a couple of times with the original 16kg Delta. I took the approach of "go big or go home" and decided it was best to have something on the bow that would hold us in a storm.

We've used it a few times this year with great results. Held us solidly in a constant 25-30kt blow overnight where a few other boats dragged. It digs in and sets rapidly which is a comfort when doing a "med moor" (stern to shore or stern to a wall) unlike our old Delta which could take a while to hold or as I have seen with other boats not hold at all.

She'll hold us at 3:1 scope well, which is useful for tight anchorages in calmer conditions, and at 4:1 I'm confident she'll hold us safe in winds of upto 40kts+. Once it gets that high I'm either running for cover or we'll let out to 5 or even 6:1 or more if the depth isn't too much (60m of 8mm G70 chain and 45m of 16mm anchor plait).

Interestingly the Vulcan is actually shorter in the shank than the Delta and the tip is slightly further away from the gelcoat. She does need strapping to the bowroller due to the curved shaped of the shank but that is as much my bowroller as it is the anchor.

I'm very happy with the performance we have had so far and I think it was money well spent on securing my home. I'm looking forward to many years of safe anchoring to come.

Plus it's kind of cool to have a Vulcan on the bow, if only they'd called it the Klingon though

Keiron

[skipgundlach]

I love our rocna - except that it hauls up a monster load of bottom, most of the time, leading to running along to rinse.

That leads to stern-to orientation of the roll bar, leading to fouling trying to get it up in the chocks, as the top of the shank presents rather than the bottom.

This design looks much like a spade, and I think that it would eliminate the fouling on raising I have nearly every time (when the bottom is non-stick sand, it comes up fine, but any rinsing makes it point-forward, and I have to use a boat hook to twirl it to the right orientation).

One concern is that it's already 'sharp' in terms of a roller; the new design seems to have an even sharper presentation to the roller. Perhaps without an over-center upside-down issue, that won't be of concern, but I go through any type of material I've tried, eventually. I admit I've not paid to have a custom SS roller made, but it may come to that.

Getting the anchor up has been a bit of a challenge, sometimes, as I suspect that there have been times where there was at least 100# of bottom (usually with grass to help hold it together, but sometimes looking very much like concrete or tabby) attached, and frequently taking a great deal of motoring with the anchor at various depths to clear that off before loading.


From that I impute that if it has a bottom other than rock, I'm unlikely to drag, and if it manages to upset (I watched it do that once, as we were anchoring in clear water but difficult current/wind conditions), it will reset immediately. Because it's usually so deeply set (we back hard), my norm is to pull up using the catenary to advance the boat, which develops way on our 44k# boat. When it gets to vertical, I just quit raising and let the weight of the boat and the zero scope pull it loose. See above for raising, at that point ☺

HTH; I don't want to spend the big bux for a vulcan, but if I were doing what I did 4 years ago when I got the standard 33KG model, I'd go with vulcan. It would have made my anchor roller system much simpler...

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by kas_1611

We have a 33kg Vulcan on duty on our 40ft Bavaria after dragging a couple of times with the original 16kg Delta. I took the approach of "go big or go home" and decided it was best to have something on the bow that would hold us in a storm.

We've used it a few times this year with great results. Held us solidly in a constant 25-30kt blow overnight where a few other boats dragged. It digs in and sets rapidly which is a comfort when doing a "med moor" (stern to shore or stern to a wall) unlike our old Delta which could take a while to hold or as I have seen with other boats not hold at all.

Can you tell how a 33kg Vulcan would compare to a 33kg (or thereabouts) Delta? 33 to 16 seems like apples and oranges...

-Chris

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

I guess the Vulcan was designed to fit more easily on powerboat bow platforms so maybe most of them have been tucked safely away in marinas. Still odd the lack of real world experience on any websites after more than a year.

Haven't seen any folks in these parts go rushing right out to buy every time a new anchor is announced.

One dock neighbor changed from an ill-fitting Delta (relative to his pulpit) to a shiny Ultra... because many in the Fleming fleet here have Ultras mounted and he likes the bling factor. He had to modify his pulpit, even for that. And he has no intentions of ever anchoring except in emergency (as in, engine problem, whatever).

Otherwise... new anchor announced? Ho hum... so I'm guessing it'll take a bit before there's much ground truth...

-Chris

[jreiter190]

I have a small cat also. His name is Charlie.

[LEOCAT66]

Positive results with our 44# Vulcan on our 26,000# cutter. It initially drug a bit in loose sand with 4 to 1, but settled in after a bit. Let out to 8 to 1, all chain and it stayed put with winds around 15 to 20 and a couple of blows to 50 kts. for 4 days while the wind changed from N E. To S W and back over that time. We had no sea running and were in a very protected location.

Have used it on three other occasions with no issues. Love our Vulcan, we sleep well.

[skipgundlach]

I've not done it with our anchor, but a really good test, in my view, would be a sudden squall which took you from one orientation to the direct opposite, quickly.

In our case, that would be a 7-1 (our typical, probably overkill, including from the roller to the bottom, not the depth) length X 2 to get up momentum.

How quickly would it reset if it came out while 44000 pounds was moving at 3-4 knots (maybe more, but that should be a good test)? I believe ours would reset in a yard or two at most.

I'm guessing that the odd shape of the shank would have the same effect as the roll bar...

[Spade Anchor]

"A Newick 38 tri has been using an A80 in the pacific and SE Asia for 8 years. Claims it has never dragged"


Most of the time in life you get what you pay for. Would you rather pay now or when in a 40 knot squall? Your anchor is a primary safety measure and to buy look a likes or knock offs is not an area to be "saving" money in. Overall safety in any seabed is what the Spade Anchor was designed around. Repeated independent tests and testimonials like the one your friend above prove it.

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by Spade Anchor

the Spade Anchor

Clips, and the sig line omitted, and not visible while I'm writing, but...

Would you comment on the similarities and differences between the Spade design and the Vulcan? To me, they look similar.

My chief beef with my Rocna is its propensity, after the nearly ubiquitous requirement of cleaning - in our case, by motoring, as it would take hours by our deckwash - to mount point first, putting incredible strain on the roller. I usually have to use a boathook to rotate it into point-aft, where it comes up easily on our cantilever setup.

It seems as though this shank design would eliminate that propensity, and, had I had one of either yours (unaffordable at the time) or the Vulcan, might not have had to redesign our pulpit for the roll bar and for the cantiliver effect. The Rocna self-launches just fine, but retrieval is a pain on anything other than a clean retrieval, which is extremely rare, and in my experience so far, only found in some all-sand bottoms.

So, comment, if you would, on the similarities and differences in the Vulcan and Spade, and address retrieval/stowage?

Thanks.