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Originally Posted by kb79
I'm curious as to why so few people seem to have "new age" anchors.
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IMHO, the main factors here are cost and the "my old one usually works OK" factor. The four-figure
price tags on some "new gen" anchors are daunting, to say the least, especially given the remarkably shoddy lamination and welding I saw on one (extremely expensive) example recently.
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1. A lot of people have Bruce's. Everything I've heard or read leads me to believe it's a poor choice. Why do people still buy them when they do so badly compared to almost everything else on those performance tests?
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The Bruce's shape lends itself to simple (cheap) casting. I'd guess that something like 75% of the Bruce-style anchors I've seen are shoddy, porous third-rate castings from generic manufacturers. The original Bruce had a pretty good reputation, but it was just too hard for the average buyer to tell the real thing from the bad knockoffs.
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3. There are virtually no Rocnas, Mansons, Ultras or other "new age" anchors. I get that they're expensive, but plenty of those Bruce boats have $3500 chartplotters... I just don't believe that expense is the main reason.
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At least in my part of the world, the vast majority of yachts spend most of their time at the
dock.
Anchoring out is typically a nice-weather activity, done for perhaps a couple of days at a time. (You can always tell the one serious cruiser in the group by his 3x oversize anchor!) If the CQR sets OK in the local bottom conditions and holds in 20 knots, people won't feel the need to upgrade to something better- not when there are flashier, more exciting things to spend the
money on.
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I'm not trying to start a fight about anchor designs. I'm just wondering if there's something I'm missing that people consider when making their choices.
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"It came with the boat" is a big one. The theory being, the
builder makes/sells these, he should know what works well for them. It's an incorrect assumption, but a common one. When it comes time to replace or upgrade, "My neighbour has this one and it works OK for him" is a common factor, and of course the
cheap generic anchors look pretty appealing on the chandler's shelf with their price tags hanging right beside those of the Rocnas.
I
cruise in rather small
boats and in relatively protected conditions. A generic Danforth lunch hook is the
current choice- I don't like the thing, but it works just well enough that I can't justify replacing it.
I would rather have a Rocna, and will be on the lookout for it or something similar to fit on the
new boat. (High holding
power for low weight will be important, as we won't have a power
windlass.) It's too bad they're so expensive.