The Rocna Experience

[danielgoldberg]

Originally Posted by Bash

Sorry, no pix. I'm off the boat for a week--it's hauled out for a bottom job.

My anchor roller was built specifically for a Delta anchor, and it launched perfectly. Then we'd drag.

Part of the "problem" with the Rocna is that I've gone to a system where I attach 18" of heavy chain to a shackle, then I attach a stainless swivel, then the regular chain. The swivel is suspended over the chain locker, and when I unwind chain from the windlass it tends to want to fall into the locker while the anchor stands pat. This is easily remedied by a push with the boathook against the Rocna's bail.

I didn't use the same swivel setup on the Delta because, frankly, it wasn't needed. That anchor would pivot freely, while the Rocna tends to stay where it originally set, even after the boat has shifted 180 degrees with the tides. Once the swivel got locked in the 180 degree position and needed to be persuaded with a mallet to right itself. At that point I decided that the new setup would be less likely to bust a swivel.

I'll take pix once the boat is back in the water.

Not sure if you were trying to be funny with the highlighted language, but it made me laugh out loud. Good delivery of a funny line!

I'm not sure I follow your current setup with the swivel, or more accurately, I'm not sure I understand why (i) that's keeping the anchor from self-launching, and (ii) why it's needed for the Rocna to set/re-set. I'm probably just being dense, but I didn't understand the explanations.

[Christian Van H]

Originally Posted by motion30

Yea you have watch out for us, when the manson dragged I almost ran into a sail boat

Would you mind if I ask how much and what size chain you use on your main anchor rode?

[Bash]

Originally Posted by danielgoldberg

Not sure if you were trying to be funny with the highlighted language, but it made me laugh out loud. Good delivery of a funny line!

I'm not sure I follow your current setup with the swivel, or more accurately, I'm not sure I understand why (i) that's keeping the anchor from self-launching, and (ii) why it's needed for the Rocna to set/re-set. I'm probably just being dense, but I didn't understand the explanations.

Ah. Sorry to have been unclear. The problem, swivel-wise, is that my Rocna tends not to set/re-set, even during a 180 degree tidal swing. It sets and stays set, which means that the swivel is often being stressed at an angle it wasn't designed to be pulled. Adding a bit of chain between the swivel and the anchor has been suggested as a remedy, and this made enough sense to me to have done it. But now, when I hit the down button on the windlass, chain runs through and drops back into the chain locker.

I could remedy this by redesigning the made-for-Delta anchor roller, pictured below. Note that the flukes don't hit the bottom of the roller at the correct angle, which is designed to nestle a Delta perfectly. Once I have a fabrication shop fix this, the Rocna will assuredly launch as nicely as the Delta did.

Unfortunately, a new jib, and a bottom job, and an additional solar panel have priority. My wife also seems to think she needs a new car. Which means I have to be content with kick-launching the Rocna for a while.

(Note the bent bail on my Rocna, by the way. It came that way. This is one of the made-in-Canada models that appear to have been welded by Remedial Metal Shop students at the high-school level.)

[nitpik]

Shawn 67: Care to give a brief report on your experience with the Raya?
It is obviously similar to the Manson and the Rocna, but looks to me as if the absence of a hoop is an advantage.
Also, do you mind telling us how much it cost to have one shipped to Maine? A local international shipper here in Northern Ontario (that is in Canada for the geographically challenged!) just quoted me $1200.00 for shipping one from Brazil!

[Shawn67]

I have the Raya 800 (with a Tempest 400 on the way) but I don't have my boat in the water yet for the season so I don't have much to report.

"It is obviously similar to the Manson and the Rocna,"

I believe there are a fair number of differences though too besides the lack of the hoop. The curve of the fluke is different, it has the second mounting point for mud and by weight it has more area for theoretically greater holding. Comparing the recommended sizes for my boat and it looks like I'd need the 22 pound Rocna but the Raya is 16 pounds for the same rating.

The big kicker for me though was that the Raya is built the way Rocna used to do it before they went to cast blades.

The Raya 800 shipping was $70.

Shawn

[sck5]

ratings are not really comparable across companies. there is no single standard they are comparing to

[Eric ROGUE]

Description of my China Built Rocna 10 and expert welder's opinion of the construction is near the bottom of this page.
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-31321-18.html

Earlier in the thread there are several posts involving a lot more experience with Rocna's than have been posted to this point in the Rocna experience thread, and which contributed greatly to my decision to purchase the Rocna. On sale from West Marine, I got it including shipping for less than the lowest price including shipping I could find for a Supreme (which I decided against in any case for the reasons stated in my post on the other thread).
Eric

[Therapy]

I just put one on my boat.

Plan on heading south next weekend.

But the autopilot took a dump - can you spell delay?

Will have a month or so to report on.

[landonshaw]

I have a Rocna 33 and bought it in the States. It has been great. I carried it down to Grenada in my luggage and saved shipping on a trip back home. American would not allow boxes so we bubble wrapped it in a canves bag from an Army Navy store. Carried my boat papers, declared it, and saved hundreds of dollars.

[Eric ROGUE]

Originally Posted by nitpik

Shawn 67: Care to give a brief report on your experience with the Raya?
It is obviously similar to the Manson and the Rocna, but looks to me as if the absence of a hoop is an advantage.
Also, do you mind telling us how much it cost to have one shipped to Maine? A local international shipper here in Northern Ontario (that is in Canada for the geographically challenged!) just quoted me $1200.00 for shipping one from Brazil!

Look at pictures of the Spade Sword anchor and its predecessor the Oceane. New Generation Anchors - Explained, Compared and Rated - (but ignore the prejudiced sales hype rating the various anchors) To my eyes the Raya appears very similar to these anchors, but only in the most general terms in any way similar to the Rocna and Manson Supreme.

I had a chance to buy an Oceane of about 22lbs for less than $100 and I passed it up because I did not want to have an anchor with such inconsistent independent test results as the Oceane has. I have not seen independent testing of the Sword or Raya, and I have done a thorough job of looking for it. Nor have I seen many reports by sailors with any experience using these anchors and none with extensive experience using this type.

Consistent independent test results and consistent and numerous reports by sailors with extensive anchoring experience are what sold me on the Rocna. The Rocna is not perfect, but I can live with its limitations. Evans Starzinger reports his Rocna did not set at 2:1 scope (rope and 6' chain) in gravel, nor in rock, nor in thin sand over coral bedrock when his Manson Ray (claw type) did (all anchors 50 to 55 kg. http://www.bethandevans.com/pdf/Main...hor%20test.pdf
I read a great number of reports about the Rocna and I believe this is the only report of any problem of any kind setting the Rocna, or with the Rocna continuing to hold once set. Evans' tests were a deliberate test of anchoring in poor holding grounds and adverse conditions.

Eric

[YOGAO]

Originally Posted by Eric ROGUE

...
I read a great number of reports about the Rocna and I believe this is the only report of any problem of any kind setting the Rocna, or with the Rocna continuing to hold once set. Evans' tests were a deliberate test of anchoring in poor holding grounds and adverse conditions.

Eric

Eric,

Don't know that I have written about this in another thread, if so I apologize for repeating myself.

Last year we couldn't get our Rocna 25 to set and hold in Majors Bay, St. Kitts. The bottom was heavy with weed with just a few sandy spots. We arrived late in the day and couldn't see the bottom. It resulted in our one and only night spent doing anchor watch and multiple re-sets, with the Rocna.

We also had another boat in that bay with a Rocna and they dragged as well. They were able to find a small sandy spot and got the anchor down where it held fine.

We absolutely love our Rocna. In fact, we get so uncomfortable when we see a boat anchor in front of us with anything other than a Rocna/Manson/Spade or Delta (in that order), that we have moved to ensure a good night's sleep.

Fair Winds,
Mike

[Shawn67]

"To my eyes the Raya appears very similar to these anchors"

It is actually quite a bit different.

[landonshaw]

I have no clue what is best, I have a Rocna and maybe it was a bit more $ than another, but I sleep better at night. It isn't perfect, & I have had to drop a couple of times when it didn't catch, but it has held when I properly did eveything I should.

[Eric ROGUE]

Similar in the way Rocna and Supreme are similar but not the same.

Shawn67, Look at the pictures of the three anchors in question (links below). Don't confuse things by posting a picture of a yachtsman type as if that was somehow related to the discussion. I accept that differences that appear slight can make large differences in performance. I assume differences in performance is why Spade changed the Oceane to the Sword. It was only in response to a statement that the Raya was in the family of Rocna and Supreme that I was saying the Raya was being compared to the wrong family of anchors. Oceane, Sword, and Raya do look very similar to me. At least as similar as the Rocna and Supreme. Using these links anyone can draw their own conclusions.

Page d'accueil

New Generation Anchors - Explained, Compared and Rated -

[Ocean Girl]

Eric, I know this has been touched on and don't want to start a stir but here goes.

The Rocnas are finally being delivered to West marine, I have a 15 on order, I believe these are the China made batch. Someone eluded to the difference in production methods, are they about the same quality? I do not subscribe to 'china quality' (I am a nurse, we have dead patients because of medications tainted with God knows what due of the lack of regulatory conditions in china, so that argument falls on deaf ears with me) BUT at the same time I have read enough about Rocna and the designer to believe they would not put out a inferior product. I will buy the Rocna, just didn't know if I should try to find a pre china production model.
Any thoughts?