The Rocna Experience

[Steve Pope]

I have a NZ made Rocna that is the best thing since sliced bread, I, like you would find it hard to imagine that the originator of the Rocna would allow inferior manufacturing methods to be used. That being said I just think of the melamine / milk formula disaster in China that caught NZ's biggest dairy company by surprise and cost them over 47 million in write offs and some Chinese children their lives or seriously compromised the health of those that didn't succumb that Quality may be promised but not necessarily delivered. I also "believe" that Rocna has been sold to a 3rd party who may not have the integrity of Peter Smith who designed it.

[Ocean Girl]

Eric, thanks for directing me to your previous posts, I clearly should of read it before posting my questions, so no need to reply. I will get my Rocna 15 and take it to my welding dude to inspect .
Erika

PS
not going for the manson due to how the design was aquired, it is the priinciple of the thing for me.

[Steve Pope]

Unfortunately the poor Manson people have copped a bad rap that they don't deserve, The Rocna folk and the Manson people developed the common design now known as Rocna and Manson Supreme together, at some stage before production they both went their separate ways with both parties manufacturing near identical anchors. The Manson Supreme is made in NZ to a high standard and sells for less than the Rocna. As I said in my previous post I have a Rocna and am very happy with it, but were I to require another it would be a Mason Supreme, the build quality is known and it is the equal of the Rocna, yet better priced.

[idpnd]

[QUOTE=Steve Pope;435712 The Rocna folk and the Manson people developed the common design now known as Rocna and Manson Supreme together, at some stage before production they both went their separate ways with both parties manufacturing near identical anchors.[/QUOTE]

In that case you shouldnt buy either as theyre copies of the German Buegel design really..

[GordMay]

According to this site,
➥ New Generation Anchors - Explained, Compared and Rated -

“All new generation anchors to date are derivatives of the Bugel, the Spade or a combination of both...”

[feelsgood]

We have a 35lb Spade and it sets real fast and has never broken out we use all chain (100mts) and have sat at anchor in full gales without moving.

[redtwin]

I installed a 25kg Rocna on my Prout 39 after talking to Peter Smith at length. He used to live on the same pier that my boat was on, here in Auckland. The boat came with a 44lb Delta and I had dragged on a few occasions, but the Rocna...wow, worked so well. Soon after that (about 5 years ago) Peter sold the business and he did say they were looking at shifting the manufacturing to China. In fact he had a stainless steel prototype from China, which he tested in water for 2 weeks, it had started to rust on the surface, he did comment on the difficulty with QA there. I dont know where its made now. For my current smaller cat I need to replace the anchor and was thinking of going with Mason as it works as well, and seems to have better build quality, and of course 1/2 the price. Any comments on this comparison?

Last I heard Peter was sailing near Antarctica and had survived a 60 knot storm with his Rocna!!

[s/v 'Faith']

Originally Posted by redtwin

I installed a 25kg Rocna on my Prout 39 after talking to Peter Smith at length....

....In fact he had a stainless steel prototype from China, which he tested in water for 2 weeks, it had started to rust on the surface, he did comment on the difficulty with QA there....

QA problems in China? Who might have guessed such a thing.

.... I need to replace the anchor and was thinking of going with Mason as it works as well, and seems to have better build quality, and of course 1/2 the price. Any comments on this comparison?

Sounds like a good decision to me. I have had my Manson Supreme for some time (bought in 04 or 05). Have cruised and used many nights and never drug (dragged) it.... and the galvanizing has held up very nicely.

[Ocean Girl]

Faith, thanks for the post. I hadn't realized the mansons were over five years old, for some reason I thought they were newer.
Anyone have an older manson?
Erika

[s/v 'Faith']

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

Faith, thanks for the post. I hadn't realized the mansons were over five years old, for some reason I thought they were newer.
Anyone have an older manson?
Erika

Erika,
Just went back and checked my dates. It was the summer of 06 when I got my Manson, not 04 or 05.... at that time IIRC there was one US distributor for Manson, and if you wanted a Rocna you paid to have it shipped from Canada. I am sure others have had theirs longer then I.

[Steve Pope]

Ocean Girl, have a look at <www.manson-marine.co.nz> and you will get a clearer picture of the range of anchors that Manson marine makes. They have been making anchors for many more years than Rocna.

[lancelot9898]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

Faith, thanks for the post. I hadn't realized the mansons were over five years old, for some reason I thought they were newer.
Anyone have an older manson?
Erika

I've only had my 45 lb Manson for a little over 3 years now and it's a good anchor having held well last year during some days of full gale conditions. I bought it when WM had a good sale on them, but WM sales items are not what they use to be. I considered the Roca but besides the price differential I went with the Supreme because of the Lloyds of London certification even though many here think of it only as a sale gimmic, but I thought it beneficial.

[SailFastTri]

I own a Canadian-made Rocna and a Manson -- the reasons to choose one over the other, IMHO:

1) Price: (if equal I would choose NZ Manson over Chinese Rocna, otherwise if no fit issues I'd choose Manson.)
2) Fit: For equal weight the Manson has a higher shank and slightly higher hoop, which might be more likely to interfere with a sprit.
3) Quality: Now that the Manson is Chinese-made I am less inclined to trust their quality. (The galvanizing is slightly better on the Manson I own, compared with the Rocna I own, but that's too small a sample to make any blanket generalities based on one data point.) I'm not qualified to judge welds or metallurgy, but they both seem plenty strong and the welds look about the same.
4) Holding -- probably about the same, but I think Manson has an "edge" (pun intended) in ability to penetrate weeds and hard-pack with its extended tip and sharper leading edges.

I'm currently using the 20kg Rocna as primary because the extra height of the shank and hoop of a 45lb Manson interferes with my sprit, and Rocna 20 is the largest I could fit. The 35lb Manson shown and a large Fortress are secondaries.

One factor that I think is a limitation of the Rocna and Manson is that the hoop can limit penetration. This is still better than the broad 3-dimensional tip cross-section of the weighted triangular wedge tips (such as Delta and Spade) because at least it does allow initial penetration in difficult (hard or weed) bottoms. Still, I'd be interested in independent tests of the Raya or other scoop designs that are without hoops.

[s/v 'Faith']

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

......
3) Quality: Now that the Manson is Chinese-made I am less inclined to trust their quality. (The galvanizing is slightly better on the Manson I own, compared with the Rocna I own, but that's too small a sample to make any blanket generalities based on one data point.) I'm not qualified to judge welds or metallurgy, but they both seem plenty strong and the welds look about the same......

It is the ROCNA that is now made in China, not the Manson.

[Ocean Girl]

Faith, I think that was a typo.
E