Why Are Anchors so Expensive ?

[Strygaldwir]

When it it is largely said and done, they charge that much because sufficient people are willing to pay it. We can talk about marginal cost and marginal revenue curves, fixed and variable cost, capital amortization, opportunity cost, etc.

But if they can sell enough of them at a particular price to be profitable, they should seek to maximize that profit. This does not necessarily equate to the lowest price!

[roydvink]

Because a good one will keep your 20K, 50K, 160K investment/home/plaything safe in force eight on a dark night. Rule two applies. (You get what you pay for)

[idpnd]

Because a good one will keep your 20K, 50K, 160K investment/home/plaything safe in force eight on a dark night.

As always, I find it educational to look at what the pros are doing, people who anchor multi-million dollar monsters for a living every day and haven't got time to read glossy, advertising-loaded magazines.. hang on, they probably got their info studying marine engineering at uni..



These can be gotten for yachts and happen to be rather affordable as well.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Boomp

(...) and I do have a picture of a simulated manson [it is a rocna knockoff guys] that is bent and covered with rust.

PLS share it with us. I do not think I have seen a destroyed Manson yet.

BTW Manson does not seem a Rocna knock-off, it looks similar but Delta looks similar to CQR too. Until you inspect up close.

barnie

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by tager

. . . Cheap material, cheap production. Why are anchors so expensive? . . .
So why are anchors so expensive?

Ever hear of a thing called Capitalism? Prices follow demand. If people are willing to buy the anchor the prices increase until they are not willing to buy the anchor.

[mikereed100]

Originally Posted by craigsmith

If I gave you the plans for a fabricated Rocna and you walked into a metal working outfit, they could not produce you one for any less than the retail price down the road at West Marine or wherever.

I recently ran into a gentleman in Malaysia walking down the dock with a Rocna 25 knockoff for which he paid $150. It looked great and he was very pleased, off to have it galvanised.
Although I am in the market for an anchor, I was not tempted to ask him where he got it. While it looked fine I am not schooled enough in metalurgy to know quality steel when I see it. The same goes for welds. The anchor may be fine, but when it's blowing 60 knots I have enough to worry about without wondering if the anchor will come apart. I would not anchor downwind of the above mentioned sailor.
I am a cheap SOB, but will only somewhat grudgingly cough up the bones for a proven anchor that comes with some some quality assurance.

Mike

[Efraim]

Anchors are so expensive because:
i) They are made with special metals.
ii) They are welded using special methods.
iii) The can only be welded by special welders who went to special schools for special welding.
Don’t for one second think that they are made in any old metal fabrication plant that does all type of other metal work and will contract out the anchor business in a blink of an eye if a bigger order for something else comes in…that never happens especially in China… nope never happens.

[barnakiel]

Making a knock-off oneself ... well - like where do you buy the right material, and if you buy it in Malaysia (Brazil, Venzuela, Italy, Spain ...) - how do you know you bought THE righ material, not aknock-off material? And how do you know the guy who made your knock-off knows welding?

???

Sorry, but to me sounds like to many ifs to trust my boat and life to such a thing.

Bad enough Bruces are made in Brazil. And Rocnas in China.

But I think one could have a good anchor made in Germany, Holland, US or Canada (to name a few) - where good and authentic material can be bought from a relaible source and where welder's credentials can be established prior to ordering the job. Sure thing such a 'copy' will probably be more expensive that the original. You can't beat the mass production process, can you.

b.

[Strygaldwir]

Originally Posted by roydvink

Because a good one will keep your 20K, 50K, 160K investment/home/plaything safe in force eight on a dark night. Rule two applies. (You get what you pay for)

I think that is a definitional thing? Any anchor that keeps your boat safe in force eight any time is a good anchor.

Having said that. You can have the most expensive /newest/ trickest anchor ever and unless it is suited to the anchoring medium and the boat, it may not pass the definition test.

And the converse holds true. I have a Bruce anchor that held just fine in a force 6 blow. No problem. clay/mud bottom! (All test indicate it is relatively poor holding anchor). Still have it on-board, but I'll use it if I ever have to anchor in rock. Don't mind losing it that much. I would cry a bit if I lost one of my Fortress or Manson anchors however.

Proper tool for the proper job!

[Hiracer]

The competition in the anchor market is fierce. They are competitive priced, once one takes into consideration the cost needed to start production. Most people, who have never been in business, have no clue how much that is, and how many anchors must be sold (at wholesale prices) to make that cost back--and that's not even profit, that's just to get capital and start up costs back.

I'm guessing that the largest markup is from manufacturer to retailer. West Marine, for example, will refuse to carry an anchor unless they make enough revenue to cover their overhead, including advertising budget, and earn a profit. The manufacturer has no control over WM's overhead and advertising budget.

It's one thing to make one or two anchors. But it's another thing altogether to start making thousands of them, and then having to pay for inventory costs, storage, transportation, marketing (to retailers), etc. Sure there might be some economy of scale making thousands of anchors, but many times a lot of that is eaten up by other costs which can be avoided by the backyard operator.

If there were a way for somebody to clean up with a good performing anchor at rock bottom prices, you would think it would have been done by now. The Claw knockoff is the only anchor coming close, and it's fairly brittle. Shoot, the Chinese themselves would have attacked this market if the opportunity was as ripe as some here make it out to be. But they haven't. They only do contract work only and let others suffer the hazards of competing in the anchor market. The reason is because the market is fairly small and competitive, and the margins are pretty low.