Which anchor?...I know, I know...

[JayBee]

....if you buy an anchor made in new zealand how much of the price do you think is in the cost of shipping it from one extreme of the world to the other?...

Interesting question for me, as the owner of a Kiwi produced Rocna. Some quick and dirty investigations on t'internet produced this:

Cost of shipping a 20 foot container from NZ to UK is approx £5,300
Maximum weight of freight in a 20 foot container is approx 21,600 kg

So, on these figures, it should be possible to ship a thousand 20kg anchors from NZ to UK for about a fiver each.

 

[Orla]

I would opt for the Rocna with lots of chain.
Friends of mine make their living on yachts taking people all over the North & West coasts of Scotland, all their time is spent at anchor, Rocna plus loads of chain. Same as what I have, 33kg Rocna + 100m of 10mm chain.
I only have experience of CQRs and Rocna’s.

 

[ffiill]

In the same space as you S.-interestingly enough a survey at the yard at Arisaig today reveals that the CQR is by far the most popular-with just the odd Rocna,Manson several spades and a couple of Bruces.
What I dont like about Bruces,spades and particularly the Rocna is its arkward shape when it comes to storage.
I just hate tripping over anchors;getting mooring lines entangled with them etc.
Must admit I like both Danforths and Bruces so I might put a Bruce over the bow roller.
Also tempting to go too heavy-just checked out that a 15kg spade is quite capable of holding boats our size as is a proper 15kg Danforth wheras you need to go alot heavier with CQRs and the like.

 

[maxi77]

Interesting question for me, as the owner of a Kiwi produced Rocna. Some quick and dirty investigations on t'internet produced this:

Cost of shipping a 20 foot container from NZ to UK is approx £5,300
Maximum weight of freight in a 20 foot container is approx 21,600 kg

So, on these figures, it should be possible to ship a thousand 20kg anchors from NZ to UK for about a fiver each.

Not much point though as they are all made in China now using lower quality steel on the shank.

 

[JayBee]

Not much point though as they are all made in China now using lower quality steel on the shank.

Same sort of arithmetic, I imagine and Mansons are still made in NZ, as far as I know.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

So, on these figures, it should be possible to ship a thousand 20kg anchors from NZ to UK for about a fiver each.

I take the point, but Rocna don't ship by the container load into UK. It's more like 100 at a time so the transport cost will be a good bit higher.

 

[JayBee]

I don't suppose Rocna or Manson or anyone else would use a whole 20 foot container to ship 100 20 kg anchors from NZ or China to the UK, but the point is that the cost of sea freight is surprisingly low.

I am told that it is cheaper to ship a flat screen TV from a Chinese port to Felixstowe than it is to send it from Felixstowe to Birmingham.

 

[Twister_Ken]

I don't suppose Rocna or Manson or anyone else would use a whole 20 foot container to ship 100 20 kg anchors from NZ or China to the UK, but the point is that the cost of sea freight is surprisingly low.

I am told that it is cheaper to ship a flat screen TV from a Chinese port to Felixstowe than it is to send it from Felixstowe to Birmingham.

And I'm told that now the cost of internal freight in China can exceed the cost of shipping. Something to do with the regional organisation of China and internal tariffs for moving goods from one region to another.

 

[Dockhead]

Here we go again.

I've used most of them, and my entirely subjective and totally unwarranted observations are:

Spade (used 8 years). Supreme. The only anchor I ever used with which I never had any kind of problem. Always sets, always holds -- it's that simple. I never found a bottom type in all those years the Spade wouldn't set in. Spent nights in storms hanging on a Spade, and didn't budge an inch.

Rocna (used two years). Very good. Clearly better than the Delta it replaced. But set poorly in soft mud, a problem I never had with the Spade (on the previous boat). Never dragged once set, however.

Delta (used one year). Fair. Would not set on hard bottom -- total failure to set, in a place where the Rocna always set, but decent in other conditions, and in any case much better than CQR.

CQR (used 6 years). Disaster. Source of many sleepless nights at anchor and probably why I can't sleep deeply at anchor to this day. Very hard to set in anything but the most perfect bottom, and unreliable holding. A dreadful POS. Should be banned.

Bruce. Poor. My two worst anchor-dragging nightmares were on a Bruce.

Fortress. Fastest setting anchor I have ever used. Always used as a kedge, however, by me.

YMMV.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Here we go again.

I've used most of them, and my entirely subjective and totally unwarranted observations are:

Spade (used 8 years). Supreme. The only anchor I ever used with which I never had any kind of problem. Always sets, always holds -- it's that simple. I never found a bottom type in all those years the Spade wouldn't set in. Spent nights in storms hanging on a Spade, and didn't budge an inch.

Rocna (used two years). Very good. Clearly better than the Delta it replaced. But set poorly in soft mud, a problem I never had with the Spade (on the previous boat). Never dragged once set, however.

Delta (used one year). Fair. Would not set on hard bottom -- total failure to set, in a place where the Rocna always set, but decent in other conditions, and in any case much better than CQR.

CQR (used 6 years). Disaster. Source of many sleepless nights at anchor and probably why I can't sleep deeply at anchor to this day. Very hard to set in anything but the most perfect bottom, and unreliable holding. A dreadful POS. Should be banned.

Bruce. Poor. My two worst anchor-dragging nightmares were on a Bruce.

Fortress. Fastest setting anchor I have ever used. Always used as a kedge, however, by me.

YMMV.

Which mostly confirms exactly what the various anchor tests have said.

I dont see any reason why the Rocna should be worse in soft mud than a Spade - they are essentially the same bar the roll bar. And I can vouch for the Fortress albeit I've never used one where there was a big tide change and it would have needed to reset.

 

[duncan99210]

Fortress F16 used as a second anchor/kedge is the best money I've spent recently. Always sets, sets well and quickly, no matter what the bottom is. However, I've only ever used it where there is a straight pull involved, so I don't know how well it would reset.

 

[john_morris_uk]

To answer the OP.

We currently use a 15 kg Spade. It always sets and it sticks like glue. Its on 10mm chain on a windlass. Brilliant anchoring system that I wouldn't be without. I did buy it second hand (very nearly new - someone was going blue water and decided they would go up a size) hence I din't pay the full list price.

We used a CQR in the past, and it 'usually' set ok - I don't recall it dragging once it was set properly. I used to manage to set it most times, but SWMBO used to struggle to get the thing to set and got very frustrated with it.

 

[stevensuf]

yeah and add a few grand for port fees then shipping from the port to the depot the import duty and vat and the simple fact they are never going to sell a full container load in one country ie more shipping. never mind all the shipping that's done before it is made & shipping to the port.

If you want to do the nitty gritty, the most expensive part of an anchor is the shipping & taxes, a 20kg anchor is about 12 UK pounds of raw metal.

if you are happy to pay 300 pounds for 12 pounds of metal then go buy the overpriced goods, i will stick with the kobra 2

 

[Storyline]

We have a Rocna 20 (Kiwi) on 8ton/36' boat.

Agree with the other comments about it being very good apart from use in soft mud when it can take a few attempts to get it to set properly - in sand it is far, far superior to our old CQR.

If I was to buy now then the Rocna would be out because of the new lowered metal spec but I do like the hoop which is useful when removing it from the bow so my choice would be a Manson.

 

[DavyMac]

All manufactures except Kobra 2 advise either 15 or 16 kg anchor, Kobra 2 suggests 12 kg for my size of boat. Would you accept this or would you go up one size to 20kg?

.

I went for a 16kg Delta on a 9.6m / 4.3 tonne (unladen) boat. I don't believe that the Kobra 2 is materially better (if at all) than a Delta weight for weight so think Plastimo are very optimistic. If you have a windlass (I don't) go for 20kg.

 

[PCUK]

Going back to my 16kg on a 26footer. In my experience weight is the main factor in successful anchoring. I don't care about all the claims for this or that anchor. At the end of the day when you are blowing onto a lee shore with a dead engine it will be the weight of the anchor that may save you. There is no such thing as ott with regard to anchors.
Just my opinion of course!

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Going back to my 16kg on a 26footer. In my experience weight is the main factor in successful anchoring. I don't care about all the claims for this or that anchor. At the end of the day when you are blowing onto a lee shore with a dead engine it will be the weight of the anchor that may save you. There is no such thing as ott with regard to anchors.
Just my opinion of course!

In which case you can save yourself a lot of money - just carry a 40kg rock with you and you will be better off. I will swap you one for your anchor.

 

[pyrojames]

yeah and add a few grand for port fees then shipping from the port to the depot the import duty and vat and the simple fact they are never going to sell a full container load in one country ie more shipping. never mind all the shipping that's done before it is made & shipping to the port.

If you want to do the nitty gritty, the most expensive part of an anchor is the shipping & taxes, a 20kg anchor is about 12 UK pounds of raw metal.

if you are happy to pay 300 pounds for 12 pounds of metal then go buy the overpriced goods, i will stick with the kobra 2

Yeah, good old mined and smelted in UK iron... No shipping costs at all!

 

[Deleted member 36384]

.... and you can pay for space in a container. If you have time to wait until its full its even cheeper.

 

[RobF]

Which mostly confirms exactly what the various anchor tests have said.

I dont see any reason why the Rocna should be worse in soft mud than a Spade - they are essentially the same bar the roll bar. And I can vouch for the Fortress albeit I've never used one where there was a big tide change and it would have needed to reset.

I sail my boat in a large tide (Severn Estuary) and have no problems with the fortress as my main anchor. Whilst people have noted that they can fail to reset, this has not been my experience. Moreover, big tide brings lots of mud and a strength of the fortress is setting quickly in soft mud.