This pulpit is pretty common and seems to accept the roll-bar version of the Rocna. The Vulcan has a pretty aggressive bend in the shank and I wasn’t sure it would clear the gelcoat of my bow so I went with the roll-bar version
No doubt ...there are other anchors out there that perform as well the Rocna. Anchors easily become a heated debate among boaters, especially among the sailing crowd....I just stick with what has served me well.....with maybe over 100 nights on the hook over the years, some nights in Talk To Jesus weather, my Rocna has never dragged.
The downside of Rocnas:
In mud, they bring it back to your boat—-you have to wash them off or your bow gets pretty scummy
Around vegetation, they bring that back, too. Last summer I got caught in a 30 knot S. Easter for 3 straight days . I was in a bay that produced huge williwaws, day after day after day. The boat spun in endless circles (but the anchor stayed put). When I finally pulled the anchor on Day No. 3 there was a 2 meter ball of kelp that had been spun up into a ball on the Rocna. I go to the bow with a gaff to clear stuff like that off. That was one of those storms where I probably had 7:1 scope once I threw all my bridle into the set
Another thing: they are a pretty big foot-print on the pulpit, especially with the roll bar. I learned an important lesson—-when launching on a big low tide, especially out of Pt. Hardy, I remove the Rocna prior to launching.....Reason: on a steep drop-off, the Rocna will hook my tailer winch tower. First time that happened I thought it would really damage the pulpit—lesson learned
And Last but not Least: you DO NOT back down on a Rocna like you do on a Bruce or a Danforth. That’s not me talking—-that’s the instructions that will come with your Rocna. People have been known to back down on a Rocna the way they would on say, a Bruce, and it will severely tax your tie-off spots on your deck. They really do stick
I drop mine then let the wind pull me back until the rode is taut. IF there’s no wind, I might just fire up my kicker and use that just to get a bit of reverse momentum to straighten out the chain
I thought I’d also include a picture of my stowage mod for bridle and snubber—-the mod keeps that stuff close to hand. I also keep my Lewmar wrench in that box in case the free-wheel hub jams on the Lewmar.
I also sometimes hand-pull my anchor and chain and stow it in that tray (part of the reason I only use 30 feet of chain).
Reason: Lewmar’s use valuable amp hours. When I’m boat camping, sometimes I’m only using the kicker all day long, then coming in to my anchorage by kicker. With the SCotty HP’s and the ridiculous amount of electronics I’m running, I’m on high-alert regarding battery usage. So that stowage-tray keeps the Lewmar use to a minimum. Just something I use....thought I’d throw it into the boat-camping picture as it can be a handy way to keep stuff you need right at hand
And one last part of that mod—-the orange shock cord has a carabiner on it that I clip to the shackle on the Rocna....it’s PLan B in case the gypsy doesn’t lock and you forgot to put the retaining pin in to hold the anchor (I’ve read stories of people who deployed an anchor at 25 knots. (unplanned deployment)
I also use that orange cord to wrap around the spring-loaded fair-lead that keeps tension on the rode against the gypsy—-when you hand-pull, you pull back the fair-lead and lock it in place with the cord and a bungee while you hand-stow the braid back into the locker and lay the chain in the tray
) - not at 0 dark 30 when you are woken by dragging into your now very angry neighbor.
