Vulcan anchor

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Comodave

Comodave

Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Jul 2, 2015
Messages
22,254
Location
Au Gres, MI
Vessel Name
Black Dog
Vessel Make
Formula 41PC
I am thinking about getting a new anchor for our Formula 41PC. I am looking at a Vulcan 25 (55pounds). I can’t use an anchor with a roll bar. I am looking for feedback from people that have or have used a Vulcan. The boat currently has what looks to be a Bruce that originally came with the boat.
 
Dave after seeing the series Steve recently presented on video, I think you couldn't go wrong with either the Rocna Vulcan or the Sarca Excel. Might come down more to price, availability, and delivery time..?
 
I just printed out a 2D pattern of the 25kg anchor. I will make one out of cardboard or plywood to make sure it will fit in my bow pulpit.
 
I've got the 33kg / 73 lb Vulcan on my boat. 2 seasons with it so far and it's been great. Sets perfectly in anything I've tried, including weed salad. Only time it hasn't been as solid as a portable mooring was the time I dropped it in a pile of cobblestone. Even then it held the boat fine for a few hours, just couldn't hold my normal power test at 3:1 scope. It does bring up a ton of mud, so a good wash down is very nice to have.
 
Peter B said:
Dave after seeing the series Steve recently presented on video, I think you couldn't go wrong with either the Rocna Vulcan or the Sarca Excel. Might come down more to price, availability, and delivery time..?
Click to expand...

I would agree. Either of those is a great choice. I'd pick based on which one fits the bow better and price.
 
rslifkin said:
I would agree. Either of those is a great choice.
...It (the Vulcan) does bring up a ton of mud, so a good wash down is very nice to have...
I'd pick based on which one fits the bow better and price.
Click to expand...

And maybe the 'not bringing up the ton of mud' issue..? Something to be said in favour of the Excel with the slightly convex fluke, as opposed to the concave fluke of the Vulcan, even at the price of a fraction less ultimate holding power in some substrates..?
 
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We had a 20kg and upgraded to a 25kg Vulcan. The 20 dragged 3 times in very soft bottoms of North and South Carolina creeks in thunderstorms. So far the 25 hasn’t budged yet in over two months of anchorage. It will bring up mud but we push off the big clumps with a long boat pole then drag it backwards along the water surface for a minute or two then good to go. We don’t have a wash down system.
Breaking the anchor out is a challenge of patience. Retrieve the chain until vertical under strain and wait.
 
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Dave,

We have the Vulcan 33 and are happy with it.

Rob
 
I had a Vulcan 40 on a 52' North Pacific for 2 trips up & down the Inside Passage.
Set quickly, held in reversing currents/tides and held well even when using short scopes. I had no problems with it.
 
Dave,
We had the Vulcan 25 on our Nordic Tug 37 for a few years. I added to replace the 20 Rocna that I had brought over from my 37 foot sailboat.
The Vulcan performed great with no issues. We never dragged once with it with over 100 nights on the hook. It set quickly and if you are not careful powerfully once "jerking" the boat because it set as we were backing without enough chain out yet. A nice "problem" to have.
In mud, it does bring up a fair amount but if you have a washdown or drag the anchor through the water it cleans up fairly easy. We have anchored up and down the BC coast on most kinds of bottoms, and it has performed well. Good idea to use the template to ensure a fit on the bow roller. There MAY be a better anchor out there?? but I don't think you can really go wrong with a Vulcan, and several tests back that up. JMHO
 
The mud would be an issue for me on my boat. I think I may look at a Sarcs Excel. It is supposed to come up cleaner.
 
I've never found the mud hard to remove from the Vulcan. Even really sticky mud tends to come off in a glob if water is blasted at it in the right spot to get between the fluke and the mud so it unsticks. In less sticky bottoms it comes up cleaner, especially in deep water where the mud has more chance to fall off.
 
BruceK said:
Detailed dimensions are found on the Sarca website, Why Anchor Right Australia is set apart from the rest - Anchor Right Australia.
Click to expand...

I tried to make a mock-up from Excel dimensions on the ARA site... and the North American distributors, Ground Tackle Marine, supplied more elaborate measurements... but I eventually decided I couldn't do it well enough without a big drafting table and better drafting tools.

Jimmy Green Marine in Devon, UK, sells a template you can use to make a cardboard mockup, and they do ship to the US.

In our case, the Excel #8 looks to be right on the edge of working on our davit/roller -- probably won't, but might (barely) if I check again with the chain out of the way. (And confirms that anything I could have tried to make myself would have had to be much more accurate.)

I made a mockup of the Vulcan 40 from their templates, looks like it'll fit, picked up the anchor yesterday... and it looks like the mockup does properly replicate at least the basic shape of the anchor. The anchor itself is a big honker!

But then of course the existing stainless shackle connecting our existing chain/anchor is bent, can't unscrew the pin... so I'll have to cut it off. (Sigh. There's always something...)

No experience yet with actually using a Vulcan anchor, of course.

-Chris
 
ranger58sb said:
I tried to make a mock-up from Excel dimensions on the ARA site... and the North American distributors, Ground Tackle Marine, supplied more elaborate measurements... but I eventually decided I couldn't do it well enough without a big drafting table and better drafting tools.

Jimmy Green Marine in Devon, UK, sells a template you can use to make a cardboard mockup, and they do ship to the US.....-Chris
Click to expand...
Seems silly spending $ and importing a template. If the material on Sarca`s website isn`t adequate, email Sarca and ask for assistance. Rex Francis, the principal of Sarca is helpful, especially to TF members. You can email them via the website.
 
BruceK said:
Seems silly spending $ and importing a template. If the material on Sarca`s website isn`t adequate, email Sarca and ask for assistance. Rex Francis, the principal of Sarca is helpful, especially to TF members. You can email them via the website.
Click to expand...

I sent an enquiry to them. We will see how they respond.
 
BruceK said:
Seems silly spending $ and importing a template. If the material on Sarca`s website isn`t adequate, email Sarca and ask for assistance. Rex Francis, the principal of Sarca is helpful, especially to TF members. You can email them via the website.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I didn't wanna have to do that, but...

I first emailed ARA with a question about how the Excel might perform in soft/oozy/soupy mud. Silence. Didn't seem useful to try again with questions about dimensions.

The Excel #8 is what's recommended for our length, weight, windage... but it's also so close to fitting/not fitting the existing davit/roller, I wasn't satisfied with the initial template I started making from measurements on the ARA site.

I still don't know if the #8 would fit. When I had my helper (wifey) along, she could tell from the ground whether the toe might hit the breastplate on the bow when stowed... but that day, I could only check quickly -- with the existing chain in the roller. The #8 wouldn't fully enter the davit that way, partly also because of a bail over the top that limits movement once stowed. I need to try again without the chain in the way, so the extra inch or so that gains might make a difference.

In the meantime, the Vulcan 40 template seems to fit, Steve's testing suggests a Vulcan is viable, I could buy a Vulcan from a local chandler... so I just pulled the trigger on that and called it good enough, at least for a while.

I do still want to know the Excel answer one way or the other. Partly for info for other 58SB owners, partly so I know if the Excel #8 is a viable Plan B if the Vulcan 40 doesn't work out.

-Chris
 
Once you get the Vulcan in place, it would also be good to measure clearance in a few spots of concern (like tip clearance) to know if the Vulcan 55 would fit as an option for someone wanting a bigger anchor (although that thing would be a bit overkill and it's gotta be a monster size-wise).
 
rslifkin said:
Once you get the Vulcan in place, it would also be good to measure clearance in a few spots of concern (like tip clearance) to know if the Vulcan 55 would fit as an option for someone wanting a bigger anchor (although that thing would be a bit overkill and it's gotta be a monster size-wise).
Click to expand...


Yep, good idea.

-Chris
 
I have been using a Vulcan 33 for 3 seasons and it's been excellent. As other have stated, there's no ambiguity about setting, when it sets, you know it and I recommend backing down gently until you get used to it, otherwise the reaction can be kinda violent.
 
I purchased the Rocna Vulcan 40 (88 lbs.) this past summer to replace the under-sized anchor that was on my boat when I purchased it. Used it during the summer in Maine (cobbles, weeds, mud), this fall in the Chesapeake (soft mud), and down to Florida this winter (although here primarily in a marina). Our first big test was heading south in November when we were stuck north of the Alligator River bridge for 3 days / 2 nights because the winds were too high to allow the bridge to open. The anchor has set for me the first time every time, and hasn't budged once set. I do follow Rocna's recommendations (e.g., let the anchor set itself, 7:1 scope), and I always use a bridle to lower the set point and minimize shock. It does pull up mud, but I've never had an anchor that doesn't when set in mud. And if set in mud, invariably I already have the hose out to wash the chain; I don't find the mud "sticks" badly to the anchor, generally very easy to wash off.
 
Hi,
We have used the Rocna Vulcan on our Jefferson for as long as we've had the boat. We started with a 44# and just this year will be going to the 55#. We have never had a problem with dragging. We upgraded to the 55 as the 44 was at the top end for our boat size.
We have a washdown system on the bow of the boat and used it extensively this past summer on a trip up to Duluth in Lake Superior and back. In the past, we have just raised the anchor till it starts to break the water and travel a couple of minutes like that to wash the mud off.
Our Jefferson 37 runs about 27000 lbs. With the upper helm and covered sundeck it offers a lot of windage. We do get a bit of 'swinging' or 'sailing' at anchor but never an issue.
On our last boat, a sailboat, we had a riding sail that we would put up when at anchor to limit the swing. Wish there was something like that for powerboats other than put two anchors out.
 
Got an answer from Sarca. They sent me a CAD file that I can’t open. So it was no help. Wish they had something like Vulcan does to make a pattern.
 
Comodave said:
Got an answer from Sarca. They sent me a CAD file that I can’t open. So it was no help. Wish they had something like Vulcan does to make a pattern.
Click to expand...

You need the correct CAD program to open files like that, but they should be able to convert it to pdf or something that you can use if you ask them.
 
Thinking out loud.... shouldn't Sarca have known that and if keen to sell an anchor have provided the file in a common format??? Just my thoughts and ponderings.
Not intended as a reflection on the quality or suitability of their anchors.
 
firehoser75 said:
Thinking out loud.... shouldn't Sarca have known that and if keen to sell an anchor have provided the file in a common format??? Just my thoughts and ponderings.
Not intended as a reflection on the quality or suitability of their anchors.
Click to expand...

They do provide dimensions on their website which is probably fine for most of their customers. I doubt their are a lot of buyers who build a cardboard model first. It's a great idea if you have fitment doubts, but not something most would do.
 
firehoser75 said:
Thinking out loud.... shouldn't Sarca have known that and if keen to sell an anchor have provided the file in a common format??? Just my thoughts and ponderings.
Not intended as a reflection on the quality or suitability of their anchors.
Click to expand...

Here is their reply. I would think they would have it in a readily usable file. Vulcan has the ability to print out the outline of their anchors on a standard printer and then you tape the pages together and you have it. Not very impressed with Sarca…

Hi Dave,

Best I can do is forward you this cad file of the # 5 Excel file, it will give you all the measurements, thank you so much for your email. I hope this helps.

Regards Rex.
 
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