Ground Tackle Upgrades on Bloom
A Heavier Anchor
As part of our pre-Mexico offshore preparedness, we decided it was important to upgrade our anchor. Bloom came with a 16KB/35LB Lewmar Delta anchor. For a 40-foot boat, we knew we wanted a heavier anchor and preferably one that had a rock-solid reputation for setting quickly and holding. We had heard really great things about Mantus Anchors, but unfortunately there is no local retailer in British Columbia for them (we would have had to get it shipped, which I’m assuming would have been pricey for something so heavy!). Our next choice was a Rocna. With a lot of other boaters around us bragging about them, we decided to price shop a bit and found the best deal at Trotac Marine, here in Victoria. We took off the ‘old’ anchor (which, ironically was brand new and never had been used!) and got the new 20KG/44LB Rocna ready to be installed.
the ‘old’ Delta anchor comes off…
We used a spare halyard to hoist and position the new anchor onto Bloom’s bow…. and……drum roll pleeeeeaseeee…… it did not fit! Uggghh! I guess we should have measured… The shank of the anchor was extending past our chain locker so it couldn’t be opened as the roller were not far forward enough for it to sit clear of it. After much research online, it was determined that we could modify the current bow roller by drilling a new hole and moving the whole roller forward 4 or 5 inches to allow the anchor to sit farther forward. This seemed annoying and complicated and we didn’t want to make our boat any longer….
‘Original’ Rocna installed on the bow of our Bavaria didn’t fit
So, after some more online research (thank you Google!) we found another viable solution. Rocna also makes a ‘Rocna Vulcan‘ anchor that is just as effective as the ‘Original’ but is a totally different shape and dimensions. We downloaded the pattern/template for the Vulcan from Rocna’s website, printed it out, and made a cardboard ‘2D’ version of a Vulcan. Upon fitting it up on the bow, we felt very confident that it would fit. Another trip to Trotac in the morning allowed us to swap the ‘Original’ Rocna for the Rocna ‘Vulcan’ plus the difference in cost (the Vulcan is more expensive).
Once in place and we played around with the positioning and lashing points, we found that the Vulcan was a much better fit on our Bavaria and highly recommend it! (Although we have yet to anchor with the Vulcan, so will follow up to this post later once we’ve tried it out). We also still may get a Mantus Anchor Mate to help hold the anchor in the roller and prevent it from banging and/or wobbling. Will post about that separately if we go that route!
The Rocna Vulcan, fitted to the bow!
More Anchor Chain
Bloom came with approximately 150 feet of anchor chain. We knew that we wanted to add to this, but weren’t sure how much. We then found out that because our gypsy is European, it only accepts 8mm chain (not 5/16) which is very hard to find and when you do, expensive. Luckily, there was about 200 feet of it in stock that had been sitting for a while at Trotac and they were willing do sell it to us for a discount if we bought all of it. We jumped at the chance and bought their surplus of 8mm chain. We then laid it out on the dock and pulled the original chain off Bloom as well. With all the chain measured out, we marked it at 50 foot increments with colourful cable ties. Jason connected the two strands of chain together with a ‘Crosby Missing Link’ after we YouTube’d how to ‘peen a rivet’. So, Bloom’s 350 feet of chain got washed and then stowed back into her anchor locker and attached to the new Vulcan. All set and ready for our first anchorage!
Colourful cable ties marking Bloom’s old and new chain
In case you are curious, here is the ‘code’ we used when marking Bloom’s chain. We decide to be fun with it rather than your standard red, white and blue… boring!
50ft=Red
100ft=Orange
150ft=Yellow
200ft=Green
250ft=Purple (I know, I ruined the rainbow, but we couldn’t find blue!)
300ft=Rainbow Fun!!!!
