Doug, Yes, two anchors are normal practice in the islands. We overnight with two Danforths to avoid tripping one out and do a single anchor only for daytime trips. I also use fisherman and northhill anchors...which work well in all bottoms and hook to rocks. 90% of the offshore commercial headboats here have northills hanging off the bow for reef fishing. Virtually no Bruce or CQR types are seen in the commercial fleets...possibly due to size of boat (55' up).
I tried an aluminum fluke anchor (identical to a 40lb Danforth) but it was too light to depress the bottom and dig in. Small Danforths have the same problem in hard sand. My M10 dink had a 2.5S lb. Danforth but the thing was so light it wouldn't dig in anything but soft sand without help. It was replaced with a 4S lb. and works better. I've had such good luck with Danforths I don't do much experimenting anymore...the bottoms I cruise in are made for Danforth types. West Marine has a small bruce that looks just right for my 17' outboard and I've been thinking of trying one though. _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
