So i asked the boss to get a stern anchor for Christmas which was done but She got me a 16 lbs Danforth Fluke anchor this thing is huge way to big as a stern anchor what are you using with success can I go down to a 8lbs or 10lbs?
Just for perspective: I'm really conservative about sizing ground tackle - you would be too, after living aboard through 17 hurricanes in the Caribbean, with a number of them having passed directly overhead - and I could see using a 16-pounder as the
main anchor for my 15' Rocket. Any weather that it won't hold me through would be bad enough to sink me, which I guess is a reasonable upper limit...
After 20+ years of living on anchor, lots of experience hooking into every possible kind of ground, and surviving lots of weather (while watching other people break loose), my take is that having chain to produce a good catenary is almost as important as the anchor itself - and that you need to be ready for the kind of ground you'll be hooking into. Mud, sand, shell, or any other "fine" media, and a good fluke type - I really like the aluminum Fortresses, but they're pricey - will work well, as long as you're not breaking out and resetting constantly. Note that I
don't mean the cheap Walmart junk when I say "a good fluke type"; I'm talking actual Danforth or Fortress. The cheapo knockoffs always get the fluke angle wrong, which makes the anchor totally useless. By contrast, I used the Fortress FX-37 (21 lbs.) as a "lunch hook"/secondary storm anchor for my 16-ton steel ketch for my entire cruising career, and I trusted it completely.
However, flukes will just skate over hard bottom (e.g., iron coral) and hang up/break off in rocks. Also, their functionality as an anchor is far more about design than actual strength of construction, so while they're great on a straight pull, they pretty much turn to junk if they ever jam and get side-loaded. Claw anchors - e.g., Bruce, CQR, Rocna, Delta, Mantus, etc. - will do everything that flukes will do, plus hold in small to medium rock, plus reset flawlessly even in a strong blow. They do tend to be heavier per lb of holding power, but for the size of boats and the holding scenarios we're talking about here, the difference is so piddly that you'll never notice.
TLDR: a claw hook - use your waterline length in feet for the number of pounds it should be - for the bow, and a fluke of ~1/2 that weight for the stern makes a pretty good combo. A 24' boat, with an LWL of (say) 20' would be well-served by a 18-20-lb claw plus an 8 to 10-lb fluke anchor, and 20' of chain split evenly between them. The only reason to have more than that is bad holding ground in your cruising area, or if you know that you're going to anchor in stormy weather.
