JG wrote:
In the SF bay, Danforths work fine. When I was in Belize, we had a primary
plow on 43' catamaran, which didn't hold no matter what we tried, but the
relatively tiny Danforth worked like a charm.

What type of plow? And did it not set (perhaps a very hard bottom),
or did it set and drag (a very soft bottom), or seem to set, and then
release (rocks or weeds)? In the first two cases, a Danforth will
work better; in the third, its catch as catch can, so to speak.

I imagine that there is
something to be said for being familiar with what you have, along with
choosing the appropriate anchor.

A common trend in an anchor discussion is that people will say "I used
an XXXX anchor for years and never had a problem." Newbies will
generally have problems until they figure is out.