The claw works for us, yes, but have never tested it in wind greater than 15 knts. We rarely anchor in anything more than 20 feet or so....heck, Lake Erie is only about 65' deep! Yes, we have chain on both, between 12-15 feet of 1/4" chain. More for weight than chafe. Both anchor lines are 150' of 1/2" 3-strand. We do anchor in two different areas, one is 100% sand, the other is a combination mud/weeds

I'm not sure which boat I thought I was on, I'm sure one of them had a 11# Danforth. I double checked and found that the one down in my workshop is actually a Danforth 1650, which I assumed means 16.5 lbs. My bathroom scale says 14.6 lbs.s though. BTW, this is unlike any Danforth I have ever seen, the shank is quite tall, about 4" between the flukes, tapering to the traditional size eye. The other Danforth which is currently in the cockpit locker looks more traditional, I obviously am confused on weights (I need to stop changing boats so often).