Jason,
We have been cruising for the past 15 years in Narragansett Bay, RI Sound, Block Island and Long Island Sounds, extensively throughout the Elizabethan Islands, all Martha's Vineyard ports and Nantucket. The bottom types for these areas described by sailingdog are fairly accurate, but I feel the sentiments towards Rocna
anchors to be strongly biased.
Our current 33 ft boat is 36 ft LOA, displaces 18,000 lbs (similarly to your Morgan), but only carries a 35 lb
CQR as a primary
anchor. However, we do use 150 feet of 5/16" G4 chain and 200 ft of 9/16" rope. A Simpson Lawrence Sprint 1500
windlass does the grunt work. We also have the original Nauticat equipped
Danforth mounted at the stern - which we've never used.
Aside from gunkholing and overnighting, quite often our purpose for anchoring is to scubadive - usually dropping anchor and then motoring to the dive spot in the tender. Typically, I descend the
anchor chain first to check the set. The
CQR has always dug in and held; we of course though, do not dive in rough conditions.
If we were full time cruisers, I would upgrade to a heavier storm anchor to mount alongside a secondary - such as a Bruce. I would also second the sentiments expressed regarding chain. But as was mentioned above - it's all about technique. Keep the 45 lb CQR, add a Bruce and much more chain, powerset the
ground tackle and get a good night's sleep.