Re: anchoring ?
Mike
"IS IT OK TO TIE TO CLEATS ON THE PORT AND STARBOARD BOW?"
Yes it is fine.
The bow eye is usually stronger but on many boats hard or dangerous to reach.
While the bow eye is stronger there can be some advantages to useing the bow cleat on port or starboard or both. Many places you anchor you will have current coming from one direction and the wind from another. This will usually cause the boat to sit at a angle to the current and the boat can travel from side to side. By picking the cleat on port or starboard your can cause the boat to sit straighter and not move as much side to side.
Another thing one can do is make a anchor Bridle that will attach to both cleats on the bow. I will try to describe. Take a peice of line and put a loop in the end that will fit your cleat very well.
Now take the line around the bow and to the cleat on the other side but leave enough slack for the line to go about 4 feet out in front of the bow then tie another loop for clete on the other side.
Next go up in front of the boat and pull the line foward in front of the bow get it as straight foward and in the center as possible and tie a third loop in the line.
Put the line up on the deck and when you anchor you tie your anchor to the front loop you tied.
With this set up if the boat is straight both side will share the load.
If the boat turn to starboard the starboard line will get tight and have all the load while the port line will be loose, this will try to turn the boat to port or straight in the water. of course if it turn to port the port line will try and turn back straight. One important thing is to not make the line so long that if you droped it in the water it could reach the Prop.
"HOW MUCH WEIGHT"
Weight really depends on the type of anchor you use.
As a example I use a 4 Pound Fortress FX-7 on my 21 foot 2800 lb dry boat. The anchor is rated for boats from 16 to 27 feet. It is not a cheap anchor but I belive the best anchor. It a Flute type Anchor but the flutes and the shank are sharper than a standard anchor so it digs in faster and deeper. It been rated by the Navy and many boating mag and in every test I have seen been rated the best.
We first got it because My First Mate does not like to drive the boat up on anchor when it is very foggy and can not see land. So she had to pull the 8 pound anchor. Even with gloves it would hert her hands. Even after up off the bottom she could hardly pull it up. It would come up with big clumps of heavy mud. After we got thr Fortress the first time she pull it she accused me of not attaching the anchor right because it broke off and she almost fell over backwords. Of course when she got the line up she found the anchor was on the end.
I have always carried 2 anchor but my old 7 pound danforth has not been in the water since we got the Fortress FX-7.
On the second link you can look to the left and click on test and see several tests by difference groups.
http://www.iboats.com/Fortress_Anch...214635108--**********.144559537--view_id.4943
http://www.fortressanchors.com/AnchorTestNavy.html