I've now got 2 weekends of use on the new anchor and related gear. The 73lb Vulcan fits the pulpit nicely after I modified the slot a bit, and it both self-launches and docks nicely with the windlass, no manual fiddling required. The HRC10-8 windlass did a great job with the rope/chain combo. Seamless going out, and coming back in you just stop right before the splice hits the windlass, bump it gently, then continue (if it tries to transition while pulling at full speed and lifting 50+ lbs of chain it slips and won't grab the chain).
I put it through its first mild wind test this weekend, anchored in 48 feet of water with 275 feet out (5:1 scope after accounting for freeboard, first 90 feet are chain). Bottom was dark, sticky mud, but not overly soft. Anchor was set with a gentle tug, then brought up tension again, sat with both engines at reverse idle for about a minute, then 1000 rpm for about 30 seconds.
Sat through a couple hours of 20 - 25 kts with gusts to 30 - 33 and somewhat shifty wind direction on the gusts. So we were getting blown off sideways down wind at a pretty good pace (saw 1.5 kts on the plotter a couple of times) before fetching up on the rode. Between chain catenary and almost 200 feet of stretchy nylon, the take-up was very smooth and gentle, so no comfort or holding concerns. Wind became more steady (both direction and much smaller gusts) around sunset, so with the back covers up we sat nice and steady with about 18 kts of wind, just a mild yaw over maybe a 10 degree range. Slept great, then sat through a few more hours of 18 gusting to 25 the next day.
When we pulled the anchor up to head home last night, the mud caked into the slot and shackle led me to believe that we had the anchor fully buried including the shank despite having pulled on it in various directions over about a 90* range. Based on our swing circle, the anchor never moved. Retrieval on the Vulcan doesn't seem too bad even when it's deeply buried. A couple minutes with the rode vertical (with an occasional bump on the windlass to keep tension) loosened it up enough to lift it right out. Much easier than the Fortress break-out dance...
One of the photos shows the anchor about to be docked into the pulpit (with plenty of hull clearance, the point of least clearance is when fully docked). I'd say that overall, it worked out nicely.
The first time using the new rig even provided some good entertainment. Sitting in 49 feet of water when some people in a small boat come into the cove we were in (deep until very close to shore) and tossed out an anchor. After a few minutes, I notice they're drifting around. Shortly before they got close enough to concern me, I see them realize they're moving, pull their anchor up (looked like they only pulled in 40 or 50 feet of line) and move elsewhere. I don't think they realized how deep it was and I don't think their anchor even touched the bottom. Most of the boats that anchor in this bay tuck into the shallow spots, so they probably figured that if we were anchored there, they could too, not thinking that anyone would ever anchor in nearly 50 feet of water.