New anchor gear was the first thing we upgraded. My boat came with a danforth, and the aforementioned 3 strand rode and it all sat in a milk crate on the bow that I hand lined in. I can't tell you how often I see this done and it is just the poorest planning ever. Even with a milk crate secured, one good wave over the bow, a thing these boats can take quite well, will almost certainly put you into a catastrophic situation.
We got a windlass largely because we didn't feel safe with the rode on the bow, and after pulling some gear in some waves got a little wet and decided it wasn't great to be up there doing that all the time.
When we added the windlass and kept the same rode I found a few things that Ididn't like:
1. the rode had a "memory" and would have these little loops and kinks that caused it to fall off the gypsy.
2. The gypsy didn't grab the rode very well
3. The relatively short 200' rode took up my whole anchor locker, and I often was unable to hit the bottom when I was trying to fish in slightly deeper water.
The 8 plait flakes well into the locker, can have way more rode in there, and holds far better in the gypsy (although having my rode piled so high in my anchor locker does cause the rode to slip in the gypsy a bit more than I'd like.
When we were first considering the purchase of a new rode we hesitated on the price numerous times, but some online shopping and diligence we found some high quality gear at a good price that wasn't too far off of the better 3 strand rode in terms of price. Once shipping was factored in, the price was almost a wash, because the same amount of 3 strand shipped in a much larger box.
This ended up being a major upgrade, and one we take advantage of frequently. On those occasional days when our secluded anchorages might have another boat in it (we tend to have things to ourselves up here and like it that way!) we've been known to anchor up for a stay in a hundred feet of water or more. Plus, I can fish for halibut anywhere, I don't have to drift if it's over 130' deep, I can anchor up. Quite simply, this gear let's me do anything I want to, whereas previously I was quite limited in where I could anchor
Long answer, but there you go.