Interesting thread here on notches and anchoring. Guess I can share my experience too for whatever it is worth. For me, safety comes first and more freeboard to me suggests more safety. Saying that, I have a notched 2120 and love it for reasons listed above but I pay special attention to the notch. I never simply go from all ahead to all stop without watching the stern wave, I keep the fiberglass barrier in place that crosses the boat in front on the engine, and I would never (no condition I can think of now) anchor anywhere for the night from my stern. Even when I had no notch, I would never anchor by my stern.
There are real reasons all the boat manufacturers put the anchors on the bow. When the unexpected storm comes, the boat needs to face the wind and waves if I am not moving. If it worked well with the stern facing the weather, then I could drive out to sea in reverse and have no concerns.
For ventilation, it is simple to open the forward hatch as well as the forward windows. For noise, yes it can be noisier to face the waves in the berths, but as long as I hear the laps, I know the boat is facing in the safest direction. Certainly it takes less effort to anchor (unless one has a windlass) to drop the hook off the stern but lots of things in life can be easier but not safer.
I have anchored many places the entire length of the ICW from NY to Key West and over to Mobile and never saw a boat anchored from the stern. Some in Canada drop the hook off the bow and run a line off the stern to a pine tree fro close to shore anchoring in crowded anchorages.
One night I recall in the ICW (and we had more than one similar to this one), we had just finished dinner and it was getting dark. Another boat was anchored to my port side and with no wind we were facing a slight current coming out of a large stream into the cut and the trees were barely moving.
As my head hit the pillow in the dark, a squall with whistling winds hit us from the stern. As I got to the wheel I saw my boat had turned 180 degrees and was now facing back out to the ICW and the anchor had reset because my searchlight shining on a tree to port was holding steady. The boat next to me had swung too and I could see the waves going over his pilothouse. I could see my rode stretched out forward so I fired up my engine in neutral in case I needed it and turned of the wipers as I swept the area over and over with my searchlight to make sure the anchor was holding, that the boat next to us was holding position, and that nothing was coming out of the storm directly into us. The VHF was crackling with the lightening and lots of traffic from boaters in distress. My wife had our emergency gear all set and it seemed odd to be riding into such large waves at anchor and to see the splash go over the pilothouse. Don't really know how long it lasted, but eventually the storm quit and our boats swung back into the current of the stream.
We checked other boaters and all were okay (some were aground but okay). Had I been anchored by my stern, even if the anchor line had not wrapped around the engine or the prop, it would have been difficult and dangerous to cut the anchor line and fire up the engine and turn the boat around in tight anchor quarters and violet weather. Notch or no notch, my stern would have been taking on lots of water. I'll keep my big anchor on the bow and drop it from the bow - lets me sleep well and know I have been responsible, best I know how, for my admiral or crew and me....................Pete