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Side benches and hiking out.


SteveKos

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Hello all. I am well into my Spindrift 11 build, but something I encountered in another forum was a discussion about side benches on a dinghy and their limiting effect on being able to comfortably hike out in a strong wind. The opinion of the writer was that sitting on the benches may not give enough leverage in a heavy wind, and the benches prohibit hiking out any further. All this is academic for me as it's too late to consider all this in the building of my boat, but I thought I would ask those of you with Spindrifts or other dinghies with side benches about this issue.

 

Personally I like the idea of side benches because of the ability to 'half hike' comfortably by sitting on the bench and leaning out a little with still some support and something to hold onto. I also intend to use them for storage of gear when beach camping. I would probably rather reef my sail in heavy conditions if known in advance rather than hiking out to maintain balance, but the ability to hike when an unexpected gust comes up seems like a good option if it happens suddenly.

 

I actually prefer not to have to hike out, as I am getting a bit longer in the tooth these days and my experiences of hiking out on a trapeze when sailing a catamaran were sometimes downright scary! :unsure:

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Steve,I've had my Spindrift 10 for over 25? years and I feel your pain about hiking out. The benches are no problem. If you are normal size you can sit on the rail. Having a strap on the centerline in the bottom of the boat certainly helps to anchor your feet. Thing about riding the rail is your butt ends up making you wish you had built that thing foot wider. I have used life jackets to sit on but those cheap hard foam flotation cushions work the best for me. Good luck PeterP

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I have found that just sitting on the side bench seats is enough. I have tried sitting on the side of the boat, but you get a saw butt. At the stage that you are at with your boat, you can modify it a little by placing a wider top on the side of the boat. It would make it a lot more comfortable.

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I have hiked off of those gunwales as much as anyone and I never found them that uncomfortable. Most of the time you are sitting on the bench seat and slide up onto the gunwales in the puffs. The extra power that you get from hiking certainly pays off.

 

The dinghies that I grew up sailing on only had that much width, we thought that that was normal. Some boats did add an extra lamination, just in the hiking area. I won't say that I never got a sore butt, but that was only after a long hard race.

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The opinion of the writer was that sitting on the benches may not give enough leverage in a heavy wind, and the benches prohibit hiking out any further.

I don't understand how side benches really have much affect on your ability to hike out. If properly designed they do limit how much water enters the boat when capsized, how much remains in the boat when recovered and how much that water can move around. This is a huge safety factor. 

 

If you want to hike out on the gunwale you have to be able to reach the tiller and the sheet. The side benches may force your legs to lay straighter but that seems like a more natural position to me anyway. Something to hook your foot on or a hiking strap like Peter mentioned is helpful.

 

As for how wide and soft the rail needs to be for comfort all I can say is that some people are a lot tougher than others.

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Actually, sitting lower along the sides of the boat is more effective (affect on initial stability) than sitting higher and slightly farther outboard, like the side decks. This changes if you can use a trap, but just leaning outboard from the side, not as much as you might think, when you run the numbers. As pointed out, the floatation chambers also have other aspects to consider.

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The 10n I built does not have the side decks, so the options are to sit on the narrow gunnels or the bottom. I have taken to sitting flat on the bottom, with my back to the weather side and feet braced against the leeward side. Last time I was out the wind was up and judging from the whitecaps, somewhere between 15 and 20 knots.  As near as I could tell, it seemed we were able to pop up on plane a few times in the gusts. When that happened, the boat seemed to stiffen considerably and sailed even more upright and faster. All I can say is things were humming and we were going pretty fast. If hiking out would get you going faster than that, I'm not sure I would want to.

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Thanks for the input. Of course what we are talking about is keeping the boat as flat as possible in heavy wind, and there are more ways of doing that than just how far you lean out over the side. There's the ability to spill wind with fine adjustments of the sail with the sheet in a gust, the ability to flatten the sail with an outhaul (or in my case an adjustable snotter on the sprit) if the wind is up for longer periods. Also,sometimes it is best to allow the boat to heel, which requires a good knowledge of the boat and experience in such conditions.

 

The other thing about hiking out is that if something goes wrong you can end up overboard, or injured if you get thrown around by the wave action. I think I would rather stay more inside the boat knowing that if it does capsize it will be safer than without the extra floatation.

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The 10n I built does not have the side decks, so the options are to sit on the narrow gunnels or the bottom. I have taken to sitting flat on the bottom, with my back to the weather side and feet braced against the leeward side. Last time I was out the wind was up and judging from the whitecaps, somewhere between 15 and 20 knots.  As near as I could tell, it seemed we were able to pop up on plane a few times in the gusts. When that happened, the boat seemed to stiffen considerably and sailed even more upright and faster. All I can say is things were humming and we were going pretty fast. If hiking out would get you going faster than that, I'm not sure I would want to.

That is how I sail my 9n.  I am not racing it but sailing it as a tender to and from the dinghy dock or touring the harbor.   If hiking out becomes a common thing to do you could always make something that slips over the gunwales that has a broader and/or softer spot for sitting.

 

post-442-0-59953400-1395009408_thumb.jpgpost-442-0-60474600-1395009422_thumb.jpg

 

I made this to slip over the cockpit combing of my Renegade.  I use it to sit to leeward, leaning on the lifelines, while sailing to weather so I can see behind my genny.

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