counter stern on a weekender?

[Wild Dingo]

Now Im just throwin wild thoughts out here... been done before and will happen again so get used to it eh!

So I was lookin at that wee boat young Oyster Mike is building with its round stern and that got me thinkin about BB Crowninshields Fame and Dark Harbor and their nice long counter sterns and wondered what if??

What if we wanted to put a counter stern on a weekender?

Whatcha reckon??

[Frank Hagan]

Might be hard to do, but many have commented that the Weekender could use a little more boyancy in the stern. Usually the thought is to not taper the width of the hull towards the stern, and create more room in the cockpit (the Potter 15 is about the same size as the Weekender, but has a nearly square stern with nearly the same beam as amidships).

The Weekender is mostly a box, but it deceives us into thinking she has elegant curves. You'd have to think about what changing the square shape would mean in terms of building her, and also find out what types of handling characteristics she would have (many have trouble tacking a Weekender in light airs ... would a round stern change this for the better, or make it worse? ... or not have any effect at all?)

[Guest]

Get that out of your head for your build. I can spend a bit of time discussing changes, from my perspective, but wll not. Don't experiment on your first build and the original boat plans.. Geturdone. Hear?

[Ken_Potts]

I concur, Mr Oyster. Git the boat built before you start improvin it! It will be much more satisfying to talk about the beautiful boat you're going to build while you're sailing than to talk about it while looking at a pile of wood . And I say this from the perspective of someone who has walked away from an "improvement" on somebody else's design.

There's always another boat to build. Think of how sad it would be to build the "perfect" boat right out of the box - The "humpy" (I like that name) and all of those kick-*ss tools would end up neglected.

Cut some wood, man, you deserve it!

Of course, this IS the design forum - While you're building I look forward to reading the pros/cons of a counter stern since I certainly have a lot to learn on the subject. Maybe you could convince one of the folks on the forum to build a false counter stern out of throw-away material and sail test it for you...

Maybe Miss Adla's boat is broken in enough for experimentation?

[PAR]

A counter stern can be done on the Weekender, but would require some expertise reworking the lines in the last half of the hull.

The counter stern has good points and bad like most things in yacht design. It can be done on single chine designs as well as round bilge craft. They provide a good bit of reserve buoyancy in following seas and some additional LWL when the boat heels and squats her stern. They are pretty to most eyes and can increase usable deck and stowage space. On the other hand they can get lifted by a following sea and get tossed to the side, starting a broach (not good) they put a good bit of weight in an area of the boat where additional weight should be avoided in small craft. A counter can also add complication to steering and outboard engine installations. For the most part, Weekender's hull shape doesn't lend well to a counter.

If design isn't a strong suit or you're in your first few builds, you'll be best served by sticking with the plans, saving changes to elements of the craft that don't involve drawing up a new hull (which is what you'll need do for a counter) Many things about these little yachts can be customized and altered to fit your needs and wishes, just take a look at the various gallery photos, with note to the many different takes on how things are done. Hull design needs considerable understanding to pull off changes like this successfully.