leeway

[umop_apisdn]

Usually I just go out and mess around on the lake, following the wind as much as possible. I don't ever really try to get from point A to point B.

So I went out and tried my hand at actual navigation, steering my course by my compass, and I discovered something. My boat has a LOT of leeway when sailing into the wind.

So here are the gory details:

Weather forecast said the winds would be around 10 knots on Lake Washington.

I tied some cassette tape to the top of the mast, so I could compare apparent wind direction to where my boat was pointed.

I checked the wind direction from the streamers at the top of the mast, and picked a landmark on the opposite shore about 45 degrees off the wind. I took a bearing on the landmark. Then steered the boat by compass, and compared where I actually ended up with where I wanted to end up.

I ended up NO WHERE NEAR where I wanted to. The actual path I travelled was closer to 80 degrees off the wind! :shock: I was travelling sideways as much as I was travelling forward.

I tried this five or six times, and even turned on tracking in the GPS and examined the tracks I made.

So what gives? Is the water in Lake Washington extra-slippery?

Noel

[Craig]

On these boats you can't steer to the target when close to the wind. You have to sail up wind/current what ever to compensate for the drift. Determine where you want to go as you did, then steer into the wind sufficiently to make your course over ground as direct as possible to the target. The closer to the wind you try this the worse the leeway is. The best I have been able to get Saralee to do is about 38 or so degrees. Close to the wind the leeway is hell and the is no room left to compensate without ending up in irons. Fall off, go like mad then tack back to a point above your target and reach over to it. It takes a bit to get used to.

[PAR]

It is possible, to have a centerboard with the only intrusion into the cabin being a, 1/4" diameter section of tubing on the aft bulkhead inside the cabin.

A single, off center board inside the cabin can become a useful support for a table or stowage area. Placing one well outboard on each side of the boat, just about on top of the chines will make a nice shelf and not interfere with much of the cabin floor space.

All three of these modifications will increase the boat's abilities, toward weather and leeward slippage.

If radical changes to the deadwood profile were made, truly large gains in tacking ability, maneuverability and weatherlyness could be realized.

How radical? Cut the deadwood off. Leave just 3" its full underwater length (see drawings), except at the bow where you'll want a sweet curve fairing back into the clipper cutwater. In the center, you will leave a section, sort of a stub keel to house the centerboard, maybe some additional lumber aft to fair in the stub keel. Sharpen this along it leading edge, but leave the bottom flat, tapering the aft sections a little.

The first is dramatically cut away and houses the board, the second has just 2" more draft (what's the difference between half or 2/3's the way up your calf) and a better size appendage. Does this keel profile look a bit easier to trailer?

If the board is strip planked the way I like to see small wooden boards, then it will last 10 years with neglect and 20 with reasonable care. You might have to replace the pin and lanyard in there along the way.

Oh, no doesn't that weaken the crap out of the stem? I've seen and designed a fair number of small craft that didn't have the big old keel the Weekender or Vacationer has. The plywood alone will support the boat. Ever see a 15' power boat built in a garage with a 30 HP Mercury hanging on it's transom? 1/2" bottom, 3/8" sided pointy box, that pounds you to death in route, but you got there fast. No keel, just a couple of knees on the transom a plywood splash well glassed to the hull sides, maybe tied into some seating, bait wells or raised sole. Bashing along, slowly tearing itself to pieces, it's a wonder the transom doesn't rip right off with hole shots or groundings.

If you do have concerns about stem strength, a "gripe" piece can be installed in the forepeak and solve any heavy weather sailings chores you'd like to sail through. For the type of sailing these boats do, it wouldn't be necessary with this headsail area.

Drop me an email, it ain't that hard to work out.

[Andrew_Butchart]

One thing I did when building my pirogue was to change from a single lee-board hung off the side to an off-centre centreboard. Yes - I suppose I have a "good tack" and "bad tack", but I'm not enough of a sailor to tell you which was which.

There's no reason that the board would have to come up in the middle of the keel, you could put it on the side and then have the halyard for it come up in the little storage box like I believe it did in the original Weekender. If you don't like it, just unbolt, fill two holes and your back the way you were.

I think if you look around the original popular science article for the Weekender - the first page was posted here http://www.messing-about.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2808 a while ago you can see that the original centreboard was no higher than the keel depth and didn't require a trunk.