Vacationer Swing Keel

[Greg Luckett]

G Man, see if a local supplier will order it for you to be shipped with their regular orders, then there should be no extra shipping cost.

[ScottWidmier]

I added a centerboard alongside my keel to my Pocket Cruiser and it was one of the best modifications I made to the boat.  The centerboard was aluminum primarily for durability rather than adding ballast.  I think all of the Stevenson boats, but especially the Pocket Cruiser and Vacationer, rely on form stability and adding ballast really wouldn't help enough to counterbalance the loss of performance.  I do believe the Weekender can benefit from ballast, however, as you can tell if you ever have the opportunity to step on the rail of the three boats.

The biggest benefit to the Pocket Cruiser was the huge increase in windward performance.  Jim Stumpf's Vacationer could easily beat me off the wind but I could point a heck of a lot higher and had a lot less leeway than he did so I blew his doors off into the wind.  I always thought the Vacationer's performance could be improved with a centerboard and turning performance improved by cutting away some of the keel as Paul suggests.

As for boat designs for G man I agree that the Vacationer might not be the best boat though it is simple to build and nice to look at.  Given the price of plywood, I would suggest he looks at Bateau.com's Adelie boats or even the Vagabond (http://www.bateau.com/products.php?cat=14).  They may not be as attractive in my eyes as the Vacationer but they are self-righting with raised soles and self-draining cockpits.  The smaller Adalie 14 wouldn't take that many sheets to build but does have decent room below and could take coastal sailing.

Good luck in your quest!

[G Man]

Thanks for that Scott!  The VG23 looks interesting.  Unfortunatley it does not have a very traditional look that attracts me, but they seem to really pack a lot into a 23' boat.  I have not seen any boats of that size with so much interior space and a large cockpit.  Do you know if this is a blue water boat?  They mention that the previous design, serpentine 22, has crossed the Atlantic.  The website makes it seem pretty easy to build as well.  Only 500hrs.  Can't find much info on any VG23's currently sailing.

[ChrisObee]

Thanks for that Scott!  The VG23 looks interesting.  Unfortunatley it does not have a very traditional look that attracts me, but they seem to really pack a lot into a 23' boat.  I have not seen any boats of that size with so much interior space and a large cockpit.  Do you know if this is a blue water boat?  They mention that the previous design, serpentine 22, has crossed the Atlantic.  The website makes it seem pretty easy to build as well.  Only 500hrs.  Can't find much info on any VG23's currently sailing.

The designer at Bateau has indicated that he would consider the boat for a crossing with a few modifications.  Most importantly being a bridge deck to help minimize the possibility of water getting into the cabin.  But also perhaps a full masthead rig rather than the fractional rig as designed. 

[G Man]

It looks like a bridge deck mod would be pretty straight forward and if I'm not wrong, it also looks like from the drawings on their study plan, the VG23 is already drawn up for full masthead rigging.  Intreguing!

[ChrisObee]

It looks like a bridge deck mod would be pretty straight forward and if I'm not wrong, it also looks like from the drawings on their study plan, the VG23 is already drawn up for full masthead rigging.  Intreguing!

maybe it was a different back stay.  I don't recall.  I think that's it.  the current design doesn't have a back stay.  It just uses swept back spreaders and no back stay.