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Light Weight vs Heavy Weight
"Steve Lusardi" ) writes:
I guess I wasn't very clear. Weight has the advantage in non-planing (displacement) craft of having a lot of inertia. In the case of rowing a light craft, the oars will accelerate the craft quickly, but because the craft has low inertia, it will decelerate just as quickly. This is especially apparent in a wind. The heavier craft, on the other hand accelerates slower, but once up to speed, will hold the forward momentum, while the oars retract for the next stroke. This extra inertia will also keep the craft on the intended course much better than a light one. We can use the same example on sail boats when tacking through the wind. The boat with the most inertia will maintain steerage way for a much longer time, giving the crew much more time to ready the rig for the next tack. Now, boat motion, for the same reason, the felt motion will be much less with the heavier craft. Speed, most people assume that a lighter craft is faster than a heavier one. This can be the case, because of hull resistance. The more wetted surface the more drag. The exception that I was illustrating was for those craft that do not approach the speed where that factor has significant influence. What the above also means is that light boats are more responsive to the tiller which is an advantage when racing. The boats accellerate faster. Light weight makes pleasure sailing small boats interesting rather than boring. Load the boat up for a family outing and it gains the weight and momentum mentioned above while losing some of its repsponsiveness. With the family aboard steadiness is more desireable than responsiveness. If the boats is not going to be raced it can be heavy. Alas the problem with sailboats is whenever another sail is within sight you are racing. Sailing can be boring and comparing speed with other boats makes it less so. The other thing that helps reduce sailing boredom is trying to figure out where you are. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm warning: non-freenet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned |
#12
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Light Weight vs Heavy Weight
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#13
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Light Weight vs Heavy Weight
On Thu, 15 Apr 2004 23:27:19 GMT, "Jess"
wrote: We had an extensive give and take on this, on a NE fishing board, and everyone said that "heavy" is one quality thaey all want in a boat. The other points are being discussed elsewhere, so let me take up this one. "Heavy" means bigger engines, bigger masts, bigger sails, heavier scantlings, larger fuel tanks, bigger rudder components, and more, more, more. For a some improvement in ride in rough conditions, the owner will pay for a more expensive boat up front, that is more expensive to operate and more expensive to repair. The heavy vs. light argument is kind of bogus. I would ask, if you had a 10-ton boat, would you want it to be 25 feet long or 40 feet long? - Rick Tyler -- "Ignorant voracity -- a wingless vulture -- can soar only into the depths of ignominy." Patrick O'Brian |
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