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Catalina 250
On Mon, 20 Oct 2003 12:28:48 +0000, DSK wrote:
Lloyd Sumpter wrote: OK...take your basic Merit/Olsen/Martin/Hotfoot/J and: 1. lose the $10K kevlar racing sails and put on dacron cruising sails Why? If you've already got them, why not use them? 1. If you're buying new, you'd have to buy them, adding $10K to the purchase price. Something cruisers don't do. 2. If they're used, the RACING concept would be to replace after a year to two - again an expense most cruisers aren't will to accept. 2. put roller furling on the headsail and MAYBE a "cruising spinnaker" (AKA "downwind floppy genoa") 3. Add 1500 lb or so of "cruising gear": 2 anchors, chain, etc. dishes, water tank, holding tank, BBQ, crabtrap... (I had all this and more in my Cal 25) 4. Add 6 mos accumulation of marine growth on the hull Again, why? That's just plain neglectful and stupid. Especially on a small boat that can be scrubbed with no great effort or time sunk. How many times do you haul the boat?? If it's a racing boat, it often gets hauled after every race, or at least many times in one year. Cruising boats typically get hauled once a year. This is my point of "racing" vs "cruising" mentality. Now, sail it "cruising style": steer with your foot while you eat, tack when you've finished lunch, leave the traveller centered, undercanvas so you don't heel too much... And you'll find these pocket rocketships don't go so fast. In fact, the C25 may even beat it. If the C25 was sailed under the same circumstances, not at all likely. Hasn't been my experience. Many Martin 242's have been "converted" to cruising boats, and they're not noticably faster than comparably-equipped C25, C&C, US25, etc. Why? The racers are designed to sail LIGHT and with a lot of drive. For instance, they're not designed to sail downwind with a genny. Many have very fine entries which work great when racing, but screw up when there's 100lb of anchor gear in the bow. Actually, the finer bow is likely to be slowed down less by weight forward. I was referring to weight distribution. A lighter boat will suffer more from "incorrect" weight placement than a heavier boat. Also, lack of bouyance fwd WILL be more affected by weight fwd. This kind of argument is common, but it's pure ignorance and wishful thinking. FOr example, you know that Michael Jordan can jump higher than you, so that suggests (by your logic) that you can therefore carry a heavier weight up a hill. Nope. My logic is more like "MJ can jump higher than an NFL lineman because the lineman's way heavier. Make MJ the same weight as the lineman, and I'll bet he couldn't jump as high as the lineman." If a Catalina 25 is trialed against a Merit 25, with both of them light or both of them loaded, the Merit is going to prove faster. Totally "like for like"? Maybe. But noticably? In a race, 1/4 knot is VERY significant, but cruising, 1/2 knot is nothing. Now, I do notice that the C250 has one thing I HATE: "water ballast". Last I checked, water is NOT heavier than water so IMHO does not constitute "ballast" in a boat Another example of ignorance. Water is heavy. It doesn't have to be "heavier than water" to be ballast, it just has to be below the boats center of gravity, or even below the boats metacenter. Tell me, is your boat's stability increased by filling a fuel tank down low in the hull? Fuel is definitely lighter than water. How about a big cooler full of ice & beer? Compared to AIR, yes. Compared to lead, no. I'd show you the mathematics if you feed me beer. In the meantime, try this experiment: fill a bottle with water and see if it sinks. Why not a full keel? Too slow! Lloyd Sumpter "Far Cove" Catalina 36 |
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