Matt/Meribeth Pedersen wrote:
I think the Morgan 34 (and the CCA era M33, not the Out Island) are
pretty good boats. The Tartan has a nice reputation but the
centerboard doesn't kick up if you run aground and it can
be hard to repair the mechanism if you ground hard and bend something.
The Morgan 34 CB doesn't kick up either, but if you do break
something it is relatively easy to fix since it's a cable mechanism.



You might get arguments from owners of the Ericson 35 that they
are just as good as the Ranger, but I don't have the heavy air miles
on one to confirm the opinion ( and I'm thinking of the Bruce King
designed Mark II version here).

Pretty comparable boats in many ways, but IMHO the Ranger is a little
better looking and the Ericson is better built. The Ranger is more
likely to be found at the lower end of the price range, too (not a
judgement on them).


As far a centerboard boats go, for a trip in the Gulf/Florida/Bahamas
I think it's almost a requirement. Not so much for some of the Caribbean.
The big disadvantage is of course the added maintenence of the board
and it's raising/lowering mechanism.


Sure the centerboard is a maintenance item, and some are easier & more
reliable than others. IMHO it is well worth the added capability... when
we talk about cruising with people who have deep draft boats, they
usually say "We can go anywhere we want" dismissively... but then it
turns out that there is a long long list of nice places that they "don't
want" to go...

I also consider it a safety issue, in that you have more options with
less draft.


... That and they can clunk around
in the slot in a seaway, which I always found disconcerting.

That can be fixed relatively easily, depending on the board design.

... They
do help you go to windward if your sails are up to it, but there
are many people who glass the board in place and forget about
sailing close winded. I wouldn't, but then I hate sailing boats
that don't go to weather well.

Agreed. Getting trapped on a lee shore is guaranteed bad day.


Of course, seaworthiness is always an issue with centerboard boats.
Deep keels have more favorable wieght distribution for resisting
and recovery from capsize. A competent, well prepared crew
should be able to make a centerboarder work for the type of trip
your thinking of though. It wouldn't be my choice for a
circumnavigation, but would be for for Gulf cruising.

The big issue I see here is the Center of Gravity (specifically, where
it is located vertically) and it's impact on the Limit of Positive
Stability. It's a lot easier to get a good LPOS if you can put the
ballast nice and low. But the old fashioned centerboarders, somewhat
narrow by modern standards, with strong sheer and narrow sterns, can
have a better LPOS in practice than a modern boat with high sides and
wide transom.

That's in theory... in practice, when this is an issue, it's more
important to make sure you don't get conked in the head by a flying soup
can... not on most people's list of seaworthiness issues


AFter the Fastnet storm of 79, there was a lot of research done
on characteristics that help or hinder capsize. One fallout of that
was a capsize screen formula. It is

Beam (feet) divided by displacement^.3333 (displacement to
the 1/3 power, displacement in cubic feet). The result of
this formula should be a value less than 2. I have always
argued that the formula is a little simplistic because it doesn't
take into account ballast placement (you could have 4000
pounds of lead at the top of the mast and the formula would
say you have a seaworthy boat). However, for the boats
under discussion it should give good results.

Yes, the point of the capsize screen formula (or ratio) is to compare
similar boats... not to scale seaworthiness. In the absence of more
detailed data, the CSR and the ballast/disp ratio can tell a lot about a
boats hardiness for rough weather. And there are so many other
seaworthiness considerations... the rig, the hatches, the stowage, etc
etc... that it's easy to give this too much weight.

BTW I noticed that nobody has yet mentioned "small cockpits" or
recommended double enders...

Fresh Breezes- Doug King