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    Anyone would like to improve his sailing ability. It may be a question of extra speed, reducing drag or windward ability. The problem is how, and more generally how to bridge theory to the practical advices.In this book Fox Geen offers a comprehensive range of hints on improving keelboat performance by attention and modification of sails, rigging, rudder, proppellers, hull. He discusses elements of naval architecture or sailing theory, but it is only the minimal amount needed to undestand his pr

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    Anyone would like to improve his sailing ability. It may be a question of extra speed, reducing drag or windward ability. The problem is how, and more generally how to bridge theory to the practical advices.In this book Fox Geen offers a comprehensive range of hints on improving keelboat performance by attention and modification of sails, rigging, rudder, proppellers, hull. He discusses elements of naval architecture or sailing theory, but it is only the minimal amount needed to undestand his pr

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    100 views113 pages

    Geen F. Improved Keelboat Performance, 1974

    Uploaded by

    VitBar
    Anyone would like to improve his sailing ability. It may be a question of extra speed, reducing drag or windward ability. The problem is how, and more generally how to bridge theory to the practical advices.In this book Fox Geen offers a comprehensive range of hints on improving keelboat performance by attention and modification of sails, rigging, rudder, proppellers, hull. He discusses elements of naval architecture or sailing theory, but it is only the minimal amount needed to undestand his pr

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    ABC of Gliding Handbook of Small Boat Cruising Fitting Out a Moulded Hull The Life and Times of ‘The Royal Dorset Yacht Club, 1875-1975 Improved Keelboat Performance FOX GEEN Illustrations by Maureen Verity HOLLIS & CARTER ro SLIM © A. Fox-Geen 1974 ‘This book is sold subject tothe conition that it shall not, by way of made o otherwise, be lent, emo hited out, 0 fthervtne cvvalated without the pal Tisers Hy form of Dining wove eae hat that wi in publishes anal witout a slay eonaivon ncn thinsouiton bing, Fmponed om the stare pa ane Paperback edition sma 0 gpm 40st 4 Hardcover edition 188N @ 470 10414 + Printed and bound in Great Britain for Hollis & Carter ‘an asociate company of ‘The Bodley Head Ltd 19 Bow Street, London were 7AL by Northumberland Press Limited Gateshead Set in Linotype Baskerville First published as a paperback and simultancously as a hardcover edition 1975 CONTENTS Author's Foreword, 9 Introductory, 14 Lines and plans, 13 ‘The Hull, 17 ‘The lines plan, 17. The planimeter, 22. Devivation of information, 26 Structural problems, 30 3 ‘The Sails, 33, The sat plan, 33 The centre of efor, 35 Size, 40 Aspect ratio, 4° Practical application, 44 * Contour, 45° Gamber, 46» Location and interaction, 49 Condition, 52 4 The Wind, 56 Utilisation of wind force, 36» Condition 2, 57 - Re: duced Eficiency, 58, - Condition 2, 60 - Condition 3, ‘60. Wind components, 6 5 [Rigs and Rigging, 64 Types of rigs 64 Alternative rigs and sails, 68 » The dipping tug, 8 » The standing lug. 70. The balance lug, 72 The Chinese lug, 72 - The sprit sail, 73 Rigging, 74 - Mast secion, 54 Mast strength, 75 Style of rig, 77 Crosstrees, Fore and back stays, 83 6 Scuting Up the Rigging, 85 Mast stepping, 85 - Setting up the rigging, 8 Sequence of setting up, 88 + The Mast, 8 - Bottle screws, 49 + Lower shrouds, 89» Mast bend, 8p The fore and back stays. 90 - Upper shrouds, 92 Jacksiays and drifting stays, 93 7 Making the Most of the Breeze, 9 Hull speed, 6 “Speed length ratio, 96 Sailing tril, 98+ Halyards, 100 Mainsal travel, 200- Dini. 1 Adjustment to camber, 105 Winches, 08 - Sheeting, 109 Sail twist end wind gradient, 110 Sail nim and interaction, 16 Condition 1,113 Condition 9, 140 s Auniliary Power, oy Chong an ausibany syem, ta Prupellen, 096 Eire ye in Drag, AK Cabong penioemance, 138 Diag the ALT Kean, a9 Dude diag, 110 baiting 7 Vitus 14s Afest af tum on ELM Saing fences, ry Malan. ty7 Yow, 4" Roll, 0g Plich, 174 4 Other Motion, 178 Heaving, 178 Surging, 180° Drifting, 180 Harmonic a MI Vv vi vii vit 1x XI rolling, 282 15 Performance Under Shortened Sail, 183 APPENDIX Apparent wind, 192 Aspect ratio, 194 To find the displacement of a boat, 195 To find the centre of buoyancy, 198 To find tons per inch immersion, 200 ‘To find the centre of effort, 201 The centre of pressure of a rudder blade, 204 Metacentres and transverse stability, 205 To find the centre of gravity, 209 est of comparative stability, at1 ‘The power to carry sail, 17 List of Recommended Reading, 219 Index, 221 Author’s Foreword ‘This book may serve to close a gap in the vast range of sailing literature, which tends to vun to extremes. ‘Learned books by the technically expert are hard «0 digest and often of small practical use to the sailor in search of bettering his sport. Alongride them Iie volumes written by those who are highly knowledgeable and have ‘much to contribute in narrow fields, such as ocean racing ‘oF dinghy sailing. ‘These are usually clear and compre- hensive within their limits, but it is a task to extract small bts of information from them which might be of ‘use to you in your own field ‘At the other extreme are books aimed at the novice or inexperienced sailor. A lot of these are apparently writen for juveniles and can be condexending, whieh ‘an odd approach. Because a man is a litle short on sailing knowhow, i is irational to regard him as dim- ‘witted. He is only too often fully avare of problems Connected with his boat and her uses. He seeks practical knowledge in assimilable form, preferably backed with the relevant theory so that he may be intellectually ‘convinced of the correctness of his actions. Not only does hhe want to know ‘how’ but ‘why’. Tn the compass of these pages I have tied to condense as much knowledge as is needed by the silent majority of the sling fraternity—those quiet folk who ask nothing ° ‘more than the ability to eruise succesfully with family or friends. They take much pride in what they do and spend endless hours in pursuit of acceptable sailing performance. I am glad to be numbered among them. ‘A friend, reading my daft, said pereeptively that T hhad written about the man-boat machine. 1 understood, Dut it was badly put. A man needs a boat to ensnare the fecting winds and harness them for his pleasure; this oes not make a boat a machine. A boat needs a man at the helm a she breasts the surly seas and tames them down; this does not make the man a machine, There ie an ‘empathy between them, and iti right that a man should cate for his boat, and that she should look after him. So let it always be. Fox Gan Weymouth, 1974 Introductory ‘The more you know about your boat the better you will be able to realise her fll potential. Although the perfor mance of any boat is governed by her original design, her owner can do much for her himself. You know how boats ofthe same type, even members of tightly restricted classes, vary considerably in their sling abilities, Within such groups it is fairly casy to compare performances and fet about improving the less tccessful contenders. That calls for attention to many details, large and small, whieh fn the aggregate can transform a backmarker ‘into a In the feld of cruising such convenient comparison is seldom possible. Nevertheless, there are many contented ‘owners who took the time and trouble to find out what ‘was wrong with their boats, or was unsatisfactory about them, and put their ndings to practical use. Tt is open to anyone todo the same. ‘Permanent improvement to performance can be made in a number of ways. A boat can be made to sai faster; easier to helm; less tender, or less sti; more seakindly; more weatherly; less demanding on her crew; and many other things. Satisfactory performance can rest with a number of such matters, but you may justifably consider that attention to a single item vill resolve your problems, Perhaps it will, but after paying attention to it you may be tempted to delve deeper and find that more can be done with beneficial results Part of improvement will concern what might be called static changes; altering the shape of a rudder, adding or repositioning ballast; increasing sail area or ‘the aspect ratio ofa rg. This type of action will flow from. an analysis of design and an understanding of certain fundamental principles. ‘The other side of improvement concerns the running of boat; paying attention to proper sail setting and handling: balance; helming; trim; the fiting of eficient sear. This will stem from an understanding of principles and an habitual adherence to routines indicated by them ‘The static considerations concern the boat as an inanimate object, a cadaver to be operated on. The others ‘comprise a sort of empathy, a giving and taking between ‘man and boat to get the best out of both, Tn these pages I describe practical measures which will sive certain results whether or not you bother about the underlying seasons, However, a background of knowledge i always helpful sad to this en 1 save inched ithe theory in ligestile fora: you sould not Gnd it hard toswallow. 1 has been dilicult to srt the wheat from the ‘hall within the compsss of + snill book lke this. Only where it seemed to have beet of aulvantage for practical purposes fave been discursive. lv other instances you will ind a bald statement of theoretical findings, ‘These are as accurate and factual as possible; if you wish to plunge deeper into sueh turgit waters there is 4 Hist of recommended reading atthe back, Good performance means taking the boat as a whole, so that most ofthe factors ate interrelated in one way or another. T plead this at 4 reawon for not having written an outstandingly logieal sequence of chapters, although in the end it will all have knitted together. Nor seem sensible to try and divide each aspect of the subject, {nto two neat halves, one dealing with theory and one with practice. So that the text will flow smoothly and retain, ‘our interest, Ihave relegated caleulations and such things toan appendix which you can refer to if you wish. There is no glossary of terms and abbreviations: these are intro duced. as they arise and this should not cause any confusion as there is a comprehensive index. L would like to emphasise one point before getting down to derail. Serctural alterations are the last things to be thonghe about in a seurch for improved petlorm ance. Satisfaction will usually come from tenn running matters like taning and balance. ‘here ca be ‘enormous gains from just attending to sailing gear and the way iti handled or from looking at your boats tri, the way she sts om and moves through the water. Te could be, of course, that in the final analysis you decide to add a skeg, alter the shape ofthe rudder, or even adda bowsprit and mizen mast to your craft. There could be benefit in doing so, and many owners ate continually tying major experiments to alter the characteristics of their boats, Some of these are mentioned as ways of looking at things, bu this book confines itselé to more orthodox methods of the kind that are within the competence of most of us. Having read, the choice of action is ours. Ihave endeavoured to avoid misleading ‘words and figures but performance cannot be judged by absolute standards. My idea of perfection might be regarded as sloppy by one man and impossibly stringent by another; itis entirely a matter of opinion ‘When you hear someone criticising the ‘line’ of a boat he may know what he is talking about. He may not, 15 because it ia very loosely used manner of expression and ‘usually applied to the appearance of a boat and not to her design Designers formalize their idea of a boat by drawing a number of plans. These are accurately sealed and fully etailed so that s boat can be buile from them without further communication between designer and builder Such a procedure is of comparatively recent origin and for countless years boats were conceived and created on the basis of 2 model. The builder would make a sale model, or more usually a half:model, discus i¢ with the intended owner and by trimming it here and there and otherwise tinkering with it agree with him on a final ‘model which had acceptable Tines. The boat would then, bea replica on a fullsize sate Good boats, and many of them, were builtin such Fashion and «ite a snsmber of them are ail flo today. You can take the “lines 1 commit them to pier ithe plans canned be tude avait, Bee not st llteutt proces altongl lily. Lone ai this for may UAuthuy Stevens who, believe i id the ‘keel and drantwenal tenvoed oon is boat when Re the mearure- mit takew Pc to design a new keet anid or Sage. Fas she floated level an her murke whew lanmtied, for the materials hdl cost fx, wl lly ly ae Weymouth anyone with the wessurements and do fmple suas. AS the design of hill and sails i the most important aspect of any boat the next couple of chapters deal with the subject in det ‘Once you have learned to read plans (and it i not ifical) it will be pretty eary to deduce the probable 4 characteristics and behaviour to be expected of the boat built from them. If you are not entirely happy with your ‘own boat you should then be able to determine to what degre, if any, her faults are atributable to design. Good designers can be relied on to draw plans from which pleasant and seaworthy boats can be built. Design- ing is more art than science and there is an element of Tuck in the matter, albeit small. Many reputable designers are only too pleased to forget about their early efforts, but they bear in mind the hard lessons learned in the former years. Like wine, they improve with age Regrettably, there are other designers whose proxlucts range from indifferent to downright poor, In these days of great demand for boats of ll sorts, a number are marketed which are based on poor design, often amateur efforts, and may also be suspect in workmanship. Clever promotion and slick salesmanship may mask the reality, and if thinking of buying x new boat you would be wise to make more than a cursory enquiry into the stated abilities and advantages of new models. T do not contend that all amateur designers ae incompetent as this would, be far from the truth—there are many good ones like the late and incomparable Harrison Butler—but reputable moulders employ good, established designers and their products are to be relied on ‘Notwithstanding ths, I would hesitate to buy any boat unless Thad been able to look at her plans, at leat the lines drawings. There is a justifiable reluctance on the part of the designers of raéing rulecheaters to disclose {heir secrets, but a cruising boat needs no such security A conscientious designer will always show and diseuss plans with a genuine prospective buyer. ‘This brings outa point in case you intended to use plans for such purposes as modifying your own hull of plan, Designers live by selling their plans. They expect 5 to receive a royalty from every boat taken from them, and this is no more than just. Ie is morally indefensible (also illegal) to misuse plans by, for instance, passing them on to someone elke so that he can build from them Play fair and keep them to yourself, especially the sheet ‘entitled “Table of offsets a hull can be built fom this alone The Hull I crave your indulgence, and patience, when you read rough this chapter. Ie may seem that, because there is litde that ean be done to the structure of a hull to ‘change its lines, you are being led away from practical ‘matters. This is not so. The understanding of Hines is of itself fascinating, but as you progres with the book you will find that there are many applications of the theory ‘contained in this chapter: principally in the way of determining factors for calculations but also by a basic understanding of how water ows around a bull ‘The key tothe shape ofa hull Lies in the sheer plan, halt: breadth plan and body plan (or plan of sections. These are usually set out on a single sheet and are collectively termed the lines plan, or lines drawings. You will some- times see the body plan superimposed on the sheer plan; in some ways this it useful but at first sight can Seem a litle confusing. You can see that che sheer plan is a side view of the hhull. The halfbreadth plan is a view from below and divided longitudinally by a centreline (CL). One half is ‘generally outlined by the edge ofthe deck and the other portrays ‘diagonals. The body plan is divided vertically, " ey ate yo Lines drawings | one half showing the view from from astern. sate nupevimposed on the outlines and have the effect of slicing through the hull in three planes. Horizontal slices are referred to at waterlines, longi tudinal vertical ones are butiock lines and thwartwise vertical ones are sections. ‘These terms are not strictly accurate but are in common use and cause no confusion, 0 they are used throughout this book, In reading lines you should grasp the fact that each set of lines is common to all three plans but appears in different guises on each. Thie is obvious from the illustra: tions but can be stated like this Plan Weaterlines Buttock Sections lines Sheer Straightand Curved ——_—Scraightand parallelto parallel ‘esigned vertically swaterline (DWL) Body Straightand ——Straightand Curved» parallel to parallelto mi DWL ML Half. Curved to Straight snl breadth matchDWL parallel toCL go" toCl. ‘On the body plans are lines radiating out from the iagonally, passing through all sections to end at the perimeter ofthe plan. They are diagonals and corres- pond to those shown on one half of the halfbreadth plan, Unless he is actually building a hull they are of Tittle concern to an owner. During construction he can check on the fairness of the hull by laying laths along, the lines of the diagonals and comparing them with the plans, They have other uses which need not be mentioned, here. ‘Once you have absorbed the intimate relationship between the three sets of lines you may find that if you gate at the drawings, especially the halfbreadth plan, the shape of the hull will materialise out of the paper. Another, more easily awsimilable, way of portraying the shape ofa hull is by means ofan isometric drawing Fig. 2, Dut the lines are distorted and should never be used for taking measurements. "There i a convention which decrees that the bows shall be on the righthand side of the drawings. It is 9 2 Thometric drawing held that, once upon 3 time, the ‘ter boar! as hung on what snow known at he sarboard side and ths gave fea cenain eaiet and precsence ver part ‘Tha pen to quetion at modes were used Instead of plant Uhl Tong after the scesboard had given way te the rude. "The conven is red by many designs beeie action finest mimbeve onthe plan stg from formosa ad ne gi tread them fle to sg Svs Ts an fen eter tory ‘ato oa the vow the shes play ‘ordinate atin yu wll why ae. ‘More ofthat the wil be even stations, starting with Nov atthe tne rod ofthe DWI and ending with No wut ste en Thisdvides the WIL ino tn egal pny it ms for snp esaton if mete term sen ie can be dreary your DWL is ro ft 69 it re On occasion you will have to interpolate between 2 pair of lines on any of the thee drawings but tie i Els. For istance, if your tt ests te ines above her DWL, you will want to Kiww het acta lod water Tine (LW for finding out dilacement and 9 on ‘Measure down the scale hance for three inches below the D W Land mark ina parallel line on both body and sheer plans. On the body plan step out with dividers ‘or compasses from the ML to where the L WL cuts each section. At each station mark this distance out from the CL of the hale-breadth plan. Join the marks with a curve faired to match the DWL and the WL immediately Delow it and you have drawn in, on all three plans, your own LWL. You can similarly mark in additional sections; this ‘often has to be done to land so on. Draw in str breadth plans; on the latter mark out to where they intersect W Ls and plot the resting curve on the boxly plan. This can, of course, oly be drawn in on one side fof the body plan according to whether it lies fore oat. ‘You are now in a portion to use the lines plan for arcertaining facts about your boat, such things as her displacement, tons per inch immersion (tp.i), centres of Buoyancy and lateral resistance all of which are discussed fn due course. The methods of doing so are set out in the “Appendix, "There is a practical difficulty about accurately know. ing where your L W L lies when you are in normal sailing tuim, and this i critical information. If the DWI has been scribed on the hull, which isnot often, and then has been obliterated with boottopping or other paint, you cannot use it as a datum. Even if in evidence T would be inclined to ignore it, because quite often a DWL is, ‘wrongly marked in by the builder. Attack the problem empirically. ‘With your boat affoat in normal sailing trim, and in still water, get afloat in your tender so that you will not lapect things by walking about the decks, Use a plumbline to measure the distance above water of the stem, centre of transom or counter, and a few other points along the rail which can accurately be transferred to the plans. Correctly sealed down, these will disclose your actual LWL; don't be worried if i is not quite parallel to the DWL. Ic is a matter easily corrected (see Chapter 10) The LW should be the same distance from the D WL. ‘on both sides of the boat, naturally, and will only not be 50 if she has list. This will be discernible ‘That was a typical example of how you may often need to use fullscale measurements in preference to relying on a scaling up from the plans, These can be ‘misleading. For one thing. paper ‘moves'—shrinks and expands with changes of temperature and humidity. A large drawing could easily be an eighth of an inch ferent from one day to the next. Ata sale of half an inch to a foot this would mean a discrepancy of three inches. Again, due to reproduction process plans may not be exactly in conformity with the original drawings: and :0 on Always check the validity of scale measurements if you intend to nse them at 4 basis for structural alterations. he famous Adaiial Lon Fisher propounded an ally Famous dictum: “The bes see for an experiment twelve ilies tthe ft” Hf om Areas can be messed! mat ‘with instruments. Tis easy to-menaure srsight side figures and find their area by doing simple nuns. Cnet sites usually rule out ‘such methods and math In tbr sed; where the curves are not of regular form rub, ellipse, and so on— this becomes a chore, and hill curves regrettably are irregular. ‘One practical but extremely laborious way of measuring matically, geometrically or an fregular area is to transfer it to graph paper and ‘count the litle squares. By using the appropriate scale an area can be found within tolerable limits but the snag. in estimating the fractions of squares intersected by the contour. Decisions, decisions! ... There ate other ‘expedients but by far the best way of measuring it by using a planimeter Sp ‘trang mee i hating Sab pte ame herp Tremere weight 3 A planimeter No designer could work without one, and if you are going to set about using your plans seriously for pur. poses of improving performance, you will have to’ use ‘one. They are not cheap, but can sometimes be bought secondhand, or you cotild borrow one from a friendly Araughtsman. ‘The instrument can be of fixed or of variable scale, the latter being considerably more expensive, although I picked up an excellent one for £3 a few years ago. A lxedscale model is perfectly adequate for most pur poses, Te consists of a pole arm and a uacing arm which are pivoted together. Near the hinge is 2 wheel having a calibrated drum around its edge. This abuts a vernicr scale giving fine readings and leads through worm gearing to a coarse reading indicator. This is analogous to 4 sextant where you tead large quantities from the scale And smaller ones from a verniet of one sort or another. ‘One division on the coarse planimeter scale equals one Jhundred on the drum, each of which is further reducible ‘on the versier. Each arm has a needlepoint under its extremity. The end of the pole arm is weighted to hold it into paper and drawing board and the whole instrament rotates around this point. Above the tracing needle is a small, freely rotating knob which you hold to guide the point along a Tine; a stub spaces it away from the surface of, the paper. ‘The instrument is robust enough but needs to be used Aeticatel. In following a contour you showld press gently fon the tracing arm to keep the wheel in contact with the paper. Do not overdo this or the wheel say slip anal jive False readings, Tie fixed neal ast be pa tw te mesanedt an you sol time of te to ci the whole canton wi ‘When the wheel rotates it gives amraianany sealing for the distance trivelled by the tain needle and, when sliding at right angles to its axis, gives minimum ones, When you start a trate, p rightangles 0 the line at that point this will minimise error caused when you try to stop tracing atthe exact point at which you started, ‘The tracing should be in a clockwise direction and backtracking is to be avoided: it i better to start over again. If an area is too big t be measured in one 0, divide it into sections, each of which has to be traced clockwise, and tot up the resis owed ewtside the area take a cunany run each The tracing cele ean cover vt jatnaing % 4 sition of planimeter when starting tree You wil ge the best eal from xed or vatiablesale instruments if you calibrate them beorchand. Once this hasbeen done there is no need to repent the operation for a Sucducale model, but bovae ofa sackened Tock. serew on vatablescae one. Draw an aceratly mex Sed and angled gre on a pee of drawing paper: Jou wal koow iearen with certain. Measure ie several nes twith your planimeter and take the average of the rad. ag: gsi jut with sextant. You ca then comsract 2 Ne forfnare sue ay, you measure guar aches fd the average scaing of your inrument 14.84 dv tlm square inch wil mean a reading of 97 Thi is then taken at a standard. 7-0 dvions would represent fo square inches I tn were meanred on 2 dang tele ej nf themeansed en wold be So quae fect nfl wate. ll wounds complicated but i Smple in price. You em low for the ‘movement of paper by taking car meanurements before teauringarcas, Suppor you dicover tata designed 2 fe DWE has decent to breton You can apply cored to your seaings to allow for this; they will have to be multiplied by a factor of = 7 y 0985. “The vernier seal i small and needs to be read care fully o when doing your dummy run arrange the Sop. ping and starting point so that you can read without fontortion. If you use variablescale model, error will bbe minimised if the wheel can rotate as often as possible for the contour traced, In other words Keep the adjust able arm a8 short possible, Much can be deduced about the probable characteristic and behaviour of a boat from a study of her lines. Mid: section 5A indicates that the boat will tend to be stiff and 5B that she will have opposite tendencies, 5 Midections 6 Half-breadth 6A disclows a blubowed hull with large ‘wave-making potential which will be hard to drive and be slow in light airs. 6B has a fine entry and is recognisable as more racer than cruiser. 6 Waterines Before you can reach a stage of instant perception you will need to know about the principles concerned ‘with and forces influencing a boat's behaviour. It neither abstruse nor complicated, but mostly a matter of, taking pains to messure accurately, calculate corectly and learn the terme used. You have met DWI, LWL, CL and others and it is time to progress Everything needed to help you in your labours is, 1 think, set out in the Appendix. Many readers will know ‘much already and T beg their indulgence of what T in ‘There are ridiculously casy ways of getting informa tion which are used as a matter of course by the highly qualified. One ofthe loc frequently used isthe centre of 7 lateral resistance (CLR). Caleulus and computer could tack down this elusive point but [use 8 piece of card- hoard and a pair of scistors, ‘Transfer tothe cardboard the contour of the immersed part of the hull as shown on the sheer plan (omitting the rudder for the moment). Cut the shape out and balance ton a scisor blade held at go degrees to the DWL, of LWL if yours is not coincident with the DWL. The line of the blade will be that of the vertical axis of Tateral resistance and this can be pencilled in. For most practi cal purposes itis enough to know just this, but by batane ing! the card parallel with the WL you will find the longitudinal axis of lateral resistance. Where the to axes interiect isthe position of the CLR, Af ganda fran haere teat race 4 hi 1 \ "7 | dahl aet) leweacoalar i Beary eave i rata ogee cee Seca heoatieen Maen Su cr Ueaticertek pala Gat eee ein cane oo fet ae id tar an oe mn pee (CP) of a rudder is not at the (5G of the immersed part of the blade. The centre of buoyancy (CB) is located within a volume, not an area. { Be ee A boat's LWL changes shape as she moves ina sex way, and alfects her behaviour when under way. 10 of interest to understand just how che WI. changes wit fay, diferent angles of heel and once more a simple method suffices. If you draw mirror images of each half of the body plan you will end up with complete sets of fore and aft Eections. On both drawings insert a new WIL inclined at 15 degrees to the DWI, cutting it at the ML. Mirror ‘oat a haltbreadth plan 0 be a full-breaddh one and set fut the new WL. as previously explained. You will see that there bas been a change of shape of the WL ofthis ‘ype ee eo 9 Ellct of hecling on waterpline 29 If you repeat the operation for other angles, like 10 degrees and 0 degrees, you can build up a picture of hhow the shape ofthe waterplane is influenced by the angle (of hee If you decide to make structural alterations to your hull, in addition to care in measuring you will have to com: sider the best means and methods of working, ‘Work can be of major or minor concern according to the materials of the hull, even if the task is identical ‘Take the simple case of removing a small section of hull for some reason, and making good afterwards ‘With resinglas this ean be minor. A ection can be sawn cout easly and repaired by lamination equally easily as Jong as you use proper moulding procedures. Even ifthe part of the hull worked on were highly stressed, ecient epair will put thingy bck precisely as before. ‘A-carvel plank, or sevtion of planking, ea be removed reasonably easily away fron the Umber As long at you pay attention to adequate weing, bite trapping and ‘other normuil pravtiers there soul be Hite complica on, Clinker construction poses more problems. For a given Tengeh of ull there will ae ne frames and fixings: it is difficult to separate and sever planks, Replacement ie tedious affair and unlikely to be wholly satisfactory be cause of the principle of eveilapping and faying clinker planks. Once disturbed, «linker bist will from incurable leaks. Strip planking, where planks sre both glued and fastened vertically through several layers, is almost im- possible of satisfactory repair and very difficult to dis- mantle, x» ‘Moulded timber, of either hot or cold construction, can bbe sawn out as easily as can resinglass, but to repair the ‘monolithic structure is diferent matter. replacement section will not bond with the original hull, of course, and such a patch will need to overlap considerably and bbe glued and screwed in place. I will stand proud inter- nally and may have to be backed by some form of framing ‘or shoring if highly stressed, Conversely, to attach an Abracket for a shaft to a ‘wooden hull could be quite simple and very rigid, parti ‘ularly if ie were taken through a stout timber. A tesn lass hull might have to be thickened up aed reinforced to prevent cracking and flexion under power. This could bea very laborious task becanse of insecesbilty of the interior tex concerned. T will not run on, and just remark that it i best to think twice before cutting once. Sailors get into the Ihab of thinking like that, anyway Before leaving the hull for the time being, I would like to point out that resinglass and wood can be comple- ‘mentary to one another. The incorporation of wooden stiffening and reinforcing members into the relatively Aicxible material of a moulded hull is commonplace ‘There sno need to Look askance atthe practice and it will ‘often provide a solution to many otherwise intractable problems. There would seem no reason not to use the modern material to repair, stiffen, strengthen and otherwise pro- Tong the life of 2 full made of more traditional stuf Hull and deck sheathing to stop marine atack and leak: ages is well known and widely used. Structurally, how. fever, there seems always t0 be an indlination to replace like with like. This may not only be expensive but quite unnecessary. Instead of replacing a rotten frame with another piece of costly, almost unobrainable heart of oak ” 1 would seriously consider using a resinglass channel moulded over a paper former but it would be estential to remove al traces of rotten wood beforehand. If pro- perly laminated and meticulously bonded this could be ‘even stronger than the original timber. Admittedly, it might not look very attractive, but this is a matter of balancing the aesthetic against the practical and there are many forms of camouflage To conelude, let me reiterate that structural alterations are a lst resort 3 3 The Sails If the engine of your ea, or powerboat, started to fall off, in performance you would notice the fact and do some thing about it Ie is surprising how many sailing boats are {0 be found with ineficiene sails; perhaps thin is because they are inaudible. More probably, however, iti Decause owners are not aware ofthe fact, especially cruie ing folk who are not seeking for wlkimate speed. ‘There is much benefit in making & passage in as short a time 38 posible for reasons of both safety and satisfaction ‘Again, study of a sail plan can put you on the road t0 better things Fig. 10 isa typical sail plan; the smount of information tobe found on one is variable. Some of them have under- water Tines drawn or dotted in, but this i inewential ‘Those used for publicity purposes are usually sketchy and display little more than the scale of the drawing— sometimes not even that. A scale could be of the type illustrated or just stated as } nz for, i metric, 1245, ‘A decent working sail plan will be of slightly smaller scale than the lines plan, but will still allow measure: ‘ments to be taken off accurately and scaled up t0 fall, size without dificult. A designer who draws for amateurs 3 2 typi sil plan will usually include mone detsled information than a professional builder woul consider essential, Tables wil give sil areas, dimensions of spars and rigging, the size Ot fatings and other use information You can determine the precise location of ehain- plates, mast step, faitlends’ and tracking’ for sheet ‘measure mast rake and ealimate sheet leads; and much che. The plan should enable you to put your boat afloat in sailing trim, although mot necesiarily fully tuned for cient performance. The complete outfit of sails de signed for the boat will be drawn in, and this is vital information. THE CENTRE oF EFFORT (cx) 1c is convenient to assume that a force acts at a point, ‘entre or locis (which all mean the same thing). In the ‘ase of sails the loci are centres of effort and it isa simple ‘matter 10 find the CE of a sil, or suit of sails (ree Appendix page 201). "You can see that the plan shows sails fully stretched ‘out along the CL of the boat, an imposible st tion, Each sil will have its CE. and sea muir! i sone thing like this and the combined CE of the working rig, usually ms and No, 1 jib, is similarly marked in, These points are fictional, or theoretical, because in practice they are mov able. For aerodynamic reasons the GE of a sail moves for- ward as the angle between sail chord and apparent wind decreases (ce Appendix page 192). With a at 2 ‘minimum the CE will in actuality be somewhere nearer the luft—about 95 per cent to 4o per cent of the chord abalt it, dependent on camber, which is considered later. ‘The real and theoretical CE may coincide as far as the sail is concerned, but the true CE will not be located over the CL. of the boat because the sail will be sheeted ‘outboard. Aspect ratio (AR), as well as camber, is dealt with fully Tater, but in order that the full implications Dehind Figures 1, 13 and 14 may be understood, two facts should be known 1. A sail of low AR will have a longer mean chord than one with a higher AR and the sime area, ‘This means that its CF will he relatively farther from the GL, as it is sheeted more outboard 2 Whew on the wind, the CE, of a sail with a flat her will lie further forward than that of a similar with greater camber: AU 124 a sloop is closehauled in light aits. The tre contre of effort (CE) is forward and slightly outhoned of the designed centre of effort (CE). At 12B she is steeply hnceled in stronger winds to which she can point closer; CR, is further forward and more outboard. At 120 she has the stronger wind over the quarter; CE, is coming back along the chord but is still forward of CE, because of the position of the boom. It is farther from the CL. than in 12B in spite of the reduction in heel. In all these cases the combined CE, has been out to fone side, but look at Fig. 13. 3 2 psn oF I © 12, Movement of CE, ‘At 4gA the foresail is blanketed and ineffective; only CE qq, need be considered, As the boat bears away 2 couple more degrees, the foresail suddenly bellies out (3B) and sets on the side opposite to the mainsail, goose- winging. CE,,, and CE,,, combine at CE, which is then on or about the GI. At the same time the effective 37 gi A B 15. Effect of gootewinging on CE, Ariving force increases dramatically on the extra avail able sail area, ‘You will understand, s you read on, that the position ‘of CE, is critical to balance and handling. For now think hhow complex its movement will be when more sails are used, a5 in catters and multimasted craft. If you are thinking about altering your tig you will need to con slder the effects of difering strengths and directions of wind upon the locus. ‘Rising winds bring about another complication With a properly designed suit of sails, CE, will not change appredably isrespective of which headsail is fet with the whole mainsail. ‘The area and CE of each ‘ail wil have been balanced out so that their effect on the position of CE, is constant. Notwithstanding this, it should be obvious that CE, witl be affected by a change fof headsal because CEyag can move much further out- Doatd than CE nus yy: Changes to vig as explained later, 8 will entail using designed CE positions as a basis, Tn using them, you must always bear in mind the reality that itis, in practice, only the movement of CE, that matters when sailing, This is very relevant when the question of reefing the mainsail comes into the question. ‘This action will lower its CE, and cause it to move outboard to a lesser degree than when unreefed. Unlike changing 2 foresil, however, reefing causes a change to the postion of CE, ax shown 4 Cente of fort when reed 39 It is of immense benefit to work out CE locations for your boat under different combinations of shortened sail. Te may disclose that certain of these could put CE, in such ' position as to dangerously unbalance your boat in bad conditions (see Chapter 15). omit all reference to spinnakers as they are not really suitable for cruising purposes, and need almost a whole book devoted to their management. There is a good ex- position in Race Your Boat Right by Arthut Knapp Jr who for many years was spinnaker-captain on. the American iemetres, All other things being equal, a bigger sail will provide more drive than a smaller one, but a simple increase in area will not necessarily improve performance unless the Digger sail is identical in all ite characteristics with the smaller one, If you have a oneol boat this may be a Alicale thing 1 ascertain, hut one whieh isa member of a elas is easy to cieck am. You can rig your boat with sails from a sistership or ask her owner to ty your sails, ‘on his host. Either way wil give an immediate standard ‘of comparison. Both lots of stile should be of similar dimensions and differences in eficiency must thus be attributable to causes other than size, ‘You cannot expect to have any sil that is sutable for all conditions. Some will be good in light weather and deplorable in bad: good on the wind and poor offi. ‘The converse can apply. Thote which give tolerable results over a wide range of conditions and points of sailing are particularly desirable toa cruising owner. This applies especially to mainsails which are arduous to change under way. If you can afford to carry numerous Iheadsails designed for specific purposes there is no prob: 4 Jem. If not, choose general purpose headsail for economy of both cash and effort. asta broad reach size becomes more important than ‘other criteria, and with the wind aft isthe predominant factor affecting drive, aspEer nario (AR) Sails can Took vasly different, ranging fom the old fashioned gaff to the tll, narrow modem mainsail and from low foresail with long foot to a highclewedl jib Bye Ak mata bw AR fret Hh A rt 5 Aspeet ratio o ach shape has its own characteris, an important one being tt AR (ce Appendix page 199) I are exert constant atin presre but wee tows ovr awl cues eduction tn press Mong the ee side and an Incense on the weather tide ‘The ifernc in prse proce a total free F (oe page #7) part of which edt dive the boat. r Pressures are not evenly distributed and the arrows show hhow they are concenttated! war the Iu and dvvindle towards the leach; the reduction in pressure on the Tee side is greater than the inviease to weather. Angle ci lander the helmsman’s contvl atu, as stated, can be used to influence the position of ‘This angle has an upper limit beyond which a sail will ‘sal’ and lose eficieney. Flow over the lee side stats to break away from the surface and become turbulent; the low presure starts to rise and 0 reduces the pressure “

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