No Rail Meat for Cruisers (and other "stuff")

[Montanan]

So "rail meat" is nautically speaking all about repositionable ballast to mitigate undue healing and to a lesser extent to shift weight fore and aft, right?

Sort of similar to water ballasts or canting keels and such counter weighting contrivances.

Well after doing some research on the web, I've noted some innovative cruisers that have come up with practical ways of utilizing the most essential of provisions as easily movable ballasts. My personal favorite being of the liquid variety.

First, the classic wooden barrels, which can be rolled to windward or lashed to a sliding trolly sled, not unlike moving the boom towards windward with your traveller. The potted plant pictured below is looking a bit puny, seems in need some TLC, but heck movable landscaping also qualifies as being repositionable ballast; rail pots instead of rail meat, [the hemp varietals seemingly being the most popular on board many vessels as they typically grow like Weeds and I suppose one can weave your own ropes with the dried materials. Many of us have not learned the art of splicing an eye, so I suppose a substantial portion of the plant growers might be more inclined to dispose of the dried hemp by burning it instead of weaving it.]

The potential down side of wooden barrels has to be the maintenance of the additional "bright work" on-board. Wine, whiskey, beer, pick your favorites; these days water can be made with the reverse osmosis devices and water does not age properly in wooden barrels.



And for the real traditionalists there is the Rum Tub(s) which similarly can easily be shifted towards the windward side by the crew that otherwise would be relegated to being rail meat.



Skippers, it is our responsibility to maintain proper moral, so we can't forget the daily rum ration [a.k.a. tot]. Senior Ratings [those deemed Petty Officers and above, e.g., our spouses - gender neutral] receive their ration of 1/8th a pint neat, Junior Ratings, e.g., the rail meat and guest that have worn out their welcome, receive their ration diluted with two parts water, to make 3/8ths of a pint of grog. Be sure to keep proper logs on the ships personnel records, Junior Ratings are noted by the designation G for grog, T for temperate or UA for under age, less than 20. T's receive 3 pence additional compensation per day. If rum is not your desired beverage, the traditional alternatives being beer rationed at one gallon per day, wine at one pint per day, spirits at one half pint per day.

When the supplies of moveable ballast become low, one has to head to back to a provisioning port and refill so as to maintain a properly balance-able vessel and to maintain moral.

As to the rigging below, it is a bit more modern variety [no bright work maintenance required], whereby the aluminum barrels are provided dual purpose to hold beer and to mount the speakers for hailing and listening to music, [mini-kegs and speakers on a wake board rail]. Just loosen the rail clamp by twisting the knob and slide the hefty weight of the barrel towards the windard side, then retighten the clamp. Damn now why didn't I think of that, an ideal place to stow a weekend's worth of refreshments and so easy to dispense from, easily reachable from the helm position. The more rails the merrier, albeit stowing the weight overhead would tend to shift the Center of Gravity up compared to stowing below, so the silly racers should prefer to mount in the bilge compartments below the cabin flooring, perhaps a U shaped rail below decks.



Seemingly an empty barrel / keg could be dual purposed as a mooring float or an anchor trip line float, used in lieu of an ugly plastic mooring ball.

Or ganged together one can recycle the barrels / kegs to make a floating dock.

[autumnbreeze27]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

so only NOT an a.... if someone is watching

Sorry, I forgot I was dealing with a Hunter owner, and should have explained myself more thoroughly using smaller words.

I have friends with Hunters, but I don't go up to them and say "Your boat sucks!", and although you are not my friend, I had no reason to intentionally insult your choice of boat.

I purposefully avoid Hunter threads on this site because they start foaming at the mouth so quickly when you bring up anything negative about them.

[autumnbreeze27]

Originally Posted by savoir

Doesn't it bother you hanging out on a cruiser's forum full of people who know less about sailing than you do. Sheeeesh ! It would drive me crazy.

I find it's manageable if you ignore any thread that mentions Hunters, or "blue water" anything.

[Cadence]

Rail meat is a plus if it consists of scantly clad young ladies.

[FamilyVan]

Racing rules are something I'm happy to be without when cruising- far too many rules. The worst is when racing rules pop up in a ColRegs discussion, as if they have any relevance to anybody but the racer?

As much as I enjoy scantily clad railmeat- I'm not sure they would appreciate my bulwarks- I'm sure they would dig into the thigh meat.

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[Montanan]

Whoa AutumnBreeze:

As the last line of SailorBoy's OP states, "Bet others can come up with some other silly racer things cruisers shouldn't have."

This thread was established in jest. Relax your spring lines and give a little. Your reply comments are arriving like a cold winter chill.

Not sure about your antagonisms regarding cruisers and Hunters in particular, but hey look: Hands Up, Don't Shoot!

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by FamilyVan

Racing rules are something I'm happy to be without when cruising- far too many rules. The worst is when racing rules pop up in a ColRegs discussion, as if they have any relevance to anybody but the racer?

As much as I enjoy scantily clad railmeat- I'm not sure they would appreciate my bulwarks- I'm sure they would dig into the thigh meat.

Sent from my SGH-I547C using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

Sand that teak so the sweet young things won't leave with splinters.

[FamilyVan]

Originally Posted by Cadence

Sand that teak so the sweet young things won't leave with splinters.

Or offer to pull the splinters out with my teeth.

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[Cadence]

Originally Posted by FamilyVan

Or offer to pull the splinters out with my teeth.

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You and I must be dirty old men.

[bobnlesley]

No need for rail-meat on cruisers, just reef before your beer can reaches a critical point of tilt.

Definitely no tell-tales on the leech of the back triangular flappy thing, when ours frayed, I just cut them off; they were faulty anyway, as despite my always having those flappy white triangles hoisted, set and trimmed perfectly, the tell tales never once all flew horizontally at the same time.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by bobnlesley

No need for rail-meat on cruisers, just reef before your beer can reaches a critical point of tilt.

Definitely no tell-tales on the leech of the back triangular flappy thing, when ours frayed, I just cut them off; they were faulty anyway, as despite my always having those flappy white triangles hoisted, set and trimmed perfectly, the tell tales never once all flew horizontally at the same time.

I had to read the humor twice.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by FamilyVan

Or offer to pull the splinters out with my teeth.

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The ladies must be asleep. I thought I would at least get one chauvinist pig.

[FamilyVan]

Originally Posted by Cadence

The ladies must be asleep. I thought I would at least get one chauvinist pig.

I don't see what's chauvinistic about it, we've found a way to harmonise racing and sailing.

They use their women folk for ballast, we appreciate women folk for other values.

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