Making Ex-Racer My Cruiser . . . Am I Mad ?

[captjim6]

I don't think so! I bought a S37 Built by Seidelmann Yachts, (now gone). It also is an IOR hull and is very fast by cruising standards. I have converted it to a cruising vessel, albeit a Great Lakes Cruiser. This boat has been in 0 to 6m waves which have a very short period! She has taken some pounding and came through unskaved, Risque' is her name. She has a noodle for a mast, single spreader, through deck, 56' which makes her mast 53-54' tall from the water to the truck. Being a racer she has been totally converted reduces the number of berths by two now five, redesigned galley and saloon, nav station. she carries 597 sq. ft. of sail, 55.5 sq. mtr. So I say, have at it mate!

[Weyalan]

Originally Posted by Talbot

Congratulations on the choice of Hydranet - long been my intention to end up with a suit of sails from this material.

However - this material is a weave not a laminate

Oops. My bad. As soon as it gets any more exotic than Dacron, I get all confused!

Our sailmaker has enough cloth to make us a new main as well. Now we just need to save up enough to pay him to make it for us - which will probably take a year, but it gives us something to look forward to!

[Weyalan]

Wow. More than 6 months since I last posted anything. How time flys when you are having fun (married, honeymoon in Europe, etc.).

The new furler and headsail are just great. We sail a lot more now when we are cruising. No more carryig a big heavy sail on deck, setting it all up, hoisting it and hoping that (a) the breeze doesn't die, or (b) the breeze doesn't freshen.

We have also cut just over a foot off our boom and had new sheave boxes installed for the outhaul and reef lines (converting to in-boom reef lines). The plan is to convert the check-stays to be detachable and to have either a deep first reef in the main, or a short-hoist main, so that when we are cruising we can detach the runners (in light to moderate breeze) and be able to tack and jibe inside the runners.

Running backstays and checkstays are a curse for short-handed cruising, so when we can just strap the runners on and forget about them, detach the checkstays and clip them off at the bottom of the mast, so we only have to worry about steering, main-sheet and headsail sheets through the tack, we are gonna be so happy. Of course, we still have the option of putting on a full hoist main, re-attaching the checkstays and racing, fully crewed.

As well as shortening the boom, we have taken delivery of a new mainsail. Hydranet again (our sailmaker loves us, our bank manager hates us). We only got it yesterday, so we haven't had it up yet, but it certainly looks nice and shiny.

We have ripped out the old nav-station, back to bare hull, and are rebuilding it to contain a fridge and freezer. We are in the carpentry stage of the process at the moment. We are building the box at the moment (4mm ply, glassed both sides), which is testing our (limited) skills. It will be about 120L (4.2 cubic feet) capacity, split into roughly 35% freezer, 65% fridge. At this stage it looks as though we are going to go with an Isotherm system, based around a Danfoss BD35 compressor, but we are still doing our homework. We should be taking delivery of a large roll of Aspen Aerogels Spaceloft insulation, today.

[hellosailor]

Running backstays and checkstays...Have you asked a rigger about that? In theory, and depending on the rig, it should be possible to add one or two more shrouds and a chainplate(s) to properly stay the mast without that. I'd bet that getting a professional to run the numbers for size and location would be the most expensive part of that and the actual materials, fairly cheap.

Aerogel?! Please, don't wait six more months to let us know how that holds up in real life. I remember it was announced as a huge breakthrough, and then it got wrapped in "radio silence" and seemed to disappear.

But you're SAILING and apparently have a spouse who is equally sold on that idea. Congrats twice over!

[kevlarmike]

My best answer is this, NO NO NO, the IOR concept of a boat will be remebered as the dark ages of boat design.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by kevlarmike

My best answer is this, NO NO NO, the IOR concept of a boat will be remebered as the dark ages of boat design.

Tell that to SWAN. SWAN 40 - Historical Models - Company - Nautor's Swan

[kevlarmike]

Dermarrey, i could not open you link, could you clarify your comment

[delmarrey]

Nautor's Swan - Sailing Boats and Yachts

Go to their COMPANY pull down tab and click on HISTORICAL MODELS. Then click on any one of the sizes around 40' and you will see the majority are an IOR vessel. As the years progressed they went with skeg hung rudders But still the IOR basic shape.

I'm not sure how such a hi quality builder would consider there boats being from the dark ages.

[MacG]

@kevlarmike

It may be, it may be, as Napoleon said. IOR was a formulae to give a maximum performance in a certain limited environment. Nevertheless there are some nice IOR examples, although, when older, speed doesn' t come first place.
Swan is not the least of them. But there are others, of course.
My preference in that particular case would be for the earlier IOR' s, the boats of the middle to late '70's. From top designers. Holland, Frers, S&S to name a few.
I passed that station and I am satisfied with my small armoured vehicle that sails acceptable but allows me to go into the shallow waters, helping me to find the less expensive places to be. The Banksters have eaten big from the funds I had set up in my younger years and taxes have done the rest.
But again, I would not minde to buy an IOR, not at all. Fact is that the modern boats are not better. Neither are the craftsmen.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by kevlarmike

My best answer is this, NO NO NO, the IOR concept of a boat will be remebered as the dark ages of boat design.

Sorry Kev but it your advice is rather late, the OP has acquired the boat.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by kevlarmike

My best answer is this, NO NO NO, the IOR concept of a boat will be remebered as the dark ages of boat design.

Mate, the IOR rule did stimulate some poor designs for sure, but Weyalans boat (Insatiable) has shown herself to be an adaptable cruiser for a number of years now. His efforts to make her an even better cruiser have been fruitful and we've all admired his work and persistence.

He isn't alone, either. Our previous boat (also Insatiable) was an IOR one-tonner designed by Franz Maas. Not a cruising design you say? Dark ages? Perhaps, but we lived aboard her and cruised full time for 17 years, covering over 86000 miles in her. To me, that qualifies as a successful cruising design.

Now we live on and cruise on a much more modern vessel (Insatiable II) designed by Jon Sayer. No IOR anywhere in her pedigree, but she includes many raceboat ideas in her design... light, flat, fin keel, big fractional rig etc, and she is a great cruising boat too. Around 60,000 miles in the hands of her builder and 40,000 in ours so far.

Maybe it's the name...

Anyway, before you condemn these IOR designs, you might try cruising one yourself, for there are some mighty good values out there.

Cheers,

Jim

[MacG]

@ Jim Cate
I cannot agree more.

You must have had the Standfast 40 (P?) which was a hell of an IOR design. Fast, VERY seaworthy and a joy to sail. It was my 2nd boat in the 80' s.
They are still very sought after and quite expensive too (for a good condition one one still asks 150K).

[Weyalan]

People often seem to grab hold of an idea, and won't let it go, like a dog with a bone. I agree that IOR produced some odd hull shapes and boats that were designed to sail slow, rate slower. But let's not tar them all with the same brush. There were plenty of decent seaworthy boats... the majority, in fact. For what it is worth, I'd choose to go offshore in Insatiable over the majority of modern production cruisers, in a heartbeat. Not to say that modern production boats are bad, or badly designed, but I trust the old IOR warhorse.

At the risk of sounding smug, Insatiable is currently leading our local twilight series, in Division 1, competing against the fast, modern racing boats... sure, it's only beercan racing, and not too serious, but the point is that this old IOR boat is still competing creditably, despite having the furler installed and the boom shortened, with smaller mainsail, and the gradual make-over towards being a cruising boat.

Maybe the dark ages weren't quite as dark as one might think

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by MacG

@ Jim Cate
I cannot agree more.

You must have had the Standfast 40 (P?) which was a hell of an IOR design. Fast, VERY seaworthy and a joy to sail. It was my 2nd boat in the 80' s.
They are still very sought after and quite expensive too (for a good condition one one still asks 150K).

Nope, she was a Standfast 36 and I believe that she shared many of the 40's attributes. Word of mouth was that the 36 was a bit stiffer than the 40, otherwise pretty similar. A great boat for us...

Cheers,

Jim

[Weyalan]

Insatiable (IOR Vandestadt 40), on port tack, crossing Black Magic (IOR Dubois 40), on starboard tack. BYC twilight "beercan" racing.