One Friend Gained Eleven Inches, While Another Lost Six !

[anglooff]

Some friends of mine were having a discussion as to how to correctly measure their boats. When I was a lad it was from the inside of the toe-rail at the Bow, in a straight line to the inside of the toe-rail at the stern, was the common measurement used. Using this method one gained around eleven inches the other lost nearly six.

Over the years I have noted a distinctive change in attitudes regarding the importance of size; with many adding a few inches they don’t have, when in the past modesty was more the norm. My boat was initially registered as 12.8 metres IE. 42 feet when commission/registered in France. When it was sold to its second owner the buyer’s surveyor measured it at 43ft 5”. (It could of course just be, she was glad to see him ).

Rarely was a …27, 35, 42 etc…. built exactly to size; there was always a few inches difference either side. In older custom/ one off boats it seems that most took the opportunity to downsize the length…probably to reduce future marina fees etc… but recently I have noticed the opposite with the error to the negative.

Have you gained more or have you lost a few inches from advertised length and if so how much?

[SaucySailoress]

We gained 36" - by adding a scoop to the back!!

It depends who you're measuring for - your marina will want to know LOA - from the front of the bowsprit to the back of your davits.

Measuring for IRC race handicap is simply from bow to stern:

9. Hull
9.1 LH
This is best done ashore. Owners should be informed in advance that the boat has to be set up level
with the waterplane in Measurement Condition, which is a task that has to be performed before the
measurer arrives. Hang plumb bobs on the centreline over the bow and stern. Measure from a
convenient point on the keel or underbody to each plumb line and total for LH.
DO NOT: Include pulpits, pushpits, stemhead fittings, runner/backstay tangs, bowsprits, etc.
DO NOT: Measure LH with the boat out of level fore and aft. You will get the wrong answer! On
occasion, measurers may find that a boat has been deliberately levelled bow up to
minimise measured LH. Measurers are quite within their rights to require that the boat be
re-levelled.
If necessary, LH can be measured afloat by dividing the boat into convenient sections, measuring
each and totalling. Eg: (Stem to mast) + (mast) + (mast to forward face of cockpit),

http://offshore.ussailing.org/Assets...ent+Manual.pdf

[fishwife]

I don't think it matters, you can brag in the bar and they'll all discount the length. You can under estimate it for a marina but they will seldom be deceived. Anyone noticed that some places have started to actually have measuring marks on their arrivals pontoon and it's always to the meter or part there of.

P.

[rwidman]

I lost three feet and it saved me money.

When I brought a brochure for my boat to the marina to see if they could handle it, the brochure said "31 foot" so I was charged for 31 feet. Later, I noticed on the documentation paper that it was listed as "28 feet". (Between the time mine was manufactured and the time the brochure was printed, measuring standards were changed).

The marina has a 30' minimum, but the manager knocked off one foot from what I was paying for. Hey, it's $120 per year.

[Starbuck]

Sounds as if you were taught to measure LOD (Length on Deck). Those guys may have been describing LOA (Length Overall).

A man driving through the Scottish countryside was stopped by a shepherd coaxing his sheep across the road. As the shepherd walked near the car, the driver asked, "I've always wanted to know the answer to a question, and I hope you can make this clear to me: what is the difference between lamb and mutton?"

The shepherd smiled and replied, "Well, now, Laddie, that depends whether you're buying, or selling."

[Chief Engineer]

I worked in a boatyard where the owner went around in the winter---remeasuring boats and sending out bill for the difference.......That is one of the reasons I went into bidness for myself........what a crook

[Ram]

Originally Posted by Chief Engineer

I worked in a boatyard where the owner went around in the winter---remeasuring boats and sending out bill for the difference.......That is one of the reasons I went into bidness for myself........what a crook

Chief, seems to to me if one told the boatyard owner one had a 40 footer and agreed on price for that footage , then later on It was found out that the 40 footer was longer than stated it would be the boat owner who was the crook!

[Chief Engineer]

No....it was across the board.....27 footers became 30 footers anchor sticking off the bow and dinghy davits/ grill off the stern.

$120 a foot/ 2 feet per boat/ 50 or so boats? Merry Xmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dacust]

In my marina they charge by the manufacturer designation. My Sea Ray SRV360 is actually 41' with bow pulpit and swim platform. But, being a 360, I am charged for a 36'.

In the marinas I have stayed (all in the US) as a transient, I have always been charged for 36'.

Since this method of charging is very common, if someone accepted me as a 36' and there was nothing in the contract that said "actual length", I would have a serious problem being billed for the actual at a later date. I would suggest the customers get together and take it to a lawyer.

-dan

[SabreKai]

Espina started off as a Mason 30, but is now a 31 with the extra foot added to the transom to protect the rudder. It was a nice clean extension so it never appears to be wrong at least from a distance. From up close it looks like Frankensteins' monster with all the little bits of plate stitched together. The guy who did the job musta collected every bit of scrap plate he could find.

Sabre Dance was 42 feet OAL when I bought her, but the first thing I did was saw off the pulpit and bowsprit. It was pretty flimsy, poorly made of thin wall tubing, so out came the cut off saw. My club only allows 40 feet so I'm now back to the original 38 foot. I'll be adding an 18 inch anchor platform with rollers and a shorty pulpit this year.


Sabre

[lorenzo b]

My boat is documented at 60 ft, the hull is actually 63 ft, and it measures 67 ft if you include the bow and stern anchor rollers, add the anchors and you're up around 70 ft.
When I am negotiating with a boatyard I explain all of that up front and we agree on a price. It can make a big difference.

[Randal Johnson]

Here in SE Asia, marinas have always charged for 48 feet for my Diesel Duck 462 because that is what the documentation says it is. That is with the exception of One 15 Marina in Singapore that measured from the end of the anchor to the edge of the dinghy which was 55 feet.

[marshmat]

At lock stations and such, I always get charged for the length I tell them- usually 4.6 m or 15 feet when I'm camping-cruising in Sunset Chaser, which excludes her engine (but that's never posed a problem).

Our new boat will have a dimensioned General Arrangement plan as part of the ship's papers, just in case any questions are raised. (The advantage of folding multihulls- we'll have two huge side decks that don't contribute to anything billable.)

A family member usually get charged for length-on-trailer when his boat goes into winter storage- so a couple of feet are added for the drive leg, and a couple more for the trailer tongue (the new one folds sideways, saving a fair bit of $$ over the years), and all of a sudden an 18-footer is getting charged as a 20 or 22-footer. This seems to be pretty common practice around here, for boats of all sizes.

[Kijit]

The actual hull of our boat is 41.7 feet, including the scoop transom with the swim steps, etc. However, our documentation lists us as 37.5'. Our boat was built in France and the original French registry showed a length of 11.4 m or 37.5', which is the length from the bow to the back of the cockpit, not including any part of the transom. The CG just copied the data from the original French documentation. I tried to get it all to be consistent when we purchased the boat, but no one was interested in messing with the documentation. I tell marinas our actual length, but the shorter length on the documentation helps out in the "official" requirements, as rules change at a length of 12 meters. So, when we were boarded by the CG a few weeks ago, they didn't ask to see our copy of the Navigation Rules, a bell, or a waste management plan (although those are on board).