A newbe at present in BC

[mars bar]

Hi Folks and folkesses
I’m a mature sailor ( a young 60, just) English but living in Canada BC and living on my 29 ft Hughes, small but cozy. At present on the dry at a boat yard on the Fraser, putting in a floor and raising the cabin roof, which means moving the mast forward 3 inches in order to cut and raise the cabin roof and just about to un step my mast manually I hope, using an A frame configuration . Then install an electric inboard motor, (Etek) lots of work and enjoying it. That’s it for now. I'l keep you posted as to how things work out and you can be sure I'l be pickin some brains. mars bar

[scallywag]

Welcome mars bar--There are a lot knowledgeable participants on this forum. May your work move swiftly.

John

[mars bar]

Hi John
Thanks for the welcome. Not sure how this site works so for a while it’s going to be trial and error.
First open question: I’m moving the mast forward 3” on my Hughes 29, does any one know if this going to cause a huge problem? Some say yes some say no but no one seems to know as to what effect it will have, being only 3"
m b

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Mars Bar,
Welcome aboard!! You're going to get a lot of responses on this discussion.
Let us know how it effects the sailing ability. I'm curious. Usually boats are designed with the upper chainplates in a certain area so that the mast can be stepped in a particular place where the sail plan is balanced just right. My personal opinion is that 3" is not going to change too much but if anything might balance your helm in favor of lee. If that's the case then you can leen your mast aft to make up for it and adjust so that you just barely have a bit of weather helm when sailing to windward.
The other option is adding a bit more keel forward.
Balancing a rig is a bit of a tricky buisiness as J-24 owners know too well. The J-24 was designed with the mast stepped in the wrong place and a lot of experiments were carried on to get it just right for those who race.
Good luck on your project.
JohnL

[scallywag]

Mars Bar--Yacht designers calculate the CB, the center of balance and the CE, center of effort. When one is in front of the the other center it effects the helm. Another way of saying what SkiprJohn wrote. You are also adding addition weight, your new floor and cabin height, to your Hughes which will effect the CB. One result of the additional weight will cause a greater wetted surface, hence more resistance through the water. Greater wetted surface also results when a light displacement hull is loaded with stores for a long cruise. How your Hughes will react is an unknown unless you pay a yacht designer to do all the calculations. Of course since yacht design is not an exact science it becomes an educated guess. If you have never sailed the boat, then you have no way of gauging if the sailing characteristics have substantially changed.

John

[mars bar]

Thanks alot mate, that makes sense.big time. It just takes one person with an explanation that short,and makes sense. Its a bit like how an airplane fly's eg center of gravity through the body and if you move the wing forward or back from the centre of gravity you either do a nose plant or fly