Centerboards for Cruising ?

[roverhi]

Actually, the Pearson 35 is the big brother of the T27. Bill Shaw designed the Dolphin 24, a production version of his Trina and I believe the Tartan 27 while he was working at S&S. The P35 was, if not the first, then darn near the first boat he designed for Pearson when he left S&S.

[SaltyMonkey]

This is a helpful thread, as I am also considering a CB ocean going used boat. Thanks

[John Drake]

I have had my Wauquiez Hood 38 for 9 yrs and have been cruising and living aboard for 4.

The 22,000lbs displacement boat has 11,000lbs of lead ballast for a 50% ballast to disp ratio. Fantastic. She rides more smoothly in a seaway than any other boat I have sailed in 30yrs. I love the motion.

Her 4.5ft draft have allowed me to anchor closer to shore and get through many places where the water was less than on the charts. That has saved many a cruiser.

Hood 38's and their sistership the Bristol 38.8 were designed by Ted Hood. Many have circumnavigated with no issues at all. Many have done the Newp to bermuda run over and over. These are bluewater boats.

Board maintenance has been minimal. I kept inspected the cable year after year, then every two years...finally cutting off the end and reattaching after nearly 8 yrs. Some owners have replaced the cable with high modulus line...thus avoiding any corrosion issues.

I have solo'd offshore quite a number of times and rarely use the board. Generally no need. She sails just great. It can be useful for going to weather or limiting leeward slippage.

If the cable does fail for lack of looking at it for years and years, you can slip a line over the side athwartships and haul up the board well enough to sail to a safe harbor. If offshore....in deep water, it would be no issue at all. If the board fell out for some ungodly reason, simply sail on without it. It does not add any significant ballast for stability in these boats.

It is the very last thing I worry about.

Other boats may have different designs and build quality, so these comments must be taken for the Wauquiez, though I am sure most other CB's are just fine.

Hope this helps

Best

John
s/v Invictus
lying Stuart, FL

[dcstrng]

Had an Irwin 42 CC with a board. Other than modest shoal draft compared to sisterships, didn’t see it as a big plus, or minus… with board down it might have pointed about 1/100th of a degree closer, but usually never used it much or worried about it cruising unless I was backing under power in the shallows, where it could hang unexpectedly because we could never get it to fully retract. Never had significant problems however, other than a parted cable once – interim fix with a diver (me), full fix later in the year when hauled. However, unless I needed genuine shallow draft in a larger boat, I’d probably not seek one out; however, I’d not exclude a boat that had it either…

[Tortuga's Lie]

I concur with all the above posts....I own a Tartan 37 with a board and have sailed her a fair amount over the last fifteen years. She, like the Hood 38 above, does not need the board to sail well, only to aid in her pointing ability. With the board, she can tack through 80-85 degrees, without the board, your looking at a solid 90 degrees. The board is definitely not a stability thing on this boat.
As far as problems, it's been relatively trouble free except it got stuck in the trunk once due to the swelling of the board. I wound up dropping the board and rebuilding it, which really was pretty straight forward. On the Tartan 37, the board is held in place using a stainless bracket which incorporates the hinge pin. This bracket is simply bolted to the bottom of the keel which makes it easy to drop the board for repairs. The caution here is that you need to watch for crevice corrosion on the bolts. Once you are aware of this issue, it's easy to check during haulouts.
Several T37's have circumnavigated, some of which were centerboarders.
Tom

[capn_billl]

There is an account of a 27' centerboard that went down in the great lakes, the peaks of the waves during a severe great lakes storm forced water into the mechanism of the center board, and into the boat eventually filling it and forcing rescue. It sounds like the bigger CB's described above may have something to prevent this. It may be something to keep in mind before going out to blue water.

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[Irie]

What can go wrong? I just happened to have a negative experience with a centerboard. Left FL headed for the VI on a 21 ft wooden catboat just out of the yard where everything was inspected prior to the trip. The first night we noticed a leak in the centerboard well. We stopped in Nassau and hauled it out for repair. As we were leaving Nassau (broke by now) we saw that the leak was no better and maybe worse. We couldn't afford the repair so we pressed on. The only point is that you should make sure your centerboard well is well bulit. We made it to the VI and both learned how to use a bilge pump in our sleep.

[SaltyMonkey]

I think the boats we are talking about here for cruising don't have a well per say. e.g. extreme shallow draft.

However, I'm all for a cat boat!

If I had money i would buy an OVNI

[Tempest245]

I agree with John Drakes comments...

I can sail with the board up, on all points of sail in any waters. Lowering the board a little from a beam reach and above will ease leeway, allow me to point a little higher, but it also, helps balance the helm and reduce weather helm. How much I lower the board depends on wind velocity and sail configuration. I've also used it as an early warning system in shallow waters...bump the centerboard, and I can retract it and retreat to deeper water.

[Curmudgeon]

If I had the money I'd buy a Southerly.

Ted Hood has designed many successful cruising boats with centerboards. There are quite a few Little Harbors out there, starting with the 38 (same hull as the Waquiez Hood) and going up from there.

[SkiprJohn]

If you type in centerboard on the link after my signature you'll get lots more discussion on the subject. There are pros and cons to every design on a sailboat. I like the idea of shallow draft when I want to get in close but I don't have a centerboard so have to put up with 6' draft.
regards,

[dniello]

But im wondering with such a shallow draft if you lose out with stability which in turn makes the boat more unstable? Im thinking here specifically of a Tartan 34 with a 3'11 ft draft. With ballast (5,000) only making up ~45% of disp. (11,200) that seems to be a bit too tender for offshore work? Maybe im wrong but I am wondering your thoughts.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by dniello

But im wondering with such a shallow draft if you lose out with stability which in turn makes the boat more unstable? Im thinking here specifically of a Tartan 34 with a 3'11 ft draft. With ballast (5,000) only making up ~45% of disp. (11,200) that seems to be a bit too tender for offshore work? Maybe im wrong but I am wondering your thoughts.

Actually 45% is rather high which is why the boat can work with a 3-11 draft.

Look at the Tartan 27 & 37 both from the 60's and both with fixed keels. They are both about 30% ballast.

Tartan 33 is slightly deeper and about the same percentage ballast.
Valiant 32 is 1-3 deeper and about 39%.
Cal34 at 5' is 39%
Ranger33 at 5' is 43%
Triton with same draft is 43%
A Beneteau 34 at 6' is 25%

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

If I had the money I'd buy a Southerly.

snip.

I have no experience with the Southerly boats, but lost interest when I learned they use an iron drop keel inside and iron bilge sole plate.

I used to own a Shark 24 which had an iron fixed keel. No matter what kind of coating you use -- 8 years of ownership makes me quite confident in writing that iron is not not a good choice for a material continuously submerged in a salt water environment.

[Paul L]

Take a look at this discussion on the Onvi, especially the comments in the Southern ocean
SSCA Discussion Board • View topic - Alubat Ovni 435 .poor AVS, is that so bad?
Paul L