Depth of daggerboard?

[Joe]

I have a Mac 26D and am wondering how to tell if the dagerboard is as far down as it should be. I know that you should'nt see water over the board when it's down but where should it sit?Thanks. Joe

 

[Lamar]

Stop Knot

Joe, my 26d daggerboard has a 2nd line with a stopper knot to keep the board from falling down too far. Yours should too. I just release the board and let it drop. I sail off the wind with it all the way down. Down wind I pull it up.

 

[Dan Nease]

board depth

Dave, I've only had my 26D out three times and on the second time out we had ran aground and split the board halves from top to bottom. We inspected the board and decided that even though it was split we would try some more sailing. Turns out that with 29 inches exposed from the bottom of the keel/tank we were able to finish out the day with 15-25mph winds and 25-32degrees of heel without sliding through the water. I think however the real test is to see how close you can sail to the wind, maybe compare with another boat if you can. Hope this is usefull info Dan

 

[John S]

Dboard Depth

Our daggerboards should have a second limiting line to keep the dboard from traveling past maximum extension. It is also necessary to have a certain length of dboard in the well at max extension to keep the forces on the dboard from snapping the top of the dboard off.I have started to experiment with dboard depth, as I have the longest dboard length possible: my board is custom cut (by IdaSailor) to be flush with the deck when it just clears the bottom of the well. I know this as well, the dboard retracted on my boat is good for 1 MPH when motoring. I have sailed on all points of sail with no dboard down (I forgot to lower it.) To point well, one needs some dboard, but just how much? I am working on the answer.Another point of sail, DDW, requires only a little dboard or none at all, until the winds pick up past let's say 18 MPH. Then I find that the boat requires more stability and the dboard can help prevent a total round up from DDW, which I experienced at Lake Powell earlier this year. I thought that it was awesome, but the Admiral was concerned, and let me know! John S