Down Aft

[Michael O']

My boat is on the trailer for the winter (hopefully not for much longer!) and I noticed that the waterline stain shows the boat rides down in the stern by about 3 inches. My crew is a lightweight, and I'm not a heavyweight, so I'm wondering why.... Any suggestions would be appreciated!One possibility - the rudder showed a small, weeping spot when it was put in storage, but no evidence of a hole. Well.... some evidence of crazing. I don't have a guage that measures moisture content of the resin, so I don't know if the rudder was/is taking on water and lending weight to the aft.By-the-by, she's a 1981 H25 in very good condition. Two seasons ago I had the bottom (including rudder) stripped to the gel-coat, then applied an epoxy barrier coat and CSC Micron ablative. Ideas???Michael O's/v "Narrow Escape"

 

[Jay Hill]

Possibilities

I have the same boat. Under power, the action of the outboard sucks the stern of the boat into the water a couple of inches. It LOOKS like more because of the mini-wake created by motoring. The wave down the side is about four inches above the waterline boot stripe. If you use the outboard a bit, this enough to make a stain there.I'm not sure of how stained your waterline stain is, but even motoring onto a trailer may give a little line. Also, every person onboard in the cockpit dips it almost in inch into the water. You should see the boat with 5 in the cockpit; the boot stripe looks like a launch pad and the bow is out of the water. Then again, I have NO gear onboard except USCG requirements.

 

[John Goacher]

Same here

I agree with Jay. Most of the weight of the "extras" - people, beer, fuel - and of course the ouitboard - wind up in well aft of the keel. We have a low stern just sitting at the dock - and I just remembered the 26 gallons of water supply under the cockpit.As with Jay's report, motoring, expecially with 2 or 3 of us in the cockpit, also lowers us further. Without moving all the lazarette gear to the sail stowage under the v-berth, I've accepted that this is the way it is.John Goachers/v WindbreakerSaginaw Bay