How does your boat sit on her lines?

[OldCat]

How does your boat sit on her lines? Mine sits stern down, with the boot stripe underwater. Is this normal, or have I accumulated too much "stuff" in the stern and perhaps, not enough in the bow?

The reason that I ask is that I plan to add bottom paint over the winter. While not strictly needed where I sail, I am done with the boat becoming slow at the end of the season as the crud builds up. We all know what is happening when two boats are nearby on the water...

If I am stuck stern down, then I may consider painting the boot stripe plus areas above it and below, especially near the stern. I would probably use a combination of blue and white bottom paints so that the "look" is unchanged.

OC

 

[Bilbo]

Mine site stern low with the rear gudgeon above water when loaded with two people.
It would sit at the factory boot stripe "if" there were no engine, gas tank and battery.
I have added a coating of epoxy to protect from blistering. That has worked.

 

[cjb300]

You can see the H20 line on my 1974, but the outboard is down below and very little stuff onboard, no cushions, etc.







CJ
Covington, LA

 

[OldCat]

Thanks - they appear to sit low in the stern with a battery, OB on the stern, and other junk in the locker. Tends to confirm that there is not likely anything unusual about my boat & I will want to bottom paint up to this year's scrunge line.

OC

 

[Joe]

Old Cat...... remember how crew postition is so important when sailing that NACRA? You MUST trim the ballast to keep the beach cat upright. Same goes for the Cat 22... only less dramatic.

Don't repaint the boot stripe to accommodate poor boat trim..... Use it to help you trim the boat by redistributing, adding or removing ballast. Besides the fore and aft issues, check the athwartship trim also. If the boat is not properly trimmed it won't perform as well.... that means you'll be last in your informal racing and use more fuel when you limp back home with your tail between your legs, and even worse the boat will look lubberly squatting along like a rental fishing boat.

FYI.....ballast includes crew.

 

[cjb300]

Old Cat, I was assuming you meant how she sat on her lines while floating and not underway. I know when the motor is mounted and my rather large butt is sitting aft she certainly does squat. Again, i have not much extra weight aboard and that is all sitting midships. no anchor on the bow, just one gallon of fuel aft and everything else is in the spacious main salon. The battery is stowed under the keel winch.

Cheers,
CJ
Covington, LA

 

[Mormandeus]

Hey OC

My 83 sits low on her mooring as well. Pretty much the result of 80 lbs of motor cantilevered over the stern. Keeping my anchor in the V berth starboard kinda offsets this a bit though.

If you have rail meat try moving them forward when on a reach to a run. Get that wide arsed cat butt out of the water a little and you gain some speed. Just experiment with the fore /aft trimming till it feels right... you'll notice a difference in the boat feel.

Hope the picture uploads.

John

 

[Chris Patterson]

I have seriously considered sandbagging the forward sections, and when I have the time, I probably will.

Here of late, I spend every day of the week working on other peoples boats, and I've actually thought about hiring somebody to work on mine..

 

[OldCat]

Lots of good food for thought. My question relates to bottom paint. Thus, balance while sailing is not my issue here. Shifting weight forward is a good idea, but having just looked at the boat on her trailer - I think that I will want to find a nice blue to paint directly over the boot stripe - following it's lines. Then white bottom paint and probably blue below that.

It seems that a lot of the boats sit back a bit at the stern. Bright bottom paints aren't cheap:cry:, so my wallet may be sinking on this one.

Tks,
OC

 

[CaptDon01]

I believe I've got her loaded pretty evenly so she stays on her lines,(and she carries a lot of stuff!). Thats one BIG advantage of using an autopilot, it allows me to keep the weight forward while sailing.

Don

 

[sinnettc]

I load an anchor forward and a bit more heavy stuff on the port side to offset the outboard on the starboard quarter. Might rethink the anchor location if we were sailing in the ocean with bigger waves and the weight would make us pitch more.

 

[OldCat]

Old Cat...... remember how crew postition is so important when sailing that NACRA? You MUST trim the ballast to keep the beach cat upright. Same goes for the Cat 22... only less dramatic.

Don't repaint the boot stripe to accommodate poor boat trim..... Use it to help you trim the boat by redistributing, adding or removing ballast. Besides the fore and aft issues, check the athwartship trim also. If the boat is not properly trimmed it won't perform as well.... that means you'll be last in your informal racing and use more fuel when you limp back home with your tail between your legs, and even worse the boat will look lubberly squatting along like a rental fishing boat.

FYI.....ballast includes crew.

Good points, some doable and some maybe not doable. I can look into moving weight forward - considering especially the battery. The battery being something that I thought about as I considered your post. The trouble is, I don't carry much other stuff aboard that can be moved. Down below she is mostly a light and empty daysailor.

Looking about the C22 class website, my model of C22 has a rep for sitting low at the stern. I may not be able to fully correct the issue at the dock w/o adding unwanted weight. Underway, I can move the crew as long as I don't let the Admiral find out that she is ballast. The Cap'n already knows that he is...

When I bottom paint, I will need trailerable paint anyway. Because there is risk that I cannot move enough weight to fully fix the 'problem' at the dock, I will consider painting the boot stripe. Probably with something like Petit Vivid so it still looks good.

Tks,
OC