centre board yachts

[RonPimm]

I am interested in the performance of centre-board boats of 30'- 40'. Anyone any comments on suitability or otherwise as liveaboard boats. How do they perform in heavy weather? How are they for short handed crews (one or two) to handle? Any one know anything at all about a TWO centreboarded boat (2 boards in line) design or where to find out more about it?

Ron

 

[Avalon]

Look at the stability curve of the Ovni recently reviewed in YM - one of the worst I have ever seen.

For long-term cruising there are probably more disadvantages than advantages - unless you plan to spend a long time in the Bahamas or somewhere equally shallow. The keel box takes up room, the lifting mechanism is one more thing to go wrong, and you have a less stable boat........

Phaon Reid, S/Y Avalon of Arne
www.sailingontheweb.com

 

[Gerry]

We have a 1.5metre draught on a 40' bowman and can go most places a centreboard can go plus we have the comfort of heavier displacement when the going gets rough. We have never felt disadvantaged in either direction and enjoy the looks as we sail in to ,what seem ,impossible shallows to similar boats.I'm very wary of centreboards-seems so complex and therefore prone to problems!

 

[charles_reed]

Interesting that Jimmy Cornell chose an Ovni as his personal boat.

Perhaps he didn't know about the stability curve?

 

[peterk]

hi ron,
'tehani', a Chinook 34 along S&S lines from the 1950's
was originally a centerboarder.
She sailed well,though she was a bit tender, esp. to windward
but I loved the shoal draft (3'10" design, 4'2" cruising)
for exploring lagoons etc
I sailed over 20,000 miles with the c.b.
Including 10 Bft open ocean,
She was easily handled by one or two.
I did squeeze off the lifting cable once.
The board was steel and clanged occasionally in it's housing
, so I fitted
teflonwashers on either side.That was okay
- until I beat down the West Coast of South America, against
the Humboldt Current.
Try Tristan Jones on that topic
- He does embroider, but not on his sail against the Humboldt -
(with the exception of the size of whales he meets...)

Day after day,
depending on the sea state
several times each minute(!)
that board clanged.
It was Chinese torture, -
only a matter of time,
I figured, until the hull would split apart.

Before I started my circumnavigation from Chile
I ditched the board
closed the hole in the hull
and built a a steel winged keel(with keelbolts)
to my own design
that performed adequately in general,
was a pig to windward in light airs(where the cb shone)
and did great
in large following seas.
Meaning I built the wings rather too small
(I'm correcting that right now)

with the keel in place of the cb
the boat was stiffer and rode a lot quieter.
That keel saved my bacon 3 times in
unintended groundings,
one at night on an uncharted coral reef in the Flores Sea.

I guess it depends on what you want to do with the
boat. They were meant more for exploring thin waters
than for long passages,
though
'Finisterre' the famous ocean racer, had a centerboard.

I have met a few French boats with tandem centerboards
Great for long distance self-steering balance
long as you are not worried about stability curves,
but I NEVER heard of one turning turtle,
and 'Tehani' with her new keel did, but in those seas any boat might have...

try Garcia yachts in France for info

 

[Roberto]

first free verses description of a centerboard I have ever seen!

cheers

 

[Gunfleet]

He's Austrian too. You know when someone from Austria takes up sailing, it's got to be a man or woman with a great sense of irony!

 

[Guest]

I have the prototype of the two center board boats. It was designed in 1968 by N.A. Morgan
Embroden in Long Beach Ca. USA.. At that time I managed a towing tank for Lockheed; We were testing an Intrepid model for S/S and on the weekends Morgan
and I tested his model. Called Teacher's Pet III. The hull shape has strong stability designed into it. From the bottom of the hull form to the absolute bottom of the keel with both boards up is exactly 24". Her forward board is a daggerboard
built of fiberglass with no weight; the board is sufficiently heavy to preclude the need of weight.
the aft board is a convential centerboard in the swing mode. The forward board housing was designed to be part of the interior and we use its space to advantage.
Such as the overboard drain for the watermaker goes into the box. the water maker is alongside where it is out in the open,easy to keep up and the noise is slight. The top makes an excellent work counter and the aft end is used as a herb storage by my wife. the stbd side has a very nice sharp knife storage and all 8 of my very good and professional cutting tools reside there.
T.P.III Has successfully done a circumnavigation, in 19 months from 1972 to 1973;
a circumnavigation of the Pacific including Japan and the West Coast of Alaska;
more trips up and down the entire Pacific Coast than I care to think about and 4 trips to Hawaii and back. C/B boats will do as well as keel boats IF they are designed properly and have a crew compentent enough to sail them. Oh,yes we just came back from skinny water; The Bahamas and the Florida Keys. In lots of places we were the only sailboat able to get inside and anchor behind protecting land. Enuf said!!

Keep on Learning!!