Cruising boats with large, open transoms - why?

I have just returned from a weekend's sailing on my brother in law's RM 890. It was the RM meet and we got some pretty heavy weather on the sunday, gusting over 40 knots. Sailing an open transom was new to me and I had some reservations beforehand.
In my experience the open transom in itself is not a problem, but I am more concerned with the lack of bracing points, or footblocks. When heeled, you have to hold on or you find yourself going downhill pretty quickly. Releasing the mainsheet while helming is interesting.
Nevertheless, the boat coped beautifully with the muscular conditions.
As an aside, RM's are designed as fast offshore cruisers and are indeed used for that purpose. At the meet there were several owners who had made long offshore passages, even including a return trip Brittany-Iceland. The return was a non-stop.
 
I'd be delighted to have this long-distance cruiser with an open transom.

prototype_LARGE_t_11_587.JPG
 
bbg said:
I'd be delighted to have this long-distance cruiser with an open transom.
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It does illustrate quite well what Ric was saying about tiller versus wheel. The people sailing that boat are sitting fairly securely, with things to hold onto and to brace their feet against. Quite different to the guy at the wheel in the earlier photo, standing at the top of a long teak ski-slope.

Pete
 
prv said:
It does illustrate quite well what Ric was saying about tiller versus wheel. The people sailing that boat are sitting fairly securely, with things to hold onto and to brace their feet against. Quite different to the guy at the wheel in the earlier photo, standing at the top of a long teak ski-slope.

Pete
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If you are talking about the photo in post 7, That boat should have angled blocks to stand on. The discomfort / potential danger of that situation is not the open transom, but the lack of foot bracing. The open transom just lets you see it better.
 
bbg said:
If you are talking about the photo in post 7, That boat should have angled blocks to stand on. The discomfort / potential danger of that situation is not the open transom, but the lack of foot bracing. The open transom just lets you see it better.
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If you look at pics of the 1350, most of them have foot braces fitted, as below...

19-rm1350-fora-marine.jpg
 
bbg said:
prototype_LARGE_t_11_587.JPG
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alan_d has nailed it.

This type of vehicle is not the most stable, a cockpit full of water would have it over in a trivet. It also usefully keeps weight out of the end.

For a cruising boat it is fashionable and rufty, tufty. I can see it could be handy inshore as outlined in earlier posts.
 
A big wide platform like that has a huge amount of form stability. I agree with the point that , because the cockpit has more volume, it could hold more water.

I do not think open transoms are seen as being fashionable (or at least they are not incorporated into a design for that reason). I think they are functional and I would have no hesitation in taking a Pogo 12.50, for example, across the Atlantic. None.
 
doug748 said:
The key point, alan_d's not mine, is the unbridled volume of shallow water + the use to which that type of boat would potentially be put.
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open transoms, those dual wheel steering styles , not my idea of a cruising yacht.

I prefer a nice closed cockpit, if I drop something all I need to do is pick it up, and not a mad scramble to save it from going in the deep.....

but probably most will not see into the decades of use, most of the older style cruising yachts still have...
 
colvic987 said:
open transoms, those dual wheel steering styles , not my idea of a cruising yacht.

I prefer a nice closed cockpit, if I drop something all I need to do is pick it up, and not a mad scramble to save it from going in the deep.....

+1
but probably most will not see into the decades of use, most of the older style cruising yachts still have...
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colvic987 said:
But probably most will not see into the decades of use, most of the older style cruising yachts still have...
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But will it need to? Boats are like everything else. Designs improve over time & are developed to suit the needs of the buying public .
What is the use of some of our old designs? They end up cluttering yards & are just a load of carp.
Some are not, but if they had a shorter life we could dump them much easier & move on.
There is a current thread about a chap buying a Macwester Rowan. He cannot get it to tack or gybe without the engine, but because it is built like a brick sh..house he thinks it is good. It is not, it should have been scrapped years ago
 
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No boat is perfect and everything is a compromise. It comes down to how you want to spend what money you have. There are probably Westerly owners out there who think that my little Gib'sea is a deathtrap. There are probably Sadler owners out there who think that the Westerly owners are risking life and limb by going out in sinkable bath tubs.

What would worry me, (personally), about the boats in the pictures is the sheer cliff face that faces you if you slip on the rather Heath Robinson bits of deck support. Maybe I am just old and clumsy but there are times I struggle to scramble around my little cockpit chasing winch handles, sheet ends, hats, cigarette packets and other important stuff that I have dropped when I have been pancaked by a big gust. As others have said, the open transom is less of a worry than the large open platform. (Then again, I imagine that it would be an exhilarating experience sailing one of these things with big following seas. )

For the sort of relaxed Med sailing that I prefer to do, when the weather allows it, these boats would be marvellous. Perfect for stern-to, launching the dinghy, etc. And dinner on deck for four would be rather less like a game of twister than it is in my little cockpit. So, I can see the advantages.
 
bbg said:
I'd be delighted to have this long-distance cruiser with an open transom.

prototype_LARGE_t_11_587.JPG
Click to expand...

I agree with other posters that with a transom like that it would drain quickly if pooped - most of it down that open companionway.

At least the Pogos (unlike RM) have stayed with tiller steering which is much better suited to that sort of boat
 
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