how much did my Mirror weigh

dylanwinter

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Joined
28 Mar 2005
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Buckingham
www.keepturningleft.co.uk
PBO have asked me to write something about why I jumped ship part way through my circumnavigation

They like their little boxes of details

doing okay so far

the Minstrel weighs 884 kg - which is amazingly light for a 23 footer

the Mirror certificate says this

http://www.keepturningleft.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/zMirror-Offshore-T-registration-docs-03.jpg

that is has a gross tonnage of 2.57 and a registered tonnage of 2.23

I assume these are some sort of calculated tonnage

I cannot find a real figure for the weight of the boat

although I have all the docs scanned in here

http://www.keepturningleft.co.uk/galleries/mirror-offshore-sales-brochure/


I am also unable to find the sail area of the Minstrel

I do not have a leaflet for that but there are some reviews for the boat that give the sail area for the Liberty

http://www.keepturningleft.co.uk/blogs/minstrel-reviews-20002003/


the Minstrel has a lower handicap than the Liberty- whatever that has to do with the price of cheese

so

does anyone know how much the slug weighed?

and does anyone know how big the minstrel sails are?

Dylan
 
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You need to look for the displacement figure - which they have omitted from the data sheet! You are right that it is not the same as the registered tonnage which is a volume calculation based on the number of "tuns" of wine it could carry.

Displacement/weight figures on older boats are notoriously unreliable as they are not easy to calculate manually at the design stage and builders never really worried about weight. So they are mostly guesswork. Only way to really find out is to put it on a trailer and then a weighbridge (assuming you know the weight of the trailer). My "guess" is that it would come out in the range 1500-2000kgs.
 
aha

The Mirror had a handicap?

I meant compared to the Liberty and I have now changed the words

however, I fear that to take the Mirror out in a yacht race would certainly test the patience of any race committee

however, one time my son and I were coming down the Orwell against the flood

wind on the beam

we were giving all those deep keelers forced to sit in the tide a real good spanking

it was great while it lasted

then the wind chipped up a bit - and they really surged ahead

that aside....

Dylan
 
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Nice"guess" on the part of whoever compiled it to come with an exact 1 ton figure!

Dylan could add in a few FB pies to make it a less round number and who's to know it isn't spot on.

Could probably even count the FB pies in amongst the ballast weight.
 
Dylan could add in a few FB pies to make it a less round number and who's to know it isn't spot on.

Could probably even count the FB pies in amongst the ballast weight.

Not just the FB pies. Easy to add weight. Anchor and chain 50kg, full water and fuel tank, 100kg, so not difficult to add 3-400kg on even a simple boat like a Mirror Offshore.
 
According to PBO :rolleyes: in their publication 'Which Boat'

MK. 1 (2 windows, pre 1980, Dell Quay Yachts)
LOA 18' 11"
LWL 15' 9"
Beam 6' 9"
Draft 1' 11"
Ballast 380lb
Sail area 122.4 sq ft
(no displacement given - sack that subbie!)

Mk 2 (1 Window; 1980 onwards; GDB Marine, Elizabethan Marine, etc.; open plan (no enclosed head);)
Ballast 700lb
Sail area 152 sq ft (Max 197 sq ft)
 
From http://home.kpn.nl/mirroroffshore/ the Mk1 displaced 816 kgs and the Mk2 771

Hope this helps

Sounds a bit iffy. If the ballast was increased by 145 kg for the mk 2, how come it ended up weighing 45 kg less?

Or to look at it another way, how could they have 'saved' 190kgs, almost 25% of the supposed original weight? Missing out the original Volvo MD1 would have 'saved' 130kg, but then you would have to add back in the replacement engine weight.

P.s. 816 kg = 1800lb, which doesn't tally with the figure quoted by Angus above.
 
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Reading from the Bible...

The original Mirror Offshore brochure states boat + trailer is 22cwt; in the 'drop test', (also in the brocure), the boat alone is quoted as 17 cwt....so that's...errrr....... 998 Kg and 771 Kg respectively, so quite a bit under the tonne.

I towed one recently and have to say that I was suprised how well behaved it was.
 
Upping the anti...

Dylan, Just looked at your scanned brochure images, on the page 'Free Fall' boat weight of 18 Cwt is quoted, in my copy it's 17 Cwt , and on the 'Ready for anything' pages it quotes boat + trailer 25Cwt whlist mine shows 22Cwt. They have also changed the capacity of a suitable tow car from 1500cc up to 2 ltr...very sensible in my mind. And yes this information relates to the Mark 1 which the slug is.

So if the guys who built them weren't sure what chance have we?
 
I have the one page colour leaflet for the Minstrel issued by Hunter Boats Ltd and that gives the weight as 2300lbs with ballast as 920lbs and the sail area as 200sq ft.
The handicaps on the Byron website give the Minstrel as 1051 and the Liberty 22 as 1029 meaning the Liberty is slightly faster.It does not give a handicap for the Libery 23.
 
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