Is your boat a wet one?

[Daydream believer]

I am very pleased that my current Hanse 311 seems a pretty dry boat, even in rough weather. I have sailed in a few gales & lots of F7 & not really had many times where I have been really soaked. The odd big "greeny" but that is it.
I have only been pooped really badly once & that was in F5!! when a freak wave came from nowhere & plonked itself aboard. Other than that, I have had a few dollops aboard, but in places like the Alderney Race & the Dover Straits, when I should not have been there anyway.

Years ago I used to crew a UFO 34 in EAORA & sitting on the weather rail was like being in a submarine. One was always sitting in a puddle of water that ran down between deck & cabin 3 inches deep. It loved to dip its bow.
I also crewed a half tonner that seemed intent on soaking me, just to let me know that I had been on the water.

Both my Stellas needed regular pumping in a blow. Not because of leaks, but because the non self draining cockpit just filled up as water sloshed over the side.

Is it just that some boats are naturally wet. Am I just lucky with my Hanse, or is it the way I have learned to sail it without realising.

By the way,I do not have one of those silly tents, as I am not into camping

 

[Baggywrinkle]

When motor-sailing (close hauled main) into a F6/7 my 1999 Bav 36 has a tendency to send copious amounts of spray over the decks which will hit the helmsman if they don't duck quick enough.

I usually leave it on autopilot and hide behind the sprayhood. :encouragement:

 

[KellysEye]

The only time we had water from bows to stern was going up the Portuguese coast upwind in big swells and a strong wind, it washed the Dan Bouy off the starboard quarter.

 

[capnsensible]

I am very pleased that my current Hanse 311 seems a pretty dry boat, even in rough weather. I have sailed in a few gales & lots of F7 & not really had many times where I have been really soaked. The odd big "greeny" but that is it.
I have only been pooped really badly once & that was in F5!! when a freak wave came from nowhere & plonked itself aboard. Other than that, I have had a few dollops aboard, but in places like the Alderney Race & the Dover Straits, when I should not have been there anyway.

Years ago I used to crew a UFO 34 in EAORA & sitting on the weather rail was like being in a submarine. One was always sitting in a puddle of water that ran down between deck & cabin 3 inches deep. It loved to dip its bow.
I also crewed a half tonner that seemed intent on soaking me, just to let me know that I had been on the water.

Both my Stellas needed regular pumping in a blow. Not because of leaks, but because the non self draining cockpit just filled up as water sloshed over the side.

Is it just that some boats are naturally wet. Am I just lucky with my Hanse, or is it the way I have learned to sail it without realising.

By the way,I do not have one of those silly tents, as I am not into camping

What is a 'silly tent'?

 

[Ohlin Karcher]

Everyone ships the odd greenie, in some conditions it's guaranteed, but generally it's only spray that gets to my cockpit.
Contessa 32s are reputedly very wet, by reputation, despite their supposed legendaty seaworthiness... but! IMO any boat which is meant for passages where heavy weather is unavoidable, should not make her crew unduly wet and cold, as soggy and shivering people stop being able to do their jobs much sooner.
Hence the poularity of those wacky wig-wams.

 

[Poignard]

I am very pleased that my current Hanse 311 seems a pretty dry boat, even in rough weather.

Well obviously with all that freeboard it's going to be a dry boat.

 

[johnalison]

Wetness seems to be a combination of fine entry and low freeboard, so modern regulation-compliant cruisers tend to be drier than older boats like Contessa 32s. My last boat, a Sadler 29, was OK but didn't have a sprayhood. My current HR34 is drier and I seldom get any spray in the cockpit in spite of being out in much worse weather. Just occasionally one could be loping along on a beam reach in moderate conditions and a silly little wave will slop against the hull, propelling a few gallons of water high in the air and then inevitably down onto my neck. Another wet condition is when close fetching fast at 7+ knots when the boat may decide to go through a wave instead of over it, when a wave of green water will roll back from the bow into the screen. If I haven't taken the precaution of sticking a sponge into the holes for the lines, some water may slop through the slot.

The only other undesirable water we get in is from one of the latches on the Lewmar front hatch. The screw occasionally works loose and the O-ring no longer seals properly and a few drops of rainwater can land on the head of the bunk, so checking this is now routine.

 

[Kukri]

I have a boat with a fine entry and low freeboard which used to love chucking lumps of sea into the cockpit until I had an attack of common sense and took a whole lot of weight out of the forecabin.

Job done! She now sails as her designer intended.

 

[Daydream believer]

What is a 'silly tent'?

One of those canvas things, unless you can afford a HR in which case it becomes a half built conservatory, as if the owner ran out of money, which is hardly surprising considering the inflated cost of the rest of the boat:ambivalence:
that make it difficult to get onto the deck,
that prevent decent forward view, so people have to stand up to see over them,
that mean one has to be partly bent to operate the winches under them - thus crippling the back muscles,
that mean one cannot get below without being bent double,
that fail to shelter the helmsman at the helm anyway,
that cause extra windage.
that need extra cleaning,
that do not last long, so people have to come on the forum asking where to get new ones made:ambivalence:
That are a faff to put on & off at the start/end of season ( I know I do the club committee one:ambivalence: ----which I then had to get repaired after the east coast old gaffers came to Stone & one of them decided to ram the committee boat- Just a little dig there for gaffer sailor, who then buggered off & did not even say sorry)
That cost a lot of money, for little real use, other than storing junk & the odd pot plant under when in port.

 

[Poignard]

I have a boat with a fine entry and low freeboard which used to love chucking lumps of sea into the cockpit until I had an attack of common sense and took a whole lot of weight out of the forecabin.

Job done! She now sails as her designer intended.

I found the same with my Twister.

 

[Ohlin Karcher]

...... the east coast old gaffers came to Stone & one of them decided to ram the committee boat- Just a little dig there for gaffer sailor, who then buggered off & did not even say sorry)......

Why mention the type of rig used by a boat who collided with you? Would you have mentioned the rig if bermudan?
This is the sort of casual, unthinking prejudice that us rig minorities have to face daily. We laugh it off, the pain is hidden..

 

[Dan Tribe]

I crewed a Contessa 32 from Ostend to Burnham in a Northwest breeze, [it felt like a gale].
After a few hours someone asked when we were due to surface next.

 

[Daydream believer]

We laugh it off,

Of course you do. :encouragement:

 

[Praxinoscope]

My last boat an Invicta 26 was beautifully dry, in 20 years of sailing her in all sorts of conditions I can count on the fingers of one hand when I got soaked whilst on the helm, my new boat a Sadler 25 seems to be as dry but after only two seasons I can’t do a real comparison yet.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

One of those canvas things, unless you can afford a HR in which case it becomes a half built conservatory, as if the owner ran out of money, which is hardly surprising considering the inflated cost of the rest of the boat:ambivalence:
that make it difficult to get onto the deck,
that prevent decent forward view, so people have to stand up to see over them,
that mean one has to be partly bent to operate the winches under them - thus crippling the back muscles,
that mean one cannot get below without being bent double,
that fail to shelter the helmsman at the helm anyway,
that cause extra windage.
that need extra cleaning,
that do not last long, so people have to come on the forum asking where to get new ones made:ambivalence:
That are a faff to put on & off at the start/end of season ( I know I do the club committee one:ambivalence: ----which I then had to get repaired after the east coast old gaffers came to Stone & one of them decided to ram the committee boat- Just a little dig there for gaffer sailor, who then buggered off & did not even say sorry)
That cost a lot of money, for little real use, other than storing junk & the odd pot plant under when in port.

Ahhhh ... a sprayhood ... wouldn't be without one. :encouragement: ... makes days like this much more bearable - and much drier.



I was sat in the companionway above the engine (nice and warm) on autopilot wearing shorts and a T-shirt waiting for a thunder storm to pass.

 

[johnalison]

One of those canvas things, unless you can afford a HR in which case it becomes a half built conservatory, as if the owner ran out of money, which is hardly surprising considering the inflated cost of the rest of the boat:ambivalence:
that make it difficult to get onto the deck,
that prevent decent forward view, so people have to stand up to see over them,
that mean one has to be partly bent to operate the winches under them - thus crippling the back muscles,
that mean one cannot get below without being bent double,
that fail to shelter the helmsman at the helm anyway,
that cause extra windage.
that need extra cleaning,
that do not last long, so people have to come on the forum asking where to get new ones made:ambivalence:
That are a faff to put on & off at the start/end of season ( I know I do the club committee one:ambivalence: ----which I then had to get repaired after the east coast old gaffers came to Stone & one of them decided to ram the committee boat- Just a little dig there for gaffer sailor, who then buggered off & did not even say sorry)
That cost a lot of money, for little real use, other than storing junk & the odd pot plant under when in port.

We cruised for thirty years with no protection and despised those pansies with sprayhoods. Then we got an HR. Almost nothing you say is true, with the exception of the difficulty of taking the canvas part on and off, though with the aid of MacLube or whatever it's called we have mastered the art.
The hood:
Makes it easier to get on deck and provides a convenient handhold.
Improves visibility forward by allowing you to see through rain and spray. You can even use binoculars through the glass.
You stand comfortably in the companionway to operate the winches.
Sensible skippers use a tiller and get shelter.
The windage when heeled must be of the order of next to nothing but provides more drive downwind, possibly.
If the stress of a few extra square feet to clean is too much, then knitting might be a more suitable sport. A rubber squeegee can be useful though.
The standard HR canvas is quite flimsy, but is cheaper to replace than bespoke hoods. The first hood looks shabby but is only put on in winter to save the second, which is in good condition after many years, getting limited use in summer only.

Those of us who have reached late middle age are prepared to pay a bit and face ridicule in the interests of comfort.

 

[LittleSister]

I crewed a Fontaine-Pajot Athena 38' cat back from La Rochelle and on a few other occasions. It is so tall and stable that we didn't get much water aboard (and on one occasion had kids playing on the forward trampoline in a F7! ). But the bows are plumb and very fine, and at speed peel off a thin layer of water which then flies back into the face of the person on the helm who sits peering over the starboard side of the superstructure. I seriously could have done with a pair of goggles!

A boat that always really impressed me by its (relative ) dryness was my little 17'3" Ian Proctor designed Pirate (smaller sister of the Prelude). I was never out in any very serious weather in it, but in such a short little boat with only a few inches freeboard, even fairly modest waves are at eye height and approach looking like they'll break over or into the boat, but somehow seemed to magically slip by under it.

 

[capnsensible]

One of those canvas things, unless you can afford a HR in which case it becomes a half built conservatory, as if the owner ran out of money, which is hardly surprising considering the inflated cost of the rest of the boat:ambivalence:
that make it difficult to get onto the deck,
that prevent decent forward view, so people have to stand up to see over them,
that mean one has to be partly bent to operate the winches under them - thus crippling the back muscles,
that mean one cannot get below without being bent double,
that fail to shelter the helmsman at the helm anyway,
that cause extra windage.
that need extra cleaning,
that do not last long, so people have to come on the forum asking where to get new ones made:ambivalence:
That are a faff to put on & off at the start/end of season ( I know I do the club committee one:ambivalence: ----which I then had to get repaired after the east coast old gaffers came to Stone & one of them decided to ram the committee boat- Just a little dig there for gaffer sailor, who then buggered off & did not even say sorry)
That cost a lot of money, for little real use, other than storing junk & the odd pot plant under when in port.

Thanks. Proves the ancient military saying that 'any idiot can be uncomfortable'.

One of the most useful things on board for crew comfort. A simple but fantastically useful piece of equipment ,that a great many people wouldn't be without. However, what ever boat I'm on, I always drop it when closing a harbour and don't put it up again until docked.

 

[johnalison]

One of the most useful things on board for crew comfort. A simple but fantastically useful piece of equipment ,that a great many people wouldn't be without. However, what ever boat I'm on, I always drop it when closing a harbour and don't put it up again until docked.

I agree that crew comfort is an important factor, especially in avoiding fatigue, though I don't regret the many years sailing fully exposed when I was a lot younger.

I have not found it necessary to drop the hood on my HR when docking. Although not tall, I can easily see over it when standing and am not usually aware of it being in the way. As an aside, I always take my sunglasses off when coming alongside. For some reason I find distances hard to judge when wearing them.

 

[Poignard]

I usually sail my Twister with the sprayhood down and only use it when in driving rain (or snow ), or if the wind is extremely cold. Even then, I don't rely on looking through the windows but look around it if I am sitting down or over it if I am standing. I don't like anything that impedes visibility.

It also goes up in port since the cockpit enclosure and tonneau are zipped onto it.