Sea trials of my finesse 24 update

[gary3029]

I know some followed my adventures with my leaking lifting plate box and my final decision to remove the lifting plate. I thought I was going to be hung out to dry by certain folks for ruining my boat. Box was removed and a large peice of iroko was jacked into place from under the boat. Then from the top the space was filled with lead equal to the plate weight. Tar was then poured in and everything made water tight. When she was put back in the water not a single drop of water leaked in the boat. Been in the water about 2 months now and the boat is bone dry...no leaks anywere and dusty bilges. Ok having a dry boat but how would she perform? I enlisted the service of a friend of mine who was sceptical at my changes. He races all types of sail boats and I would call him a very competent sailor who can push to the limits safely. Anyway he took the boat out with me on board and with the brief 'push the boat to its limit'. My type of sailing will never get anwhere near what he does there will be a lot of safety margin. Wind was f3-4 with chop. Well he did push the boat and boy was I glad I had a life jacket on!! Seeing my decks in the water as we were heeled over was not a sight I am used to seeing, but I had confidence he knew what he was doing. His main concern with the changes I had made was coming back up wind. He even asked for me to prepare to start the engine in case of problems. The engine was never needed and we got back no problem. His verdict on the day was he had been able to do anything he wanted with the boat and the plate would not have improved anything significantly given the type of boat she is. Given my sailing ability and what I want from the boat the changes are not detrimental to the boat. Some would argue saleability is compromised, but the fact I would never sell her makes this a non-starter.
I now have a dry boat and because she is no longer exposed to water in her internal part of the keel the damage to key structures should not get worse. We have also gained a lot more space in the cabin.

 

[jhughes]

I am thinking about doing something similar on my 18' clinker boat, I have calculated that if I add a 3" deep strip to the length of the keel it will give the same or slightly more surface depth beneath the water. The extra heeling angle when grounded will be small and deeper bilge keel rubbers should make up for this.
I would like to incorporate the ballast lost from the centreplate into the 3" by 4" strip of Iroko that I am planning to add and was wondering about the best way of doing this, I was thinking of a heavy galvanised steel keel rubbing band?

 

[Niander]

Nice one!