Wayfarer for a fat bloke

[Hurricane]

It is. I own a MK2 SD. It is self draining, other models are not self draining.

It was designed to sit on a mooring and rain and water splashing in would drain out through Anderson type bailers. Unlike other Wayfarers of this age, the floor of the SD was moulded in GRP which created a sealed void underneath the floor. The floor is above water line. The Anderson type self bailers sit in a floor recesses, in the normal position in the hull. When left on a mooring, the Anderson style bailers are left open and rain water, spray from waves, drains out. That was the whole objective of the SD, which was aimed at dinghy sailing schools that kept their boats on moorings.

The problem with the SD, is when righted, from a capsize, the water level is higher in the boat and the void space below the floor continues to provide buoyancy, as it is sealed. This means that the boat is very unstable when righted, unlike a standard floor Wayfarer where the water sits both below and above the floors and the hull is not that unstable when flooded. To address this, many sailing schools (that capsize a lot), added the tunnels from above the sealed floor, through the aft buoyancy chamber and out the stern, sloping downwards. This meant that water in the hull after capsizing could be dumped out the stern quickly. Without this feature, bailing had to be done by hand, with a high risk of tipping the boat over as the water sloshed to one side.

I taught dinghy sailing in both the standard Wayfarer and SD, and later bought an SD from a sailing centre and cruised on it, I still own it.

The Wayfarer Association used to have a pdf leaflet that could be downloaded that described all the model variants and their features, but I can't find it on the Web Site.

Interesting - my experience of Wayfarers was the old non SD versions. Our club had several - mostly used for training Safety Boat Coxswains. As you say, there were reasonably stable after a capsize - unless you got the water in them sloshing about. As a schoolboy at school, it was the GP14 that we used. At home, my family had an old Heron. So I like to think that I came up through the classes. And eventually ended up as Commodore of a large inland sailing club.

 

[Puffin10032]

Hi! Thank you for your reply. So maybe I'm thinking of completely the wrong thing but I've basically got two circular bailer outlets through the transom. They are big like 4/5 inches. Currently they've got bodged home made bits of wood in but as you can imagine that is not doing the job very well.

Those are transom flaps not self-bailers. How can you not know that?

 

[Wayfarer6]

It is. I own a MK2 SD. It is self draining, other models are not self draining.

It was designed to sit on a mooring and rain and water splashing in would drain out through Anderson type bailers. Unlike other Wayfarers of this age, the floor of the SD was moulded in GRP which created a sealed void underneath the floor. The floor is above water line. The Anderson type self bailers sit in a floor recesses, in the normal position in the hull. When left on a mooring, the Anderson style bailers are left open and rain water, spray from waves, drains out. That was the whole objective of the SD, which was aimed at dinghy sailing schools that kept their boats on moorings.

The problem with the SD, is when righted, from a capsize, the water level is higher in the boat and the void space below the floor continues to provide buoyancy, as it is sealed. This means that the boat is very unstable when righted, unlike a standard floor Wayfarer where the water sits both below and above the floors and the hull is not that unstable when flooded. To address this, many sailing schools (that capsize a lot), added the tunnels from above the sealed floor, through the aft buoyancy chamber and out the stern, sloping downwards. This meant that water in the hull after capsizing could be dumped out the stern quickly. Without this feature, bailing had to be done by hand, with a high risk of tipping the boat over as the water sloshed to one side.

I taught dinghy sailing in both the standard Wayfarer and SD, and later bought an SD from a sailing centre and cruised on it, I still own it.

The Wayfarer Association used to have a pdf leaflet that could be downloaded that described all the model variants and their features, but I can't find it on the Web Site.

Thank you! This is very helpful. I'm going to reseal the bailers underneath and maybe try and fit some flaps instead of these wooden things, ropes seem to get knocked out of the cleats at every opportunity. I'm thinking now I have problems at both ends. Water is filling up the buoyancy tank at the bottom of the boat and then I'm sitting low in the water so getting water ingress in the transom holes. Thank you for your help. Would be great to see any pics of someone else's. Can't find any online!

 

[Little Ricky]

Very happy with our various motorboats but thought we might turn our hand to a little sailing.

Was thinking about a Wayfarer second hand. How suitable do you think these are for 2 people 60 years old and one quite large but able to ping about quite well.

Would need to fit a small outboard to get away from the launch point

You're not overweight...you're undertall.

 

[oldbloke]

I am a bit confused now. I think we have established that you have a self draining Wayfarer. This should not fill up with water unless there is stuff coming over the sides. Even if the Anderson bailers (previously Elvestrom) are leaking they should only fill the recesses they are in. The boat is designed so that you can leave them down if the boat is left afloat and rain and spray will drain away. Likewise the big holes in the transom should be well clear of the water , they are not designed to be watertight. If the double floor is filling up with water, then you have what we sailors call "a hole in the boat" causing a leak.
Focus on finding and curing the leak. In the absence of an obvious hole in the hull look for leaks around fittings. Possible culprits would be missing or damaged O rings round the inspection hatches or , if the centreboard pivot bolt is under the floor leakage around that.