Why do Mystery 35s not have spray hoods?

Quandary said:
The 'windage' idea is the sort of total ballox that you only find in here, we sail our Finngulf with the hood both up and down racing and cruising and there is no discernable difference in speed or vmg either upwind or down, (though our log only reads to a tenth of a knot). Admittedly the hood is narrower than average and we do not use dodgers. Because the boat is usually steered from the coaming it does not obstruct visibility either. The main reason to put it down is to increase cooling on a hot day.
There is always an obtuse viewpoint but if hoods were such a bad notion 95% of serious sailors would not be using them.
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As to ' serious sailors ' using sprayhoods I don't see many racing boats with them; windage affects handling at close quarters, probably significantly more than overall performance.

I'm surprised you think windage is ' bollox ', it's rather a well known concept. :rolleyes:
 
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I almost said ' apart from solo RTW types who have an excuse ' but I didn't bother. I was thinking more of the round the cans types, rather obviously. :rolleyes:

If you can't understand the gist of what I'm saying, don't bother with schoolboy language.
 
The only "serious" that's relevant here is that a sprayhood enables you to go out in much more "serious" conditions whilst keeping you, your crew, your saloon, cockpit, chart table, snacks and drinks warmer and drier! I absolutely wouldn't be without mine...perhaps even more so at anchor!

Just a thought but upwind as heel increases your windward freeboard probably increases as your projected sprayhood windage gets smaller as it disappears down behind the deck...

Sailing is all about compromises and on a smaller cruising boat the pluses massively outweigh any negatives.

Edit...just noticed my avatar pic before I fitted the sprayhood...no way I'd go back to that!
 
End of - in your opinion.

I could certainly afford a sprayhood and wouldn't dream of one, in 35 years ownership in all weathers I haven't wanted one on the A22 or indeed on the Carter 30 I had, or other boats I have sailed; I don't want a freezer, microwave or bow thruster either, I want to be sailing in and with nature not hiding from it.
 
I have a sprayhood and find it and the genoa block visión forward so in confined waters I drop it down and I can see,On the othr hand out at sea it provides welcome shelter.....but they shoud come with a warning."just because you cannot see anything it doesnt mean its not there"......a recent formite was rammed off Falmourh as the guilty pary where behinfd the sprayhood.
 
My boat came with a sprayhood. It was quite nice. I took it off the winter before last to have new windows put in and to deal with a couple of broken studs and haven't put it back yet. Yes, I miss the dry ledge to put stuff on, but little by way of spray seems to come past where it isn't and my crew, who is small, finds it much easier to get to the foredeck with it gone. I may try it again next year, but I don't think it's something I'd spend much money on replacing.
 
Seajet said:
As to ' serious sailors ' using sprayhoods I don't see many racing boats with them; windage affects handling at close quarters, probably significantly more than overall performance.

I'm surprised you think windage is ' bollox ', it's rather a well known concept. :rolleyes:
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You obviously don't appreciate the unrated advantage a good big hood gives you going downwind!
 
The racing argument is more ballox, the hood is stowed or lowered to give the pitman more room to work clear of the grinders and to aid communication, compare the windage of ten fat blokes in full oilies camped along the weather rail with that of the sprayhood?
I speak from some experience as I sailed from the mid-seventies until the late nineties before I discovered how much of a masochist I had been. After the discovery, we were not above keeping it up at night on long offshores if it was raining hard or a lot of spray was coming back, though we always stowed it around the cans.
 
It's a pretty race race boat that would even have a sprayhood these days. Specialist short handed world girdlers asside I certainly can't think of a single boat that fits in the part of the Venn Diagram "has a sprayhood" and "Wins competitive races".

But not fitting a sprayhood to a cruising boat? No thanks, whilst I would normally stow it, the ability to shelter under it in snotty stuff can make a real difference to the enjoyment of a passage.
 
I only have one on board my current boat as it came with a spray hood from new.

It generally gets stowed in clement weather conditions but one advantage that I haven't seen mentioned yet is that it gives protection from the elements when moored so one can stay out in the cockpit rather than having to retire below. It also delays when the washboards have to be put in place which I also appreciate.
 
JumbleDuck said:
little by way of spray seems to come past where it isn't
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What about rain, though?

I wouldn't be without a hood on a cruising boat, for all the excellent reasons already given. I do always lower it in good weather though. Some nature I want to sail in and with, some I don't!

Pete
 
Seajet said:
End of - in your opinion.

I could certainly afford a sprayhood and wouldn't dream of one, in 35 years ownership in all weathers I haven't wanted one on the A22 or indeed on the Carter 30 I had, or other boats I have sailed; I don't want a freezer, microwave or bow thruster either, I want to be sailing in and with nature not hiding from it.
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So presumably you sail in the nude?
 
prv said:
What about rain, though?

I wouldn't be without a hood on a cruising boat, for all the excellent reasons already given. I do always lower it in good weather though. Some nature I want to sail in and with, some I don't!

Pete
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+1

I find that with a spray hood I am able to sail most of the year without donning a water proof layer of oilies unless it is chucking it down.

Having the ability to raise or lower at a moments notice means you can shelter from the odd shower or gain a bit more breeze when its too hot.

For us we also find it makes it easy to attach a simple over boom awning a to make an extra cosy room on those rainy windy and wet days that are more often the norm in Wales!

On a small boat it also becomes the repository for all the soggy wet outer gear rather than have it down below adding to condensation,damp bunks and bedding.
 
TSB240 said:
On a small boat it also becomes the repository for all the soggy wet outer gear rather than have it down below adding to condensation,damp bunks and bedding.
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That's certainly true. Four people's worth of saturated oilies inside an Anderson 22 (any other boat that size would have a hood) at anchor in the peeing rain sounds thoroughly unpleasant.

Pete
 
prv said:
That's certainly true. Four people's worth of saturated oilies inside an Anderson 22 (any other boat that size would have a hood) at anchor in the peeing rain sounds thoroughly unpleasant.
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My 21' boat didn't have a sprayhood, but it did have a simple over-the-boom-and-down-to-the-guardwires boom tent, which was absolutely brilliant for rainy days at anchor. This winter's plan is to get one for my current boat.
 
' Any other boat that size would have a hood '....who says, you ? I know plenty of boats of all sizes whose owners choose not to have sprayhoods.

I'm terribly sorry I don't choose the same as sprayhood lovers, but if it causes you to short circuit and run screaming ' It does not compute ' for the hills so be it.

It would seem a fair few Mystery owners feel the same.

I do have a boom tent exactly as Jumbleduck describes, for wet holidays, when on the move I have good waterproofs, Musto Ocean; is that OK or would you like to tell me which make I should be using to conform ?
 
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