coverting a racing boat to a cruiser

Discussion in 'Boat Design' started by dionysis, Jun 2, 2008.

  1. dionysis
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    dionysis Senior Member

    Hi everybody,

    I saw this late 1970s 46 ft S&S designed racer for sale and was wondering whether it would make a good cruising boat.

    It won the Sydney to Hobart on handicap in 1983, and I daresay will cost a pretty penny to convert.

    I am curious about the behaviour, seakindliness and stability of this era racing boat, and would appreciate any information you may have.

    Thanks in a advance.
     
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  2. Meanz Beanz
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    Meanz Beanz Boom Doom Gloom Boom

    If its an IOR influenced boat I would probably avoid it. They typically had big beam and pinched in ends and don't deliver the off the breeze handling that I personally would be looking for in a cruising yacht. Many had a strong tendency to want to turn around and go the other way in following conditions, at least that's my experience of them. Also you have rigs with inline spreaders, running back stays etc. Major things that you really have to alter to make a hassle free safe cruiser.

    Thats just my opinion, many have been converted and cruised successfully but I suspect the money could have been better spent.
     
  3. dionysis
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    dionysis Senior Member

    I am still to find out what the displacement is.

    Yes you are right: the boat has a fractional rig with inline spreaders and running backstays. Although from the photos she does not seem to have excessively pinched ends, Beam to length is a modest 2.9
     
  4. Meanz Beanz
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    Meanz Beanz Boom Doom Gloom Boom

    Got a link to some pictures? Somebody here might know it and be able to clue you in abit.
     
  5. Meanz Beanz
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    Meanz Beanz Boom Doom Gloom Boom

    Challenge II ? You could just phone Lou Abrahams up and ask him how she handled. She looks like she'd be OK downwind, not a really cranky looking IOR boat. I'd guess you would want to make the rig swept back spreaders, that would mean moving bulkheads or building new internal support for chainplates. You might want to cut the rig down while you are at it, at least she is fractional and the headsails are small. Maybe you could make her a smaller masthead and keep the spreaders inline, need an NA to comment on that one, might not be wise to alter the balance of the rig that much. Aluminum can be a bit of a bother with electrolysis and you can't use the longer life copper antifouls, also a bother for a cruiser. Sounds like the engine has hydraulic drive of some sort, again maybe a bit on the complex side for a crusier.... KISS and all that.

    She's a nice looking boat for an IOR machine, grown a foot to I notice :D

    You also would have to get an opinion of how the boat would handle the extra weight. Keep in mind she was designed to be a certain weight and many decisions where made based on that information. Adding a few tons of cruising equipment changes that and may mean that other things need to be done to do the convert properly or that its just not wise to do.

    Any designers with opinions on that here?
     
  6. dionysis
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    dionysis Senior Member

    Yep, that's the boat. I don't have his number!
    I have estimated the displacement to be ~ 16T
     

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  7. Meanz Beanz
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    Meanz Beanz Boom Doom Gloom Boom

  8. Meanz Beanz
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    Meanz Beanz Boom Doom Gloom Boom

    I notice she is 8' deep, also pretty deep for a cruiser. You could alter that if you altered the rig (bulb keel?)... but its getting into drastic change territory!
     
  9. dionysis
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    dionysis Senior Member

    Thanks Meanz Beanz,

    I appreciate the advice. Yes, cruising on her racing lines is the problem.

    Beats me how people convert racing boats, if they have to cruise these boats on their designed lines?

    I thought aluminium was a great material for cruising boats. Her last survey says she is in sound condition.
     
  10. Meanz Beanz
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    Meanz Beanz Boom Doom Gloom Boom

    I think aluminium is fine just so long as its been treated well and you keep electrolysis in mind when doing what ever it is you will do to the boat. The only draw back I can think of is the last time I checked suitable antifoul was very short life. Maybe thats better now?

    If you add less than you are likely to spend on her to the purchase price it opens up quite a few already complete alternates. Check out the "Racer/Cruiser Sloop 48ft" for 135K... looks intriguing!

    I reckon they are a little like 10 year old F1 cars, good for a blat around the track if you can afford to keep them going but don't hitch a caravan upto one!

    Cheers & CYA

    BeanZ
     
  11. dionysis
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    dionysis Senior Member

    Yea, very nice eh. Thanks again, and cya.
     
  12. diwebb
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    diwebb Senior Member

    Hi, if worried about the draft and wanting to reduce it check where the center of gravity is for the keel, most IOR boats had quite a high keel center of gravity, usually about a third of the keel depth below the hull if they are a solid lead fin as many of them were. If you design a hollow keel stem with a bulb or wing ballast appendage at the bottom you may find that you will get a better righting moment with less draft and a space for an additional fuel tank which always comes in useful on a cruising boat. You could even save some weight on the keel, I recently converted a 27 foot boat from a fixed IOR style keel to a drop keel, admittedly I went from 4 foot six to six foot six draft but the weight went from 1400 pounds to 400 pounds and the righting moment increased by about 15%. The boat now comes in at less than a ton.
     

  13. charmc
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    charmc Senior Member

    Several 12 meter America's Cup boats have been converted successfully to cruiser service. I suspect that the budgets were large, though, which is probably the key. It can be done, but for those of us constrained by the real world the money might be better spent on something originally built as a fast cruiser.
     
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