C&C 30 MkII

Check these photos of a 1988 C&C 30 MkII. She is a very pretty boat. But, she has some wrinkles in her hull that I don't understand. There is a crease in the bow about 5" aft of the stem. There is another crease about 4" forward of the transom. And then, there is a very unusual dimple in the hull bottom just forward of the rudder.

What do you see? Can you explain these features?

 

The bow deformities appear to have been caused by rigging loads, as the fore stay tries to pull the stem up and back. If this boat had been raced a lot in her past, the stays may have been put under great tension to get the maximum straightness of the jib luff. This would make the boat more weatherly. Cruisers desire weatherliness too, but not so much as racers. This extra tension probably caused the topsides to buckle slightly, causing the wavy look you now see.

As for the other odd characteristics, especially at the stern. These were intended design distortions to give the boat a decent rating under the then dominate IOR measurement rule. And this was get the boat to have a faster actual speed than its rated speed, for handicap purposes.

 

The crease at the bow was definitely from the factory.

I had considered that the details could be just for measurement purposes. The C&C 30 is considered quick. But, she is definitely a cruiser with a full interior. If she had been built with pipe berths, then I'd agree that the wrinkles were designed to beat her rating.

One observation: the aft thru-hulls are all installed through the chamfer at the transom. It might be a clever way to induce a little bit of suction? A way to get the mushroom flanges out of the water flow?

Any other ideas why the chamfered ends? Why the speed bump in the hull?

 

From my perspective the subtle hull creases you mention appear to be a mix of style (on the bow) and functional requirements for the angle mounted rudder (gentle step on the stern). A racing monohull will have cleaner lines and minimal steps/gaps as they offer smoother flow/less turbulence.

The C&C 30 is a pretty respectable performing yacht nonetheless. These lines are subtle and would not affect a purchase decision for most buyers. The most important thing is the survey. Be sure you get that done before buying.

If you see an obvious defect that appears to be the result of a collision or impact I would definitely inspect that further to ensure there are no weak spots, cracks or delaminations.

 

I stand by my original theory. This boat was obviously heavily influenced by the IOR measurement rule. It may have been intended as a racer/cruiser. Pipe berths were usually used on the more extreme one-off racers, not on production boats. A lighter boat usually meant a higher rating, so the design that went to that extent had to either be unusually fast, or it had to have other design features, to lower its rating.

The object was not necessarily to be the first to finish, back then, but to win by handicap.

The whole point of a handicap system was to insure that a much wider variety of boats stood a chance of winning.

 

I don't see a crease in the bow. I see something that looks almost like a reflection but it's perfectly symmetrical and runs right down into the bottom paint. It would be interesting to see it from the inside.