Daggerboard sloop?

[mod flod]

Hi everyone. I have the opportunity to buy a 38 feet racing sloop, with a daggerboard (sliding up and down, not a pivoting centerboard) from which the deck has been repaced (!!!) from a flush deck to a cruiser/racer one. My question is, the total weight is 19000 pounds out of which 8000 are at the bottom of the boat (draws 3½' daggerboard up). The daggerboard only weights 400 pounds but goes down 11', so there is no real weight down at the bottom. Is there any advantages to that design? It seems to me that it would make the boat very tender and not too stable under motor

[Ilan Voyager]

Originally Posted by mod flod

Hi everyone. I have the opportunity to buy a 38 feet racing sloop, with a daggerboard (sliding up and down, not a pivoting centerboard) from which the deck has been repaced (!!!) from a flush deck to a cruiser/racer one. My question is, the total weight is 19000 pounds out of which 8000 are at the bottom of the boat (draws 3½' daggerboard up). The daggerboard only weights 400 pounds but goes down 11', so there is no real weight down at the bottom. Is there any advantages to that design? It seems to me that it would make the boat very tender and not too stable under motor

At 19000 pounds for a 38 feet, it's not a racer even if the designer eventually called it by this term.
A 40 feet european race sloop like the Pogo 40 designed by the Finot Group displaces 11000 pounds ( to give an order of comparison with a ocean racing multihull a 1987 40 feet catamaran weighted ready to sail with all equipment exactly 3965 pounds; up to 400 nm/day...) so your boat is closer to a confortable cruiser.
That's an advantage if the boat is used more as cruiser than hot racer.

The ratio ballast/displacement is 42 % in the good average. The internal ballast sailboat gets its stability from the ballast AND its shape (stability of form).

The deriveur integral or internal ballast sailboat is a design with more than 40 years in Europe where it is primarly designed as long range cruising sailboat.

Advantages;
- Has proven since 30 years to be very seaworthy, many made circumnavigations by the Cape Horn. In a survival situation, with the daggerboard up, the boat will slide on the side (having very litlle "grip" in the water) so it's unlikely that the wind or sea will roll it over. Escapes well of the waves.

- Sweet motion, does not roll but it must be kept "flat" on the water.

- Generally goes very well windward, and downwind with the daggerboard up it's stable on its track. You can change the center of leeway as you need it.

- You can go in places impossible for a keeler and moore it just under the coco tree... Ground on a reef it has great chances of survival while the keeler will be destroyed.

- When the daggerboard is well designed with a crash box, hitting a rock at high speed won't destroy the boat.

Disadvantages;

- The internal ballast takes room under the bilge.

- The daggerboard case clutters the inside space and needs maintenance. Sometimes it can be noisy.

- Needs to be sailed with some intelligence: keeping it "flat", letting it run instead of pointing to winward, using the advantage of a variable leeway surface.

- It's very different from the common american sailboat. So maybe resale is harder.

A sail boat does not need to have a plumb mine in a keel to be stable.

Let me know if you need additionnal info.

[mod flod]

Thanks for the insights, that was exactly what I needed to know. Was quite a bit busy in the last couple of weeks since I bought the boat

[Ilan Voyager]

You're welcome. I wish you nice navigations with your boat.