Sail size suggestion

I am figuring out my sail size for my little boat. Shes almost 8' long and 3' wide. (i know.. small) This is a scaled image of the sail i am thinking about putting on her. Do you think this sail is too big? It looks over powering for such a small boat. I was considering dropping its height and such so that the top of the sail hits 8' instead of the top of the mast. What do you think?

Chiko

 

Something like this?

 

Multiply your total wetted surface by 2.5 for good preformance, 2.3 for moderate preformance and/or if the design is on the narrow side. This will get you close. Good luck with that thing when the wind picks up., so put reefs in it early.

 

PAR:

ｔｈａｔ is to get the sail area i need right?　　Ｔｈａｎｋｓ　ｆｏｒ　ｔｈｅ　ｔｉｐ！

 

No it's not to "get the sail area" but it is a very general guide for approximating how much you might need. There are a crap load of variables involved, all of which can affect selection of sail area.

 

Yes, I know, Ive been looking into all the calculations and such needed to make a proper sail. But Im not exactly building a ocean worthy racing catamaran. Approximation to a general idea is more then adequate for my purposes.

Im about to graduate with an electrical/mechanical engineering degree... Im quite aware that everything involves a "crap load of variables." =)

Chiko

 

Well before Hullform, Freeship, Rhino, Solidworks and the like there were napkins, beer and pencils. Well before there were equations and nurb surface modeling there was a universally accepted technique of throwing stuff at a vertical surface and seeing what actually stuck.

Given the scale, expense and intended usage of your project, I think you may be overthinking things a little. Get it done, get the girlfriend into suitable beach attire and have fun before things get cold.

Trial and error refinement is a better method at this stage than researching theory. If you spend too much more time on research, you will miss out on the girlfriend in suitable beach attire. And that would be a shame.

Ask her to read this post, and I bet she'll agree.

--
CutOnce

 

Cutonce:

She read it with me, she laughed pretty hard. Thanks for the post!

I have a post in the end of "projects underway" or whatever, it has pictures.

Chiko