6.5m planing hull sailboat. All tech info/tips appreciated.

I'm new to the boat design game. Visually I know exactly what i want, but I'd really like tips about keel placement, keel weight, mast placement/ height and sailarea. I'm looking into building a planing hull from fiberglass. Any design tips for plaining dynamics are appreciated.

Can post some pics of renders I have done regarding what i want to do if anyone's interested.

Sorry for the weird post but as i mentioned, I'm very new to this and have loose bits of information that I've scavenged from around the internet but I'm looking for more concrete advice.

Best regards!

 

There are books around that cover the basic principles of boat design, but realistically planing sailboats have to be light, and not depend on fixed heavy ballast, in the size you mention, the ballast problem is largely addressed by the weight of the crew, and its placement, often outside the water plane area.

 

Archisail; Welcome to the forum.

You have, unintentionally I suspect, caused some of us to raise our antennae. The words are; "Visually I know what I want". That is a common want for new comers but only a limited part of our visual wants can be fulfilled if the boat is to perform well.

Mr. E has given you the first requirement for a planing boat. Light weight. No ballast except human. A 6.5 meter boat that planes readily is not much bigger than the well established planing boat called Flying Dutchman. I suggest that you examine the characteristics of that boat and consider the design principles that have been proven to work so well. The FD is not the only one in that size range that has good performance. Some of the Inland Lakes Scows for example.....the C scow, the E scow, the M20 etc.. There are other conventional boats, pointed ones, that are impressive performers. Do some research into the characteristics of some of them.

The internet has many examples and descriptions of high performance boats in that size range. Explore.

 

ArchiSail, great to hear your enthusiasm. Check out the Mini 6.50 boats for their innovative approaches to going fast with little LWL.

I'm currently in a decision making process to retrofit my little Beneteau 210 with a transverse foil like DSS to aid planing off wind and stability upwind.