Revolutionary Sailboat Design

Last summer I had the pleasure of visiting the Haber Yacht factory in Poland. I was fortunate to spend some time with owner and naval architect Janusz Konkol. It was a fascinating time in all regards.

Haber Yachts makes pilothouse motor yachts and trailerable pocket sailboats. ⛵️ The quality and innovation are something I’ve always admired.

For me this was my 13th international story of boat motivation, and quite possibly my favorite. When I started this retirement gig I never imagined I’d end up walking the factory floor with Janusz Konkol. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Please check out the episode and be sure to like and subscribe. If you know of a great boat building or boat motivation story no matter where the location —please private message me or by email at the Boat Werks. Thanks for your support

 

I saw your vid on the YT but didn't comment. I like his 800 motor sailer, it is a really good package in a compromise of designing a lake boat for sea. As for the "revolutionary" bilge boards for steering, I think you will find the Phoenicians were doing that some time ago.....

Anyhoo, anyone building boats with the focus on quality should be applauded. His stainless tube tabernacles are well engineered and functional.

 

I like how you sort of complimented but then dissed the video with misinformation.

Classic salty dawg http://youtube.com/post/Ugkxl2By3v4PegoT3S6mQkVC9Nr1T87FD2Qi?si=E_jxPxnqe-NI4vDy

 

I like the way you use this platform to post links to your own material. I have not dissed anyone or any video with misinformation, and you saying such is a lie.

 

Well, you're welcome to promote my content for me LOL I call it sharing. Why can't I share my boat building stuff--- you do
Perhaps you've made some great how-to amateur boat building content videos you'd like to share?
I'm searching day and night for good stuff, I'm so desperate I made my own content and share it for free

The Phoenicians didn't come up with a self steering system using dagger boards. In fact other than paddles used as side rudders for steerage, they didn't come up with any centerboards.
They didn't sail into the wind using a four centerboard self steering system like Haber yachts--or promote above and below waterline "sail management"--they sailed with the wind using mostly square sails.
I could be wrong--how about you post some references and explain what exactly you're talking about

 

It's a nice boat, but hardly revolutionary. Multiple centerboards are not new. For example, the Great Lakes schooners used them in the 1800's. Also, the sailing canoes used two or three centerboards and no rudder. I have no problem with anyone sharing what they build. However, as an engineer and shipwright will call you on the sales hype and lack of proof. It is a half hour video, with lots of construction details but no time on some rough weather showing the boat self steering at different points of sail. Boats with a single fixed keel can be made to self steer with the right sail combination, and I wouldn't call them revolutionary.

 

I love it when salty dawgs take YouTube thumbnails literally. LOL
Gonzo I didn't get your $1500 for the custom bespoke video you ordered, so you get the free version. Your welcome.

Watch the video, listen to my questions. Listen to his answers. Watch his videos in Polish, and take a look at his 30 years building these boats. Its been documented.

https://haber-yachts.com/images/art_foto/prasa/zaglowe/HB_34C4_PBO_8_2015.pdf

Rovings April/May Issue 148 - Professional BoatBuilder: An IBEX Technical Journal

https://www.proboat.com/2014/03/rovings-april-may-issue-148/
Btw just today, I was just talking to him about filming something like that.
A second episode with our one-on-one interview is coming in a few weeks

 

If you don't want anybody to have a different opinion than you, this is the wrong place. Can you provide data instead of insults? Making a boat self steer is not magic. For example, I sailed a 1968 Coronado 25 for a week in the southern Caribbean without once touching the tiller. You will find that shipwrights and engineers will call you on sales hype instead of well documented data. Your main claim is that it is revolutionary. However, the bulk of the video is about how pretty the boat is. I don't argue that it is very well finished. But where is the new technology?

 

Truthfully I don’t recall asking for your opinion. It’s show and tell for me but you can talk amongst yourselves


But just so you don’t get yer feelings hurt Gonzo, make a list of all that you require with a self addressed envelope and paid postage and a cashiers check for $50. Better yet PayPal. Send it to MotorCity Boat Werks. I’ll get right on it.

I look across all the production sailboats out there and all custom builds and I don’t see a sailboat that has a patented self-steering system using center boards in trailerable pocket pilothouse configuration. Pretty revolutionary to me. But what do I know. (That’s a rhetorical question for you Salty Dawgs).

You asked for video of it in action I gave you a video.
You asked for “documentation”, so I gave you that too.
I’m not a spokesman and I don’t get sponsored.
I’m definitely a fan and just like I said in my episode, now a bit of a believer.

One of the reasons I made my channel is to try and bridge the gap between the buffoonery of fake boat restoration/building and Salty Dawgs that pretend to hold the keys to the club —-but won’t let anyone else in because they alienate everyone at the door. I’m first to admit I won’t always get it right or be on target- but you get 100% effort and I’m learning every day. No sponsors. No BS.

25,000 subscribers get what I’m doing in the Boat Werks. I’m okay with you not getting it. But it does make me sad you’re not more open minded and understanding.

 

The irony. Perhaps if there is a next time, take a breath, and ask the question before making the accusation.

I was cruising engineless and with a sextant, using a film camera and a typewriter and being published in magazines before the internet became a household item. I have almost 40 years of "content" in one form or another, I am all for educating and helping those that want to learn, I am STILL learning.

A helpful hint you didnt ask for, your attitude towards people you know nothing about stinks. Good luck with your YT channel.

 

Weak sauce moving this to press rel

I don’t have any question for you. Other than what are you talking about?? I’m still waiting for your Phoenician dissertation. LOL

 

Yes

If the heel isn't too great, then downwind equilibrium can be achieved with a Bowsprit (Joshua Slocum circumnavigated the globe solo using a Bowsprit as an 'autopilot') and (+) by shifting the lateral water pressure Aft

Regarding upwind, the issue is different and was very well analyzed by aeronautical engineer John Letcher and published in The Aeronautical Journal 1965, Cambridge University Press, Volume 69



Why familiar things are either new or controversial is one of the many perplexing features of this industry—I'm referring to this industry outside the world of high-performance racing yachts, where many aeronautical engineers are involved.

 

At this point, the question is inevitable: are aeronautical engineers smarter than naval architects?

No.

I think it's simply that, on the one hand, our tradition was better from a technical and scientific point of view, and on the other hand, planes crash while ships float. In short, for practical purposes, we learn from our mistakes and are more humble considering how much we know

 

If you are not a spokesperson for the builder, you are definitely making possible customers walk away. As a salesperson you really suck. If you don't want opinions, forums are the worst place to post for someone so sensitive. On the other hand, be careful what you post. And offer to provide me with everything I require for $50 constitutes a contract if I agree.

 

$50 is just to read your list. LOL

I’m not here to make customers come or go. I simply went to Poland on my own dime and toured the factory and interviewed the owner/architect. And I made a YouTube episode about it because it was interesting to me. Maybe it’s interesting to someone else. That’s it. Watch my channel you see exactly what I’m about. 150 episodes take or leave it.

If you watch the video you will see my conversations with Janusz Konkol. I use the term “revolutionary” because it’s provocative, but I think it’s also appropriate for this situation. To me it seems like he is advocating smaller, quality built, pilothouse configured, trailerable ocean going centerboard sailboats. And now he has designed and proved the concept of a multi-centerboard self steering system, in some cases retrofitting into his boats at the owner’s request. This is not something you see anywhere else in the world.
He has a following and he is winning converts. I think he challenges some ideas that people take for granted.

I think revolutionary is a good term for this. It goes against what you typically see out there. It pushes back on long held ideas with practical first hand experience and engineering. It’s novel, given the landscape of retail trailerable sailboats and small blue water boats.

Works doesn’t work, real not real, old idea or something new —I’ll let the viewer decide. I would just caution that as you see in the video, Janusz is extremely competent and he’s no joke; he and his factory are the real deal. It’s a real contrast to internet Salty Dawgs.