The New Scows

I'm looking at cost of materials here.

I have been sorely tempted to go with 1/8th inch stuff, which would probably cut the weight down by at leas 1/3rd.

But, as the thickness goes down, the quality needs to go up. And so to must the price.

I'm looking to build this thing out of AC grade exterior plywood with no sheathing.

It's intended for casual sailing at non planing speeds. She might make a 'super displacement speed' of perhaps 5.5 kts, but that is all that's expected of her.

A lighter weight would certainly be advantageous for carrying capacity and make her easier to get on top of my truck.

Performance wise, lighter weight may not make much of a difference and may create some problems as well.

Her deep rocker design may not take to well for floating too high in the water.

Not only that, but she may not glide as well between sweep strokes.

Besides, the class I'm inventing, which she will be the first of, will have sail area limited by the weight of boat and crew. The formula I devised is a simple linear one which requires no 'roots' and gives a slight sail area advantage to heavier boats.

This new class will be the first I know of for 'motor sailor' dinghies. If I ever post it, i will post it in the 'motor sailors' section of this site.

When I designed this boat, I though of all the things that I loved about sailing.

Such as rolling along, effortlessly, as the wind does the work of muscle and petro, and having a theoretical unlimited range.

I also thought of all those I hated.

Chief among those is that racing influences have helped make sailboats good for nothing but sailing, with tall, difficult to set up masts, 'Boards' which take up cockpit space, and very poor course keeping qualities (necessary for tight maneuvers on the race course).

I also hate being stuck out on the lake when the wind quits and not being able to use the boat when there is no wind.

 

My guess is this is because of whetted surface area, wave penetration ability, and limited sail area, combined with the wide Beam, which lessens the advantage of higher initial stability.

I'd further guess that the scows did best in blowing conditions where the waves were of limited size, and when they were sailing down wind.

 

If I ever build her, DE, I will send you the plans.

 

Bob, Performance for many is secondary to comfort, safety and ease of use, and economy and simplicity is always a factor in a home-built boat. The concept is an interesting one but it would be easier to follow and discuss if it had its own thread, which it certainly merits. You can ask Jeff to move the relevant posts, and that would also make this thread easier to follow.

 

Thanks, AK.

I consider being asked to start my own thread the highest compliment!

When I get back from this week's outing, I will do just that.

Any suggestions for thread name?

 

- a rose by any other name . . . "Coalcar" of course!

 

But it is a new scow, yes? So this thread should be reserved for what, exactly?

 

- racing scows, the subject of the first post and most of the thread.

Bob's proposing a design oriented toward comfort not performance. This was not a bad place to mention it, but a design proposed by a member deserves to be critiqued separately by the membership in its own thread where it can get some focus.