Wheelhouse

I have a 35' steel designed by Colin Childs and built in NZ. She has an entirely flat deck and aft cockpit, and although a cutter rig the forestay is not on the short bowsprit but back at the apex of the bows. I would like to drop the cockpit floor (still well over waterline) and enclose the cockpit in a low wheelhouse with side access - swop the tiller (stern hung rudder) for hydraulic steering. Add stern davit, tender and mainsheet track to house roof and take the forestay to the end of a bowsprit where it belongs..

That said I know just about enough on boat design to know how little I know..

So if anyone has a helpful comment or caution I would really welcome it.

 

The addition of a pilothouse and dinghy over the stern means added weight high and aft. This will alter your trim, she will be down by the stern, which is not good in most boats. This will be dependent on hull form and current trim, and there may be ways to minimize the trim change by moving other weight forward.

The mainsheet on the house top will be an engineering challange, possible, but if you can avoide it by moving the sheet horse forward it would be lighter and stronger. Then again maybe you are up for building the pilothouse of foam-cored carbon?

All the best, Tad

 

Unless I'm mistaken ,which is not only possible but likely, the forestay for a typical cutter rig belongs at or behind the apex of the bow. A jibstay whose primary function is for setting sail and not for supporting the mast would lead to the end of the sprit. Moving the forestay might weaken the rig if the sprit 's not up to the task.

 

What if the house roof was low - seated height only with a hatch over the wheel for standing observation. I was planning on good old 3mm steel and hoping this would handle the main? What concerns me most is my plan for enclosing aft with some sort of side access - everything I see is open aft? I felt that this may afford some protection from a following sea. - thanks Tad

Sounds unlikely to me - my mistake, the jibstay is at the bows and forestay is back on deck? At the moment the sprit has nothing - thanks Plumbtex

Hey - maybe by moving the power forward to the end of the bowsprit I will counter the additional weight aft?

 

Get help.

Get a Designer to help, there are plenty around this board.

Ted Brewer has some excemplary laid out pilot house designs - you can find pictures in Yachtworld . com used listing.

What is the hull type ?? There are no traces of your boat on the web.

I know this much, you can't fix a hull thats dragging it's but by changing the sailplan. Raise the saloon to keep the weight centered and install a forward stearing station - it could be electronic if you keep the outside wheel.

 

Read Brewer's "understanding boat design." It'll help you. But I have to say, you might want to change the rig entirely unless you have the skills (design, engineering and manufacturing) to make a pilothouse under a cutter. Probably, moving the forestay would change performance and the integrity of the rig. That's my 2 cents.

 

Thanks Asathor and Macidd - I have some detail under a new thread - "need designer"