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    RL24, RL28, and RL34 Trailable Yachts
    from Rob Legg Yachts

    RL Yacht Owner's Discussion Forum
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    Boat design - Narrow stern vs wide stern
    Having just come from the Strictly Sail boat show, most new popular designs have a very wide stern. The smaller boats almost look like a triangle. The claim is the rear doesn't sink as bad when you approach hull speed. So what is the advantages of the narrow design?
    This is in context of having very much weight in the rear makes the RL sink in the back.
    Daveinet19-Jan-2015    Edit    Delete 
    Re: Boat design - Narrow stern vs wide stern
    Davinet,
    Wide sterns are all very well in cruising boats, but in practice most need twin rudders, and the wind strength required to attain or surpass hull speed only occurs about one day in four, even then you will spend at least 70% of your day going to windward just to get back to where you started.
    There are several recently designed wide stern 100 ft Maxi yachts that compete here in the Sydney to Hobart race, including this year, a new super hi tech US boat, but they still can't beat a conventional shaped boat (Wild Oats), and I know of no wide stern trailable yacht that has proved successful as yet.

    Regards your boat, you will have to move your gear and crew weight forward until your stern is clear of the water when going to windward and downwind in moderate winds to get best performance. Just note the trim of the top racing RL24 in recent championships here.

    Originally the 24 was designed to have the outboard stowed up forward when racing, but recent rule changes require the motor to be in an operable position, hence the need now to compensate by moving the crew and gear forward.
    Rob Legg20-Jan-2015    Edit    Delete 
    Re: Boat design - Narrow stern vs wide stern
    Thanks, I think these were all Bennys. The small ones were basically a copy of the mini Transat boats. On the large cruisers they move the mast back farther, so the center of effort is moved farther aft. I believe on those boats, it reduces heeling. These large cruisers did have dual rudders. It was interesting to see, so one wonders how well it works.

    BTY: On my RL, most of the time with my family, half the "crew" is on the bow, tanning, so that is never an issue. Its only an issue when I have guests and everyone thinks that want to sit in the cockpit. The engine bay tends to scoop a lot of water.
    Daveinet24-Jan-2015    Edit    Delete 

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