Re: P-15 Ballast

DAVID_KAUTZ@HP-Sunnyvale-om5.om.hp.com
Wed, 16 Jun 1999 09:26:48 -0700


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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Harry, I think your racing examples indirectly reinforce my original point about
"smart" ballast. With humans as ballast, as opposed to immovable mass, they
"ballast" can move to where it is most useful, be it to windward or up to the
bow..

I view adding some weight in the bow as quite different than adding weight in
the bilge. The first serves a purpose of "trimming" the boat and a little weight
goes a long way since the mass is being placed so far from the center of
buoyancy. Jerry B. has remarked several times that adding 15 pounds of lead to
the chain locker is effective. I like to think of it as nicely balancing against
the 25 or 30 pounds of outboard that most of us hang off the stern.

Adding ballast in the bilge, I believe, is being done in an attempt to gain
stability and righting moment. Trailerable boats similar in size to the Potter
have to use several hundred pounds of shoal draft keel to make this work.
Because the mass is close to the center of buoyancy and therefore has little
"leverage" it takes a bunch to gain adequate righting moment. As other folks
have already pointed out, you then have to drag all that weight through the
water, up and down the launch ramp and down the road.

As to improving performance and safety, I think that, on an hour for hour basis,
time spent improving one's sailing skills will yield far greater results than
spending time adding eclectic combinations of sandbags and foam. The Harrys and
Jerrys among us having been sailing their little boats for decades without
capsizes or other disasters and can sail circles around the rest of us in a test
of speed..

Dave Kautz
P-15 #1632 Tilly Lucy
Palo Alto, CA

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: P-15 Ballast
Author: Non-HP-hlg (hlg@pacbell.net) at hp-boise,mimegw7
Date: 6/16/99 8:15 AM

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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to drag out ol' Stanley again:

"I have always found the boat goes better, and performs properly, with
weight in the cabin. Never be afraid to load her with gear and equipment.
She was designed to carry masses of people and their gear. But do remember
she will be badly handicapped if this is placed too far aft. The forward
third of the lee chine must be allowed to do its job."

-Stanley Smith,
_October Potter_

In my experience, I find the Potter slows down as you add passengers mainly
because everyone rides in the cockpit, which weighs down the stern and
lifts the bow. Many years ago, when I hardly knew how to sail at all, and
had never raced, Manatee, starting from behind, beat about five other
gunter rigs or Mk I's in a casual race from the Alameda ramp upwind to Jack
London Square. My crew consisted of my wife (who wasn't feeling well)
reclining in the cabin with our two small children. My tacks had been
sloppy and too long, and I had no idea how I ended up in front of the pack.

Years later, in a more formal Potter Yachters regatta, I raced with my son
(probably about 100 lb at the time) as crew, riding on the foredeck. We
almost won the gunter class, but we were nosed out at the finish line by
another gunter rig. The skipper and crew of the winning gunter rig each
weighed at least 250 lb, and the crew was sitting on the foredeck with his
legs hanging over the bow.

<snip>

Harry Gordon
P14 #234, Manatee
Mountain View, CA

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