Stern Extension

[JoeWalling]

Thanks for that, Pat. I forgot to mention that my rigging is far too loose for my comfort - that might have an effect on sail efficiency.

[luigisante]

Hello all:

How has everyone been? How's your back (errr shoulder - Edit ) doing Pat. I've been a bit distracted since April by a small bit of oil spilling in the Gulf . When I started my legal career, I was a law Clerk for a federal Judge in New Orleans. I have a lot of friends in the gulf area and spend quite a bit of time there. While the judge was still alive, we would go back every other year for a reunion where we would have a shrimp fest in Bay St. Louis.

I have a couple of friends in the fishing and oyster business down there who have been devistated. I've been helping them salvage what they can and make proper insurance claims. Needless to say, I've been a bit busy.

I haven't had a lot of time to work on the cabin refit but have made some progress lately. I found a really nice fiberglass sheet material sold at Lowes to cover the inside. It is a flexible material yet looks fairly solid when put in place. Scribing and cutting it has proved to be more difficult than I imagined. The Styrene smell is really strong when it is cut. Nevertheless, I will proabably have the forepeak done this weekend. The shower drain sump is in and ready to be hooked up to a discharge fitting. I'll post a progress report when I get a second.

I read your sea trials with great interest. Do you credit the stern extension with the boat's newly acquired pointing ability. This is amazing. Keep us informed. If I can only figure out how to incorporate the jet drive and the extesion. Hmmmmm.

Anyway. Greetings to all. I have an estimate from Dave Berig on the main and I'm having it made. I think I'm still on track to get the boat to a boatyard in the fall. Maybe there will be time for sea trials if the weather holds into November.

Lou

[Pat Ross]

Lou,

Great to hear from you, we have two knew 26 owners, cool huh! No further progress on my boat but my shoulder is improving leaps and bounds week to week, doctor says 6 to 8 more months for a full recovery. All this to say I think I will be making progress on her by the end of July, still hoping to launch in August, albiet depending on the oil in our waters.

Ofcourse the oil has shutdown the beaches and some has managed to enter Pensacola Bay, the pass to the Gulf is about 45 by boat from us, 2 bays over and SW. I am thinking with what I see happening to Lake Ponchartrain in New Orleans, it will eventually get back here to the bayous, the breeding grounds and fisheries for both fresh and salt water life.

Your upgrades are sounding great, make sure you take photos and give us the name of the product so we can take a look over here to see if it will work for us.

Glad you are back on board,

Pat

[JoeWalling]

Hi Pat and Lou

Great to hear from you both. looking forward to seeing pics of your internal refit progress, Lou. Pat, your shoulder must have been really messed up to need such a long recoup period. Sounds that its going well, though.

I don't really know what to attribute the better windward peformance of the boat to. It is either the modified central hull or the hard antifouling or maybe both but of course both were done at the same time. If its down to the antifouling I suppose performance will tail off as the shine wears off. I did not do the stern mod for that reason but the very significant upwind improvement was instantly noticeable. From pictures that I've seen, I think HUSH's extension is the longest one done so far. I don't know - do longer keels go better to windward? If you remember all we did was follow Tony's existing transom lines aft, so the central hull curves in at the stern and would have eventually end in a needlepoint if we had'nt cut it off to get a new transom big enough to hang a rudder on. The resultant fine entry lines are reminiscent of older long keel boats which did go upwind very well but they were'nt 'hindered' by wing decks. I've attached a picure taken from the stern just before launch. This shows the curvature of the new hull. the boat is sat on a wheeled launching platform so its looks like a plane taking off but hopefully you can see what is boat and what is not.

Cheers, Joe

[Pat Ross]

Great photo! Yes generally speaking the deeper the keel, the higher the point. A lot of monohull boats that race are in the 7 to 9 foot draft area, some deeper than that.

I played football for 10 years, nothing professional. When I tore the rotator cuff muscles, there are 5 - I tore two, it was a blessing of sorts. They found other old injuries and damage that would later have caused me more problems. So they repaired several things.

Pat

[Ron]

Pat -

Torn rotator cuffs must be a multi-hull or maybe even a Telstar problem. I've probably done the same to mine, and will find out in a few days after an MRI. The orthopedist is pretty sure that's the problem, but needs to see the films first. And, of course, it's my right arm.

[luigisante]

Dam that hull looks great. You guys are fallin apart with these rotator cuffs. Actaully, my brother had the laproscopic surgery for it. Took awhile to recoup. Be well.

Lou

[JoeWalling]

Hi Harry - yes all the pictures are up there on this thread. Pat and Lou kept me on the case and I'm glad they did else I probably would not have been so diligent. Can you not see them? Have you joined the ITOA? Which side of the Atlantic pond are you? I can't think of any reason why you can't see the photos. Cheers, Joe

[petrel]

Joe,

I have just taken the opportunity to read this post again. I must say I am very impressed with your boat's stern extension - something I have pondered for a very long time. A couple of questions:

1. Have you been able to tell if it is the clean bottoms, or the stern extension, or both that are contributing to the improved performance? In my repeated experience clean hulls make a huge difference. But one would expect the increased waterline length to also be a factor.

2. You mentioned rocking being almost eliminated. I assume you are referring to for and aft rocking? If so this has to be a real benefit in light air when sail shape is lost due to waves and wakes rocking the mast back and forth etc.

3. Do you think the improved pointing is due to the increased distance from the centerboard to rudder or is it something else? Whatever the cause may be I would consider the improved pointing alone worth the effort.

4. You mentioned at the time of writing that you had not noticed and increase in speed. However, I would think that you should see at least an increase in overall average speed. Any updates?

Congratulations on an excellent job. You have set the benchmark.
Geoffrey