I know this is probably hyperbole but don't take it seriously. Lobster boats draw maybe 2-3' and the fishermen know the shore well enough to get closer than a visitor ever should.
You'll still have to bail, but if you add enough buoyancy bags/foam it should make a self-respect possible. I've added floatation to a power boat by strapping blue foam blocks from an old dock under the decks -- not pretty and messy to cut but it should be cheap or free
Any idea what the advantage might be of the "manta" shape instead of a normal T-foil? I know this is a totally different application, but if it's really better will we be seeing that foil shape on Moths etc. in a few years?
Thanks for the suggestion and the offer, unfortunately I'm on the other coast.
I'm also looking at the B&G Zeus 2 7". Opinions? B&G doesn't have any in-hull transducers on their site, are there none that will work?
Datamarine, apparently now DMI Marine. Their current offerings don't look like they've been updated much since the previous owner installed ours (actually, they might even be original to the 1980 hull) so they're probably backwards compatible, but the downside to that is that their top "system"...
He's unlikely to upgrade the radar, but he could definitely buy his own transducer if I give him something without one. The only real requirements here are that it works as a chartplotter out of the box, and can handle depth finder. Radar integration is a pipe dream.
Also price is flexible, I...
I'm going to buy my dad a chartplotter for Christmas, between $500 and $1,000 (cheaper is better). He's been using little handheld GPS's ever since Loran went obsolete, and I think his life would be a lot easier with a plotter.
really just needs basic navigation and hopefully a fairly easy...
A lot of people I know just aren't big fans of yacht club culture. They don't want to join an exclusive club (most are pretty welcoming IME, but that's not how many outsiders imagine it), they just want to have a boat and sail with their friends. And without joining a club a lot of cruisers just...
You probably want to trim to the shifts though, right? Would you oversheet in the headers and ease in the lifts, or keep your sails trimmed for normal close-hauled sailing?
I was conflicted because an opti would be easier to learn in but get boring fast for most non-racers, but honestly for learning you don't need a nice boat. Just use the shitty optis, and if she likes sailing then when she gets bored of those you can buy a Bic or something similar.
If you switch the lateen for a marconi rig without moving the mast forward it'll change the center of effort and you'll probably end up with too much weather helm. It might work with a shorter boom, but if I were you I would stick with the original design.
I think the fight here is between dinghy and keelboat racers. In a keelboat you need to time the start underway so for a pin start you should know how long the line is. In dinghy racing, you just luff up and wait so you can get away with more estimation.
Problems with college sailing aside, you can't get ahead in junior sailing unless you're rich or have rich friends. Yacht clubs, especially ones with competitive racing, tend to be exclusive and expensive and it limits the talent pool. High school racing is a little better, but it still only...
A bunch of T-shirts, some of which really did shrink, and a second-place trophy from a high school regatta that I accidentally took home and haven't gotten around to giving back yet.
IME kids start out not knowing anything about sailing and don't really care what kind of boats they're in as long as they can learn to sail them. They graduate from optis and lasers are faster, pointy and exciting. They switch to 420's and they're fun because they have 2 sails and a kite. From...