Re: Annapolis Wherry

Posted by Mark Camp on Aug 18, 2004

Re no daggerboard trunk: One lesson to learn from David's link was not about any specific design, but about the reliability of safety information. Owners need to do their own tests or to learn from other builder-owners who have tested their particular model. Builder-owners have no axe to grind.

I think the excellent comments the author of that paper made would apply to your test as well. It is encouraging to know that the boat can be bailed in calm water with one person aboard, but is that really enough information? When you get in trouble on the water, everything goes badly (been there), and you can't tell the waves what conditions you were expecting them to adhere to based on your test (there is a well-documented exception to that, but I am leaving the power of faith out of the discussion here.) You also can't tell an injured, frightened passenger in the midst of a thunderstorm to get out and call a cab so you can bail.

Regarding flotation: Whether the boat has low freeboard or not, for you to have bailed successfully means that the gunwales were above water level, so in fact adding flotation would indeed raise the gunwales further and increase your ability to bail her out in a sea, or with more payload.

In Response to: Re: Annapolis Wherry by TomS on Aug 18, 2004

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