Re: Sassafras 14

Posted by Mark Camp on Nov 12, 2004

Jamie, there are some folks who know about boats and skegs, and I trust you will get an intelligent answer from one of them.

There are other folks who don't know anything about a subject, but love to give scientific-sounding theories about it even so.

It is your lucky day, and I am just such a person, and here is my scientific-sounding advice.

First, I guess you need to know the lateral center of water resistance of your canoe, and I guess you could possibly find that by having someone pull it sideways toward the dock with you sitting where you sit, with a single line attached to the boat. If it turns stern-ahead move the line forward and re-try till it moves straight sideways. If it turns bow-ahead move the line aft and re-try. If hydrodynamic COLR is more important to a canoe than this (hydrostatic) COLR then even I give up.

Now that you know that, if you put the skeg forward of that point, yes, it will decrease leecocking (or increase windcocking). It will increase also the turning moment of the paddle (reduce the sideways force needed to turn the canoe but reduce the speed of rotation--like pedaling a bike in a lower gear)

If the skeg is aft of that point, but forward of wherever you put your paddle to steer, then the skeg will worsen leecocking.

If you put it aft of both COE(water) and COE(paddle), then it will worsen leecocking and make the boat harder to steer.

In Response to: Sassafras 14 by jamie bell on Nov 12, 2004

Replies:

• Thanks by jamie bell on Nov 12, 2004
  • Re: Thanks by Terry Mcadams on Nov 15, 2004