Catboats and Hard Chines

[Big Red]

I was wondering if anyone wanted to venture an opinion on the performance of hard chine catboats compared to their round bilged sisters?

I haven't seen that many designs of hard chined catboats, only a few small ones. Is there a reason for that? Do the chines cause problems when sailing on such a beamy design?

Or, is it just for aesthetic reasons that these beamy designs are usually round bilged?

Cheers, Red.

[ahp]

There was such a thing as a Biloxi Cat which I believe had hard chines. I saw one at a distance in Mississippi, but I cannot tell you anything about their performance.

[imported_Steven Bauer]

I saw this Bolger Bobcat at the boat launch today. He was overtaking me... but must have twice the sail area.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid137/pd09447eff45f98b7dcf42203711f143c/f73ad1ad.jpg

[John Bell]

Them Bobcats do sail well, don't they? :D

There are a several hard chined cats in the WB plans catalogs, IIRC.

[JimD]

Charles Wittholz has designed a 29' X 12 1/2' beam, 3,500 lbs ballast, 15,000 lb displacement, 6' 2" headroom, sleeps six. Not a bad size for a v bottomed, chined plywood catboat :cool:

[Buzz73]

Due to the underwater shape of the hull as a catboat heals, the hard chined versions will produce more weather helm than their round bilge brethren. Also, some hard-chined plywood catboats are rumored to be a challenge to plank because of the breadth of the panels versus the among of twist required for their given length. I built a small hard-chined plywood catboat many years ago, and did not find any problems with construction nor with sailing performance. Of course my opinion is very subjective because I just love catboats.

[Big Red]

Hmm, you guys got me thinking. A further question: Are hard chined boats generally of lighter (unballasted) displacement? Are there boats out there hard chined with full keels and outside ballast?

[MarkC]

Have a look at designer Ted Brewer's cat boats.

www.tedbrewer.com (http://www.tedbrewer.com)

He has two designs on offer - a 22 footer, chined, for ply or strip - a 25 footer, round bilge or chined for ply.

[John Bell]

Originally posted by Big Red:
Hmm, you guys got me thinking. A further question: Are hard chined boats generally of lighter (unballasted) displacement? Not necessarily. I don't think there's a really a rule you could apply here. They are different hull forms, and that's about all you could say. Whether or not they have lighter or heavier displacement depends on the boat.

Are there boats out there hard chined with full keels and outside ballast?Lots and lots. One of the most famous of these was Harry Pidgeon's ISLANDER, a 30'er of the SEAGOER class. Pidgeon and ISLANDER were one of the first solo circumnavigators after Slocum. SEAGOER is the big sister T. F. Day's famous SEABIRD.

[Ariel]

I have a homemade bobcat, PYXIS, which I find sails very well. The hard chine doesn't seem to effect her performance in any way. I did have a smaller sail than the plans called for and found pointing in chop an ordeal, so I bought a used Beetle cat sail and what a difference! I do have a round bottomed boat also, but can't compare the performance of either because one is full keeled and the other is, of course, a centerboard. Sorry, didn't really answer your question.

[ 08-30-2004, 07:59 AM: Message edited by: Ariel ]