|
|
|
|
|||||
|
||||||
From: Robby & Dolores (no email)
Date: Sat Aug 04 2007 - 11:24:31 EDT
Dave Cooper commented: "Its funny that trawler owners don't feel that a very
smooth bottom is worth the effort but a racing sailboat owner will spend
tens of thousands of $$ for a mirror smooth bottom. Are one or both of these
folks wrong"
=============
For 25 years Dolores and I raced two purpose built IOR race boats on San
Francisco Bay and Pacific. We always had the bottom sprayed, prepared the
hull with wet sandpaper and swam the bottom before every race. We knew
every counter current in SF Bay where we raced and even when day sailing,
knew exactly the state of the tidal currents.
In "01" when we purchased the "Dolores E." we forgot everything. I often
have no idea which way the current is running (a significant factor in SF
Bay). I have reverted to the "shortest distance is a straight line" (not
true on the bay). I joke with my sailor friends that we got the trawler so
we could leave our fenders flopping on the side like many power boats here
on the bay. Foul weather gear -- what's that?
I still race with friends on the bay, most recently the Master Mariner's
race. When I get aboard the sailboat it all comes back! I speculate when
we are aboard the "Dolores E." that we are so happy being warm and dry, we
no longer care about going around the buoys quickly so we can get back to
the club and be warm and dry again. Or perhaps it is the diesel fumes -- I
try not to think about it since I so enjoy being warm and dry. Guess it is
the same on the East Coast except you want to be cool and dry rather then
being hot and sticky.
Dave is correct in his post, however, drag does relate to the fuel burn
which I am painfully aware as I just paid $3.62 a gallon for fuel last
month. When we bought the boat in "01" we filled up in Port Angles for $.99
a gallon. The prices now affect how we use the boat. As the prices go up we
may just have to sit at the dock with the Dickinson Stove fired up and be
warm and dry at a quarter gallon an hour rather then 4 gallons per hour with
the "Detroit".
We painted the bottom a couple months ago using an ablative bottom paint. I
noticed at the 1250 RPM we generally cruise, the boat has gained about a
quarter knot in flat water. The drum beat to remove copper from bottom
paints here in California is gaining a lot of momentum, particularly in
Southern California.
I would like to hear more about the Silicon Bottom Paints used by commercial
ships. I wonder, however, how well it would work for our boats that usually
sit in one place rather then move constantly, as do commercial shipping.
Robby
Dolores E., SF Bay
_______________________________________________
http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering
To unsubscribe send email to
with the word
UNSUBSCRIBE and nothing else in the subject or body of the message.
Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World
Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited.
|