Here's my take having an OB and an A4. I've got an A4 and an OB for backup. I've sailed with both. Don't worry about the stern squatting when you're under power -- it's no big deal. But if the bow is lifting up while you're sailing, the boat won't go upwind very well. Then you're beating upwind, the bow will blow downwind in waves. So you gotta fix that somehow. Move all the gear in the boat to positions forward of the keel, and/or on/under the v-berth, to get her back on her lines. Putting extra weight in the ends of the boat may cause a little "hobby-horsing", but hobby-horsing is "the lesser of two evils" compared to not going upwind well. Also, if the stern is down compared to the bow, she might not have enough weather helm, and she'll have much too much too much leeway. She won't track right. You need to "balance the helm" by tuning the rig and balancing the hull. Below are some basic instructions for balancing the helm that I wrote a long time ago. The instructions are for a different boat (Potter 19), but the principles are the same for the C27. Judy B Bijou, 1977 C27 Tall rig, #3459 San francisco Bay Area, CA http://www.blumhorst.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Excerpted from http://www.blumhorst.com/potterpages/Potter-19-Tuning-Notes.htm <<notes on tuning at the dock are included in the original>> ...On the water, check that the boat is approximately level in the fore and aft plane, like you did on land. Move gear and crew until she's level. Most folks put way too much weight in the back end. The boat will slip excessively to leeward if the bow is too high and you will have trouble making it through a tack because the wind blows the bow around too much. It's best to concentrate the weight close to the keel, so she doesn't "hobby horse" alot. For the on the water tuning, you'll need enough wind and enough sail area to heel about 10-15 degrees while on a close reach. First we will check the amount of weatherhelm ... ...The term "weatherhelm" is often used to mean the tendency of the boat to turn her bow into the wind when you let go of the tiller, or to describe the amount of "pull" you feel in the tiller when you're holding her on a straight course while sailing above a reach. But we're going to measure it in terms of the angle of the tiller. What we want is about 2-3 degrees of tiller deflection from the centerline at about 10-15 degrees of heel and travelling in a straight line. That means that your boat is angled about 2-3 degrees above your course. That will give you the best lift to windward from your keel, You should make a mark on the cockpit floor with tape, showing the centerline and also 3 degrees off centerline, underneath the tiller. For the on-the-water tune, sail on a close reach (with your sails properly trimmed -- let's not go into that right now....) with the boat heeling about 10-15 degrees, and on a straight course. Look down at the tiller. You should be holding it about 2-3 degrees to windward, above the centerline. If you let go of the tiller, the boat should start to round up, bow into the wind within a second or two at the most. That's the right amount of weatherhelm. If you're holding it higher than 2-3 degrees above the center in order to keep her on a straight course, that's too much weatherhelm. If you are holding it below the centerline, you don't have enough weatherhelm. If the weatherhelm isn't right, go back to the dock and change the mast rake after you check the side shroud tension. Later, when you go back to the dock: To increase weatherhelm -- increase mast rake and/or move more weight forward. To decrease weatherhelm, decrease mast rake and/or move weight aft. ((Note: Here's another way to estimate weather helm by looking at the rudder. A tiller that is x feet long will be x inches off centerline when it's deflected 5 degrees. Example 1: A 3 foot long tiller, with the end 3" off the center line, is deflected 5 degrees. 1.5 inches off centerline = 2.5 degrees. Example 2: A four foot long tiller, with the end 4" off center line is deflected 5 degrees. 2" off centerline = 2.5 degrees)) .... <<more followings>>...
----- Original Message ---- From: Lynn Colgan Cohen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 9:21:18 AM Subject: catalina27-talk: Our butt is dragging Hello Everyone, We have a Catalina 27 (1975). We're using a Yamaha outboard, although the original (non-working) Atomic 4 inboard is still in the boat . We hope to get it out and sell it for parts over the winter. The rear end of the boat sags a bit, as you might expect. Not a lot, though - the bottom of the thru-hull for the engine exhaust is at waterline. We plugged this hole with a wooden bung to prevent her taking on water there. Do any of you have this situation? Can anyone suggest ways to counteract the sagging stern? Is it advisable to put a counterweight of some sort in the V-berth storage space? We assume that the boat is sailable in this condition. and we have taken her out like this. Any suggestions would be appreciated.... Henry & Lynn
