Sailing abilities

[Erik le Rouge]

I have posted on my search for designs to build. As it seems that flat bottom boats are easier to built so I was stuck on small (15' to 18') daysailers.
But, as I have never sailed flat bottomed boats, I would like to know about their handling, seaworthiness and the way you sail them. (would be better to know before building)
Éric

[David123]

Try renting one so that you may get the feel. I've only sailed a sunfish and the Hiking out takes some getting used to. Dusters are plentiful in some areas and they have quite a following. Would help for you to post what kind of boat you are looking to build (design name). My own sailboat is a keeler and is very stable at all angles of heel.

[Woxbox]

Right - it varies way too much to generalize. The flat bottom itself doesn't guarantee any particular behavior. The beam, ballast or not, any deadrise, type and size of rig. Everything has an effect.

[Hwyl]

Lots of the kits are indifferent sailors, I have a Clancy (it actually rotted away) sailed like dog droppings.

[Christopher Locke]

Suggest you look on the B&B yatch website (think I posted it in response to your design question). They have a good section describing the differences in qualities between their flatter design and more deep V design. General info that will be helpful although not necessarily true for all boats. Eg. flat bottom boats tend to pound (bow slaps hard against the water) in chop rather than cut through it like a V bottom will. You can create an artificial V by allowing the boat to heel to leeward (V created between side of hull and bottom) but this will allow wind to spill from your sails, decreasing performance. Flat bottom has more initial stability (harder to tip, say, 20 degrees) than V bottomed but its ultimate stability (degree it can tip without losing center of balance and going totally over) is less than V bottomed. Hence, flat bottomed often better for fishing in quiet waters than V but makes for a rougher more dangerous crossing of a bay in rough water. Flat may plan at a lower speed under certain circumstances than a V. No design is totally good or totally bad, just better or worse suited for a particular activity.

[sharpie]

Karl Stambaugh's Good Skiffs has a very decent assessment of the sailing abilities of a flat bottom boat as does Pete Culler (Skiffs and Schooners) and Reuel Parker's (The Sharpie Book). There are others, but I can't recall them at the moment.

I'm a fan of the flat bottomed craft myself and if you pick one of good design, you should be well satisfied with it. I think that Atkin & Co would have some decent flat bottom craft in your range, Parker Marine Design, Phil Bolger and a host of others.

[johnw]

Some are fast, some are slow. The Geary 18, designed in about 1927, has roughly the same Portsmouth Yardstick rating as a Lightening, even though it has a shorter waterline and less sail (and no spinnaker.) In general they need more rocker than a v-bottom boat (which is the problem with the Clancy.) You have to sail them heeled to windward, and they generally aren't as good in light air as round or v-bottomed boats. Some of them plane easily, some don't.

[brian.cunningham]

The biggest thing to remember, is that once a boat has heeled, the bottom really isn't flat any more.

Take a look at sharpies and how they sail.
http://www.clcboats.com/images/boats/sharpie-2.jpg
http://www.clcboats.com/boats/sharpie.php

[JimD]

... it seems that flat bottom boats are easier to built ...
Éric

Eric, the subject of flat bottom vs vee bottom has been discussed over and over on this forum and elsewhere, by opinionated amateurs such as myself and by professional builders and designers whom folks actually listen to. Bottom line on the bottom is there is no reason to conclude that flat bottom is necessarily easier or that vee bottom need in any way be too difficult for a first time builder. Degree of building difficulty between the two is a moot point and I urge you not to let it decide what boat you build. The reason to build a flat bottom boat is because it's the boat you want and not because you think it's the only boat you can build. Good luck.