[paulk]

After reading the originating post, my first thought is to compare the Frers to an Audi A4 quattro, and the Jeanneau to a Jeep Wagoneer. The boats may have similar hull dimensions, but the materials, methods, and power-to-weight ratios (i.e. sa/disp) put the two boats into very separate categories. A friend raced his F 41 to Bermuda and found out to his chagrin that the tiny bilge filled rapidly and proceded to coat the entire cabin sole with slippery oil. The crew, besides losing their footing, also tended to lose their lunch due to the quick motion of the vessel. The Frers probably owes much of its stability to the low, heavy, and dense keel. It''s almost the same weight of ballast as the Jeanneau''s but lead is substantially denser than cast iron. Having this dense weight so low (almost a foot deeper than the Jeanneau) allows the Frers the greater sail area that makes them fast. The Jeanneau, in default of a dense, deep keel, will have to maintain it''s stabilty through the form of the hull. The figures given don''t tell as complete a story as is needed to really compare these two boats. What sort of prismatic coefficients are we looking at? Hull forms? What''s are the beams at the waterlines? Flare forward? Flare amidships? I distinctly recall seeing ten crew scrambling to the windward rail of the Frers when a sudden hefty puff heeled them over so far their keel showed. The hands grabbing the "uphill" toerail were hanging on white-knuckled. Not what you want to have happen when you''re cruising. The other thread on this site about using a J/40 as a cruiser is to the point here. Loading a raceboat down with cruising gear is not going to improve performance, and may put strains on the hull and rig that it (having been built to minimize weight for racing) may not be well able to handle. Putting the same gear on a boat more suited to it (the Jeanneau, perhaps) might not make as big a difference. I am only familiar with the Frers, but it looks like two cars which. though they may have dimensions that allow them to both park in the same garage, have other attributes that enable them to perform quite differently on (or off) the road.