PSCs - Wet vs. Dry?

[MC1]

I've been catching up on some older threads and noticed the comment by a delivery skipper that the PSC 37 was one of the wettest boats he's ever delivered. I also noticed a prior post by Jeff that (if I understood him correctly) indicated that this would be expected with a relatively short waterline, long overhang, and spoon-shaped (vs. flared) bow design.

As PSC owners, is this consistent with your experience as well? I have a PSC 34 and haven't noticed this, but then again I haven't pushed the boat that hard yet.

[niftynickers]

I have owned my PS C37 for 16 yrs and approx 50k miles both inland and off shore.She is a very comfortable seaworthy boat with low freeboard. As such she will take spray when pounding into waves and needs a dodger to protect the crew.The low freeboard of course means low windage but also some water on deck.I have sailed much wetter boats and very much less seaworthy boats.I feel a sturdy dodger is a necessity for heavy weather sailing.
Dianne and Chuck Burke S/V NiftyNickers C37 #139

[MC1]

Thanks Niftynickers; perhaps the delivery skipper I referred to earlier was delivering a new boat that didn't have a dodger installed yet. I read another account yesterday from a Contessa owner lamenting that his boat was reviewed as a "submarine" due to its low freeboard. He said his solution was to mount teak strakes on the hull that redirected spray to good effect. I wonder if the teak rubrails on the PSCs may not also be helping a little with this.

Your account of the PSC 37 being very comfortable and seaworthy is consistent with the feedback I've heard from every other PSC owner that's compared it to previous boats they've owned or sailed extensively on. There's been some discussion recently that boats with short waterline / long overhang may not excel in the area of motion comfort. Other factors like displacement and hull shape must also be playing a role however, since there's a broad consensus (at least among PSC owners, including myself) that the PSCs have excellent motion comfort.

[DaveMancini]

MC1

Our boat is the driest boat I've ever sailed, both on and off the wind.

Dave
PSC 34 #305, "Swan"

[MC1]

Very interesting Dave, thank you. You've certainly collected enough "data" on this from your recent voyages on the Swan.

[lsbrodsky]

I once did a delivery on a brand new 37 with no dodger. It was very wet!!! Upwind there was a lot of spray over the bow. Safe, but wet.
Larry

[MC1]

Thank you Larry. I wonder why the difference between Dave's experience on his PSC 34 and yours (and Niftyknickers') on a PSC 37. Of course Dave's "Swan" has a dodger, but I think the shorter length of our 34s just lets us git by 'for the spray lands!

[JohnRPollard]

Our 31 is exceptionally dry, by any standard. We have a small scuttle- or companionway dodger, but except for rain it's rarely ever needed. We don't need to hide behind the dodger to keep dry from spray in the cockpit.

And it's not just dry in the cockpit. The decks rarely ever take spray.

One thing I have heard about the 37, and the 44, is that they are somewhat susceptible to being trimmed down in the nose by too much anchor chain forward. On our 31, we have combination rodes, so there's not a lot of chain weight up forward.

MC1, you mentioned a reference to the "spoon-shaped" bow design. But, the only Crealock-designed PSC with a spoon-shaped bow is the Dana 24. All the others have forward raked bows with pronounced three-dimensional flare. This is often attributed as the reason for them being so dry on deck.

[Sapperwhite]

Orion is dry for the most part. The molded in rub strake that runs the full length of the hull does really well to deflect water. I did beat from Rockhall to HDG in steep "chesapeake chop" once. Every hear of the brown "icw mustache" that stains bows from the tannins in the water? I had "icw deck" from shipping so much water and pushing the bow through wave after wave. That was wet.

[MC1]

Originally Posted by JohnRPollard

Our 31 is exceptionally dry, by any standard. We have a small scuttle- or companionway dodger, but except for rain it's rarely ever needed. We don't need to hide behind the dodger to keep dry from spray in the cockpit.

And it's not just dry in the cockpit. The decks rarely ever take spray.

One thing I have heard about the 37, and the 44, is that they are somewhat susceptible to being trimmed down in the nose by too much anchor chain forward. On our 31, we have combination rodes, so there's not a lot of chain weight up forward.

MC1, you mentioned a reference to the "spoon-shaped" bow design. But, the only Crealock-designed PSC with a spoon-shaped bow is the Dana 24. All the others have forward raked bows with pronounced three-dimensional flare. This is often attributed as the reason for them being so dry on deck.

John,
I did have a misconception about the spoon-shaped bows, thanks for this clarification. I've never heard of the terminology, "forward raked bows with pronounced three-dimensional flare". I'm glad to know my boat has that, it sounds much more impressive than, "spoon shaped bow".

I also use a rope/chain combination rode, and tend to keep my forward water tank dry since I'm only coastal cruising, so these may contribute to my 34 riding dry. I believe Dave had a lot of chain and full tanks during his Pacific cruising, and he still reports his 34 being very dry, so maybe the 34 performs a little differently than the 37 in this regard.
-MC1