Keel weight for Pearson 30

[pearsonpage]

This thought or question is for a Pearson 30 which has a ballest to displacement of 43%. The Contessa(from England, and a Fastnet race surivor of some time ago, and Pearson 30 size) has one of 50%. Racers put 6 big persons on the rail to add weight. I want to(not that my P 30 is unstable) but I want to get it as stable as I can. I know the engineers tried to make a boat that sailed well, but could haul more stuff and cruise also. So they made some sorta compromise on the design. I dont intend to race but I like being out in the wind and waves(my wife dosn't like the healing) I reef, etc, but I want to know; if I add weight to the bottom of the keel, if it will help the stability to some degree? I know part of the keel is hollow. I thought of mixing lead shot with epoxy and pouring it into the keel via a small hole. Maby 100# worth? I dont want to add torepodo bulbs. I want to keep the shape of the fin. Crazy?? pp

[tadds]

There is a formula you can use to calculate stability.

The following is the formula used to calculate The Angle of Vanishing Stability:

Screening Stability Value ( SSV ) = ( Beam 2 ) / ( BR * HD * DV 1/3 )

BR: Ballast Ratio ( Keel Weight / Total Weight )

HD: Hull Draft

DV: The Displacement Volume in cubic meters. DV is entered as pounds of displacement on the webpage and converted to cubic meters by the formula:

Displacement Volume in Cubic Meters = ( Weight in Pounds / 64 )*0.0283168

The Beam and Hull Draft in this formula are in meters. These values are entered in feet on the webpage and are converted to meters before SSV calculation.

Angle of Vanishing Stability approximately equals 110 + ( 400 / (SSV-10) )

You can go to the online calculator (along with many more) at:

http://www.sailingusa.info/cal__avs.htm

[Gary M]

Adding some weight inside to the top of the keel will not likely make a noticeable difference. I have added a lead keel extension on a Niagara 26. This boat had a 1700 lbs keel with total displacement of 4000 lbs for a ration of about 43%. It's draft was 4ft.
I cast a 5 1/2 " extension that I bolted/epoxied to the bottom of the keel. The casting weighed 200 lbs.

It did make a significant difference, the initial stability increased noticeably because of the extra keel area. Then when the boat was heeling it probably reduced the heel a few degrees. I did this strictly for racing reasons as the boat would not point up wind in the stronger winds and I was always last at the weather mark.

I did go back to the original designer to get their blessing on the extra keel. Mine was a fairly light boat so the effect was significant, on your boat you would have to add at least 400 lbs and even that might not make a noticeable difference.

I have never sailed on a Pearson 30 but do not remember them as being particularly tender, all mono hulled sail boats heel. May not be worth your while.

[sailingfool]

I assume your post regards the '70s Pearson 30 and not a Flyer. The P30 is a reasonably stiff boat - that's the way they were designed back then. We used to race a '70s C&C 30, a comparable design rating the same, and a few crew or not on the rail made little difference in upwind performance - we usually raced competitvely with just four in the boat. The "race" boats with rail meat need the rail meat because they are not stiff.

You can sail a P30 just fine without worrying about excessive heeling, reef when you get over 20% and have fun. It would be a complete waste of time and energy to try to stiffen one up - buy a new main if feel you gotta do something...