Lee Boards

[Bardo]

The boat is the Centennial and can be found on the Ted Brewer web site. I think its attractive in an ugly sort of way, if you get my meaning. But the lee boards and the low head room in most of the cabin are a show stopper I think.

[Valiente]

Originally Posted by CapnHand

Some not-so-conservative multi-hulls too.

Fair enough...I didn't think we were discussing multi-hulls.

I remember the name of the book I referenced concerning lee-boards:

"Down Tops'l: The Story of the East Coast Sailing-Barges", by Hervey Benham

http://www.amazon.com/Topsl-Story-Co.../dp/B0000CHU3B

It's an older book, but charts the very useful role of lee-boards in some surprisingly large sailing barges. An interesting read.

[otaga05]

I spent quite a few years sailing on a couple of different E-Scows which used lee boards. Imagine a 28' long surfboard with sails a boom that extended well over the transom and running backstays. These flat bottomed, planing monohulls were typically sailed with a fairly significant heel and so there was a real advantage to having the board on the low side. The boat also had dual rudders. I think that the leeboards can impact the degree of weather helm. Just as the leeward shift of the CE as a boat heels increases weather helm, you are shifting the CR to leeward which should reduce it. The downside is that you have to be pretty quick in swapping the boards when you tack. Once they are under load, they are very difficult to move, so you'd better set them right as you come through the wind. This increases the number of crew necessary as you need a dedicated person to swap the boards as you tack. Ditto the backstays.