'Your boat sails like a truck'

[bswinhart]

I let a more experienced sailor, sail my boat and he said it fell very heavy its 18’ Cortez. It still has the original rudder. It’s about 4’ long 1’ wide and 1.5” thick wood. Would changing it to a fiberboard or fiberglass rudder help? I have all ready made a new tiller handle for it that is 2’ longer then original, but have installed it yet. What should I do?

[Giulietta]

Sorry to bring this news to you, but your friend can't trim a boat to save his life....

Tell your friend to sit somewhere else in the boat and it will feel light again...actually you do that and tell me after.....

You're OK , man, don't worry....making it thiner is not going to make that much of a difference.

Your buddy needs to learn to balance the boat....

"Sometimes when a dancer can't dance, allways says the floor is not even"

Sorry to be so bluntly honest with you....

[uspirate]

Originally Posted by Giulietta

"Sometimes when the dancer can't dance, he allways says the floor is not even"

I was just wondering why you referred to the dancer as a"he"?

[tdw]

Originally Posted by uspirate

I was just wondering why you referred to the dancer as a"he"?

Interesting point Pirate and I don't know if it applies to Portugal as well as Spain but whenever a Spaniel refers to a woman its "he", male "she".

Of course it could just be that Alex is sexist and you're a shite stirrer

[CapnHand]

I heard a story / joke once about someone who had really slow performance from his boat. Turned out he still had the trailer attached underneath.

[Boasun]

Did anyone look to see if he was dragging anything? like a sea anchor?

[chris_gee]

When your friend said the boat felt heavy you think he meant a large force on the tiller?
Look up sail balance. What it means is the force on the front of the boat is much the same as on the back, so it doesn't keep trying to go off course. You can let the tiller go to see which is out of line. Properly balanced the boat will more or less steer itself. There are several ways of adjusting the balance which can vary in different conditions.
A lot of older boats have pretty basic rudders. Without knowing how yours is designed it is difficult to comment. Some trailer sailers had a hinged rudder and if this was not straight it would be very heavy on the helm.
It will perform better if it is aerodynamically shaped, by rounding off the front third and tapering the rest slightly without weakening it too much.
Forget fibreboard. Before you change anything try to see what other owners have done. It won't be the weight of the rudder that is a problem because it is supported.
In the meantime have a look at a basic sailing book, and have fun while you experiment with trim and sail balance.

[MacGyverRI]

Originally Posted by uspirate

I was just wondering why you referred to the dancer as a"he"?

The Leader (usually a man) is in control w/ the moves and sometimes makes excuses if "he" isn't doing a good job! The "leader" leads, the follower just follows his lead and she's the one who' supposed to look good on the dance floor, not him!

Yeah, I'm a dancer.