[Rhodes22-list] Ballast ?

[John Shulick]

Thanks for the input gentlemen. So far all the comments jibe with my own
experiences sailing over the past 4 yrs. The boat feel somewhat tender to
start, and at 15% or so on the tilt o meter you begin to get some
resistance. Yes when you get so far over as to bring the hull flair into
play the boat rounds up on its own. But the admiral and myself managed to
get the winches wet one day when a gust caught us unawares and the 2 of us
are in excess of 500lbs of rail meat. (we are not small people) I still feel
the additional ballast might help. 100lbs of lead in bar form is
6'x1"x11/2".  A 1" increase in the depth of the shoal keel would match the
amount the centerboard hangs below when in the retracted position. This
means there should be no trailering problems and I don't feel the addition
of 24 sq/in of whetted area to be a significant performance hit. I have seen
discussions implying the R22 sails the fastest when on her feet and IMHO the
open slot when the centerboard is in the down position is the most
significant drag component hindering the boats performance. I might fashion
a plastic strip to cover the slot and go swimming to install it Just to test
that theory. In any event of the results are not satisfactory all of these
mods can be undone in an afternoon and the boat restored to original specs.
I will report back to the fleet
on the results.

PS : Carbon fiber masts for the R22 are in the $2500 range now and there is
a new type of synthetic rigging available that is only 10% more that 316 SS
wire and 3x as strong.

Just something to think about

JohnS   

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