How much difference does a ballasted daggerboard make?

[kitcat]

I've read quite a lot about filling the lower section of an daggerboard with lead, but I'm wondering just how much difference it makes to the stability of the boat? Also, would the daggerboard casing need to be strengthened somewhere?

As our sailing tends to be mainly river and estuary my good lady is now getting quite upset by the ease with which the starts tipping in any sort of gust, especially if I'm not quick to let out some mainsheet, so I'm thinking that ballasting the d'board is the way to go?

[Tomfoolery]

Letting her take the helm would be more effective, IMO. Or the mainsheet. If the rigging is a bit difficult, refit with good quality ball bearing blocks, and add more parts of line if necessary, so it's easy to handle with one hand. Putting her in charge of heel may take the excitement out of it.

Carbo Fiddle Ratchet blocks would be nice, as it takes a very light touch to hold the sheet under heavy load, and the ratchet function releases itself under light load. Never tried them on a mainsheet application, but they're popular on things like spinnaker sheets (singles, usually cheek blocks). http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... Num=50058#

[bartmac]

This has been covered in many a discussion and the physics of it is clear.....NO.... the amount of weight you'd have to add to your daggerboard would far exceed the boards capacity and so the small amount of additional you can add doesn't make a difference.....the other thing ofcourse is the additional load on the daggerboard mechanism requiring a lot of mods/beefing up of the whole thing.We had another trailorsailer prior the the Mac26.... it had a 450Kg swingkeel requiring a winch and pulley system to raise.....my wife couldn't do it
The fact a Mac is tender worried me at first (well my wife a lot more) but once you realise it goes to 15deg quickly and then settles ie the water ballast comes into play....and the other thing is the weather helm also much discussed...our Mac was terrible....a sudden gust and she would heel and round up.....the combination didn't make for good sailing.Once we tuned down the weather helm (not completely and definitely NOT to lee helm) it was a lot more pleasant and the whole heeling thing was less traumatic!!

[Russ]

Yes, this has been discussed here.

A few have done it. However, the dagger will swell up if you just fill it. It's a flimsy piece of hollow fiberglass. It needs a lot of modification and then raising it requires more hardware.
When all is done, I've heard it only makes a small amount of difference.

--Russ

[Ixneigh]

Some people have added internal lead ballast. I have 350 lbs. it has little effect on initial heel. The boat has to heel to change from a powerboat hull to a sailboat hull anyway. If wifey does not like heeling, tell her to buy you an f27
Ix

[kadet]

Agree with everything that has been said, coming from 40 foot offshore race boats and beach cats to an it took me a long time to accept these are tippy boats. But again once they stiffen up they are quite safe and will round up before being knocked down.

I know this is of little comfort when your partner is being scared out of their wits and threatening not to come out with you. I am fortunate that my sailing companion is fearless and enjoys a good bash to windward in a stiff breeze and I am the one reaching for the sheet before them

The only thing you can do is to reef early, educate them and empower them. Because being a light water ballasted trailer sailer there is not much that can be done to stop the tenderness except get a different make of boat.

[NiceAft]

My experience has been that most of the people who have come for a sail on Nice Aft have been really scared when the boat starts to heel. As time passes, they become more calloused to the sensation that they are going for a swim. As your lady becomes more and more experienced with the idiosyncrasies of these boats, she will also become more comfortable.

On one trip we had friends aboard who have never been sailing. At one point the port side was what seemed like inches from the water, and the woman who was experiencing this for the first time had a look of horror on her face. When we righted, she said “let's do that again”

Ray

[yukonbob]

I love taking newbies and especially power boaters out. Get out on a nice day, hoist the sails wait…wait…turn for a reach and put the boat sideways! Once everyones butt is done puckering they really enjoy it. The first time I took one of my good buddies out all he could do was grab the stanchions and yell "I trust you Bob…I trust you Bob...I TRUST YOU BOB!!!" while me and the misses howled with laughter.

[Seapup]

The boat is what it is, so probably the best advice is what everyone says and try to get comfortable with it.

I have 75lb of lead shot in my X centerboard, the M is different and supposedly thinner and will expand if you just dump the shot in. I use 8:1 to raise it. With the lead shot you can always drill a hole and dump it out in about 30 seconds if you or the next person doesn't like it.

How much difference does a ballasted daggerboard make?

It does make a significant difference in "rocking" when you get hit by a gust or wake. You still heel the same, just everything is slowed way down and there is less of the quick rolling motion. Similar to having the main up vs not. I wanted to make sure it was easily reversible back to stock, but it makes enough difference I have no plans of draining it out.

Another reversible mod I have wondered about would be to add more water ballast. Wakeboard boats have it pretty well worked out. Pump it in and out in a few minutes. 300lb sumo sacs are 65"L x 16"W x 8"H and would probably fit right along side the fiberglass ballast tubes on each side of the x. Use a basic inline pump connected to the front vent on the existing ballast tank. Pump the water in and out through the factory ballast tank, so no additional through hulls. Stock weight to trailer, extra ballast spread out down low when you want it.

[mastreb]

The sumosacs are interesting. You will have to make certain that they can't move around or shift at all under way, and that in the event of a roll they can't come loose and fall. You could incorporate them into a freshwater system as well for emergency water supply.