boat weight

M

mental floss

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I have tried to restore an old Sunfish and think I have dried it out as much as possible. It weighs 137 pounds. I see that the weight of new boats now is 120 pounds. How much of an effect will that extra weight have if I race this boat?
 
mentalfloss said:
I have tried to restore an old Sunfish and think I have dried it out as much as possible. It weighs 137 pounds. I see that the weight of new boats now is 120 pounds. How much of an effect will that extra weight have if I race this boat?
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You should be fine, especially since new Sunfish weigh around 130 lbs. Do get the 'racing' (polyurethane) daggerboard and sail (white with window) in case you haven't already.
 
Brochures from different years and different builders have listed the weight from 120 to 139. Vanguard states their weight as hull weight. Past producers don't say if the weight is hull only or fully rigged.
 
We've measured boats starting in the early 70's and found weights from a low of (my 1991 Pearson, which was low on resin and prone to cracking, but I was lucky) 108 pounds to 141 for a brand new 1973 right out of the box. 125 to 132 pound is where most new hulls fell.
But miss one wind shift against a smart sailer and you'll be needing binoculars to see him in a couple of minutes.
As long as you have the basics of a racing sail and a plastic daggerboard the rest matters little against knowledge and correct sailing technique.
 
As Mike said, the hull weight dosent matter that much. I used to race my heavy boat (at least 150 pounds) agains someone whose boat was like 128 or something like that, and could come close to him. He has been racing a lot longer then I have, so hes a more accomplished sailor. But as long as you can play shifts right, and have the basics down, hull weight is not a big issue. However a nice light hull is nice for carrying.
 
This might be a stupid question but, What's the easiest way to weight a boat? just grab and old scale and balance it?
 
Yes, you can balance it on it's side, on the scale, and have a helper to read the scale. Can be done alone, it's just a little more work.
 
Great! Thanks! I haven't weighed my boat yet but my guess is that it's waterlogged because it feels pretty heavy. It cracked the roof rack on my ford explorer. Luckily i have a trailer for it now.
 
NDman06 said:
This might be a stupid question but, What's the easiest way to weight a boat? just grab and old scale and balance it?
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If you have two scales you can weigh the boat upside down. One scale near the bow and the other one near the stern.
 
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