preparing the underside of the hull

laser98706

New Member
Laserites,

I saw on the LaserCoach 2000 cd that people wash their hull with detergent, to get a slick racing finish. Does anyone do this? What kind of detergent works best? how effective is this?
 
i have heard that waxing your hull to make it slick or any thing like that slows your down because it repels water which causes water turbulence and slows you down. ive also heard that if you lightly wet sand the bottom of your hull with 1000 grit sand paper it speeds you up because the rough surface graps ont water and creates a layer of water around the surface area and it just slides through the water. about the detergant ive never heard that and plus that could polute the water.
 
I always used a telfon wax that west marine sells. I always been told that wet sanding the boat is faster, but i really do not want to wet sand my new laser
 
43575 said:
I always used a telfon wax that west marine sells. I always been told that wet sanding the boat is faster, but i really do not want to wet sand my new laser
You can use a little dish detergent if you have the hull out of the water, or try biodegradeable boat soap and Starbrite teflon polish (not a wax) which is sold at West Marine.
 
Howdy Laserites,
I've heard several theories myself.... It is been pretty much universal, don't use wax, I prefer Starbrite's teflon polish myself, Also I agree that wet sanding down to a minimum of 1000 grit is good, but I like to take mine down even further to 1500-2000 grit on my old boat and my new one doesn't need anything but polish yet.
Being a fisherman I have also read that a semi-rough (shark skin) surface like you referred to is suppose to be fast too.
No matter what you do (IMHO), blowing a tack or making a mistake on the starting line will not make up for any kind of bottom finish you have. The other thing is the mental aspect of having a smooth slick baby's bottom finish will keep your confidence level high. Make you work harder and you'll end up sailing faster.
My two cents is slick is quick!
Fishingmickey,
150087/181157
 
laser98706 said:
Laserites,

I saw on the LaserCoach 2000 cd that people wash their hull with detergent, to get a slick racing finish. Does anyone do this? What kind of detergent works best? how effective is this?

To get some straight science, do a Google search on "no-slip condition".

The only thing that matters is how smooth the hull is at the instant you're racing. Forget about any weird molecular interactions between your hull material and the water, about whether it's better to be attracting or repelling water, or any of that.

A coating of wax, teflon, pancake syrup, pine pitch, elephant snot, monomolecular molybdenum or any of a number of other substances could make a hull smoother either directly by filling in little scratches on the hull, or indirectly by making it harder for miscellaneous junk in the water to stick to the hull, or by making it easier to wash miscellaneous junk off, or by making the surface of the hull harder (and thereby more difficult to scratch), all of which would tend to keep the hull smooth for longer.

Conversely, anything that makes the surface softer and easier to scratch, or that makes it easier for floating dreck in the water to stick to the hull and make it rougher, or that makes it more difficult to wash said dreck off the hull, tends to cause the hull to lose its smoothness faster.

So detergent is nice because it washes off whatever's on the hull, and because it keeps whatever is on the surface of the water from sticking to your hull when you first put the boat in the water, but there's no magic beyond that, unless you had a bucket of detergent on board and were continuously releasing it into the water during the race, which, aside from being impractical, is against the rules.
 
dont use anything with wax in it, and preferably with no silicon.

starbrite does a good polish, shame we cant get it here in aus
 
One of the reasons biodegradable soap is used just prior to putting the boat in the water is if you sail in an area that has dirt, oil, ect on the water surface the soap will dissipate the dirt, oil as the boat is slipped in the water. After that I don't know what good it will do



to wax or not to wax

http://www.thebeachcats.com/OnTheWire/www.catsail.com/archives/v3-i2/feature4.htm
 
I sail my Sunfish in an area where it gets a ugly yellow grime build up. When I keep teflon wax on the bottom it makes it much easier to get the grime off. I don't do anything with my Laser though, but I don't formally race it as much. I just sail locally with friends and do practice racing.
 
Did I read somewhere that Beeswax or surfboard wax would work nicely?? I personaly don't agree with wax........
 
Surf wax on the deck would make an awful mess. If it isn't constantly wet whilst in the sun it just melts. You'd get it all over your clothing and probably your sail when it comes time to de-rig.
 
JacksonAUS said:
It might work. I've heard of people coating the bottom of their boats with graphite powder
Hi all,
please read the Laserrule 11 in part 3 of the By-Laws and rule 8 in part 2 of the By-Laws:

"8. Hull coatings:
The use of slowly soluble applications which might alter the boundary layer characteristics of the hull are prohibited.

(...)
11. Hull finish:
a) Waxing, polishing and fine wet and dry sanding ofthe hull is permitted, provided the intention and effect is to polish the hull only.
Polishing / sanding shall not be used to remove mould imperfections.

b) Sanding and refinishing of the hull with the intention and effect to lighten the hull or improve the performance, finish, materials or shape beyond the original is not permitted.
(...)"

So now think about, what is allowed and what not, please. If coating the hull with graphite powder would be allowed, graphite would not be the best - I would take Nano-particle-fluid (this is offered here somewhere for car-coatings)... ;)
Ciao
LooserLu
 
I've actually heard of the grapite powder being used in two cases.
My friend Rob, who has been on this forum coated the bottom of his Corsair with graphite powder. I don't know how he applied it.

Another case is with 14 foot skiff sailors. Apparently they apply it mixed up with egg whites. Not only to the bottom of the hull, but on the dagger board and rudde blade aswel.
 

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