Lean Manufacturing

The notion of designing a vessel from a luxurious interior out doesn’t sit well with me, but this is likely the situation with most new sailboats today. In aircraft builds an approach called Lean is followed. This means that base functionality is engineered first before creature features (features that are intended to get a customer…

Canoe Ocean Sailing

Joshua Slocum Joshua Slocum was from Nova Scotia, Canada. He owned several ships as well as commanding many others. After loosing one of his ships, the Aquidneck, on a sandbank in Brazil, he and his family sailed the Liberdade, a canoe of about 35 foot, from the site of the grounding to Washington DC USA,…

Ocean Cruising Comfort

I’m occasionally asked if I miss the larger, deep draft sailboat. The answer is always no. That type of craft now seems to me like a helpless one-legged seabird soaring above the surface of the sea, never able to safely land or seek shelter. Ron Hoddinott Small Craft Advisor March/April 2006 issue, pg 26  …

Twin Shallow Keels

Twin keels become more effective with increased angle of heel, while a single keel becomes less effective. “No other nation has put so much faith in bilge (or twin) keels as the British. Other countries have flirted with them, but we became so enamored with the concept that they were the first choice for anything…

Water Ballast

According to Sailing Today, September 2000 page 83, Van de Stadt’s Dehler 25 sloop bested MacGregor Yachts by a year or so in the use of water ballast. The German Dehler 25s were produced from 1984 to 1991 and water ballast was reported in the US to be used for trailering reasons and cost savings. With the Van…