Tips and Techniques

Avoiding Trailer Sway

The most annoying and potentially dangerous aspect of trailering is the potential for trailer sway. Once the sway starts, it can potentially force the tow vehicle to sway as well resulting in a loss of control. The three major factors causing this are 1) the size of the vehicle vs. the tow object 2) the tongue weight on the trailer 3) the speed at which the trailer is being towed. The appropriate tow vehicle should have a manufacturer's recommended tow weight in excess of the load. In general, a tow vehicle should weigh at least as much as what you are towing. The tongue weight on the trailer should be roughly 10% of the total tow weight. For Corsair boats there are some general rules of thumb. First check the cap shroud chain plate; it should be 6" in front of the axle on a single axle trailer or roughly directly above the aft end of the front tire on a tandem axle trailer. The other obvious factor is properly stowing gear aboard the boat; it should be midship to forward with no particularly heavy objects aft of the axles. Speed is always a factor. If the vehicle is going slowly enough it will not sway! The smaller more marginal vehicle may not be comfortable over 50-55mph while the same trailer may tow comfortably at 70mph with an oversized tow vehicle. The best suggestion for comfortable towing: be careful and cautious and give yourself plenty of room between you and vehicle in front of you.

by Bob Gleason

Tieing Down your Corsair

The best way to tie your boat down is not always obvious. I have developed my own techniques for the Corsair trimarans, which work very well. Fewer tie downs are often better if done correctly because it takes less time and is easier to check. The important tie downs for the boat are a bow line (in addition to the trailer winch line), and one tie down on each side of the stern to prevent the boat from bouncing up and down on the trailer. It is important that the tie downs are tight; to accomplish this use a truckers hitch or ratcheting webbing straps. The items that are often overlooked are on deck. It is very important that the mast be well secured to prevent wear and tear from chafe. The rear mast stand should be secured by running a line very tightly from stern cleat to stern cleat over the mast. If this is done correctly there is no need to tie the mast to the rear mast stand, further simplifying the process. As you walk forward on the deck, the shrouds and halyards are lashed to the mast with velcro straps to prevent chafe on the deck and keep the deck cleaner to walk on. To keep the mast from bouncing up and down, I tie the spreaders down very tightly. On the boats with hyfield levers like the 28 or new 31s, I tie the spreaders to the U-bolt on the ama deck and use the tail to secure the hyfield lever in place so it can not bounce on deck. The boom is kept on deck with the mainsheet attached. The akas and the spreader tie-downs keep it secure. For further security it helps to tie the front of the boom to the bow pulpit. The last item is the rudder which should be tied tight enough so that the pivot point on the rudder blade is not allowed to slop around. Covers for the mast foot and halyards and the rudder blades help to keep these areas clean and protected.

by Bob Gleason

The Clean Bottom

The simplest most obvious speed enhancing feature to your boat is often overlooked. A clean bottom can make your boat considerably faster while making your boat more enjoyable to use. Not only are the aesthetics nicer, but you will not get slimed when you go swimming, and a bottom which is kept up well will be much easier to maintain. The most important feature to many is to make the boat more slippery to improve speed. The difference between a decent bottom and an ugly bottom can be felt in the helm and seen on your knotmeter! A fast boat is a fun boat!

Speed Tip

Subtle differences may be the reason for slight edges in speed. If you add together a number of "subtle differences" the performance gain can be remarkable. One area on which all serious racers spend considerable time and energy is keeping the bottoms of their boats fair and smooth. As with the bottoms, the foils are critical in gaining the last little bit out of your boat. Most production rudders and daggerboards, at the very least have mold marks, which are simple to take care of. These ridges are easily wet sanded down to become smooth and fair. This limits the turbulence or ventilation of the blade. Not as easily addressed but just as important are any hollows or highs, which may create an unfair blade and possibly even, make it asymmetrical. This could be so severe that it could cause weather helm on one tack and lee helm on the other. Sanding, filling, fairing are the solution here and this takes technique and practice to get right. Take a close look at yours!

by Bob Gleason