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    March Meeting Info

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Poll: Where is your waterline?

Does your boat's boot stripe mark the waterline?

  • The boot stripe is high and dry above the water

    Votes: 19 67.9%
  • The bottom of the boot stripe is right on the water

    Votes: 8 28.6%
  • The boot stripe is submerged.

    Votes: 1 3.6%
  • I'll have to scrape off some algae and get back to you...

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    28

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
Does the "boot stripe" mark the waterline on your boat?

I've been revisiting boat specifications, trying to puzzle out a few things. Again.
"Sailboatdata.com" says the displacement of an E29 is 7300 lbs.
The manual downloaded from this site says the displacement is 8500 lbs.
One travel lift operator said that the (pretty much emptied) boat weighed 10,000 lbs.
Another operator said that 10,000 would barely lift the needle off the peg, so that's not very reliable.

A previous owner has filled in the hollow part of the keel with... something. It could be lead... And I've since added a few hundred pounds of gear.

And yet, the boat actually floats with the waterline pretty close to the bottom of the painted boot stripe. Maybe a tad lower with full tanks.
As near as I can figure, it ought to take somewhere around 700 lbs to lower the water line an inch. So these discrepancies ought to make on the order of 2" of waterline change. On a boat this size, these differences are also large enough to screw up all the design "ratios" that people talk about.

I've been contemplating loading up the boat for cruising, and started making a list. Just the weight of fuel, water, batteries, and ground tackle make quite an eye-opening subtotal! Just trying to figure out where the normal "zero" state is. :confused:
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Weight and Waterlines

I have no exact response, but about a decade ago we had our boat lifted for a bottom job and I asked the Travelift operator if he had any idea what our weight might be. The boat would have been in what might be called 'light load' configuration, i.e. without all the additional stuff that would go aboard for a cruise. He said that based on the (old) load cell readout on the lift and his intuition from decades of running lifts he thought it was about 10.5 to 11K weight. Since the brochure weight is supposed to be 10600#, this was encouraging. :)
As to the waterline stripe, it was always slightly submerged, even tho the PO had the bottom paint topped out at about one inch below the gel coated stripe. This would look great when afloat if the boat actually floated at that level, but the real-world waterline is and has been about an inch up onto the blue WL stripe... and that's where we have the bottom paint stopped for all of our paint jobs.

"It is what it is" as a friend of mine is always reminding me.
:rolleyes:
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
Good point. I took the bottom paint right up to the edge of the gel-coated stripe. Probably a good thing.
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
Hmm... I just noticed that the drawing in the manual shows the boot stripe a couple of inches above the waterline. Consistent with the idea that the boat is already 1000 lbs over design weight.
 

pmarsha3

Member II
Does the "boot stripe" mark the waterline on your boat?

I've been revisiting boat specifications, trying to puzzle out a few things. Again.
"Sailboatdata.com" says the displacement of an E29 is 7300 lbs.
The manual downloaded from this site says the displacement is 8500 lbs.
One travel lift operator said that the (pretty much emptied) boat weighed 10,000 lbs.
Another operator said that 10,000 would barely lift the needle off the peg, so that's not very reliable.

A previous owner has filled in the hollow part of the keel with... something. It could be lead... And I've since added a few hundred pounds of gear.

And yet, the boat actually floats with the waterline pretty close to the bottom of the painted boot stripe. Maybe a tad lower with full tanks.
As near as I can figure, it ought to take somewhere around 700 lbs to lower the water line an inch. So these discrepancies ought to make on the order of 2" of waterline change. On a boat this size, these differences are also large enough to screw up all the design "ratios" that people talk about.

I've been contemplating loading up the boat for cruising, and started making a list. Just the weight of fuel, water, batteries, and ground tackle make quite an eye-opening subtotal! Just trying to figure out where the normal "zero" state is. :confused:

Freshwater or saltwater? My E29 sits too low in the great lakes water.
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
Interesting thought, but freshwater vs sea water would only make a difference of about 20 lbs per inch of freeboard, or 3% difference.
Now, an E29 in the Great Salt Lake could hold an extra 120 lbs per inch of freeboard! 17% difference.
 

Navman

Member III
I have a white waterline at the bottom of the boot stripe and it is right on top of the water.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
The previous owner brought the bottom paint up to cover the gel coat boot top. Still not high enough.

I notice the new production boats have a bigger margin than old tradition. Some local boats have 8 inches of bottom paint showing.

Good to note that a boat loaded beyond design waterline is going to be slower. Anybody racing should put the boat's waistline on a diet, rather than buying a bigger belt.
 
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