Musings of the evolution of boat design

This is the sort of post that would have appealed to my dad, Geoff. We miss him terribly but it's when were off cruising that we feel his loss the most; he used to love following our progress, would be watching the weather forecasts for us and would ask lots of thoughtful questions about our trips. Even when his regular sailing days were over (at the age of about 86!), he would spend happy times 'buying' a new boat - researching designs and comparing the pros and cons of yachts he'd seen advertised.

While we were in Roscoff, Maunie was moored next to a rather interesting boat with topsides finished in a rather fetching shade of pink. It was a 36ft RM1080, one of the latest designs from a French yard with a reputation for building light, fast cruiser / racers. The comparisons with the 38ft Maunie were interesting.

Lots of square edges and hard chines

The boat's full width comes right to the stern, making for a very wide cockpit and requiring two rudders

The rather boxy shape provides lots of volume in the cabins and saloon.

The bit you can't see, under the water. is a very flat bottom and the deep thin keel with a 'torpedo' bulb (its main weight) at its base.

The shape of the hull and the bulb keel makes the boat very stiff (it apparently doesn't heel more than about 15 degrees) and the flat underbody means that it will surf down waves. The downside is that it'll probably slam horribly when beating into waves.

The whole boat, without fuel or provisions, weighs in at only 5.5 tonnes and down below everything shows the designer's absolute focus on minimising weight. Even the hanging lockers (wardrobes) are made of fabric, with zipped doors, rather than wood or fibreglass.

Maunie's design is much more traditional - a deep v-shaped forefoot and a long deep keel means she cuts through waves with ease but definitely doesn't surf down them! Her widest point is pretty much at the middle of her length and she's designed to heel comfortably to 40 degrees (maybe 'comfortably' isn't the right word as far as her crew is concerned). 

Maunie's sloping bow and deep vee forefoot are great for slicing through waves

Reducing weight clearly came nowhere on her designer's list of priorities - Maunie tips the scales at about 11 tonnes, twice that of the RM!

The RM's mast is supported by two shrouds (wires)

Whereas Maunie's has five!

For the blue water voyages we've done, we certainly wouldn't consider a lightweight boat like the RM but it certainly is an interesting development in yacht design.

At the other end of the spectrum, this Canadian cruising boat came into the marina while we were there. It's a motorboat with occasional sail assistance but it was certainly eye catching: