What would it take to improve my boat speed by that much?

Take into consideration my boat is five years old. A reduced pork chop diet is out of the question!

Fill the dings/scratches that are on the bottom of all our boats and wax it a few times.

I'm not so sure about the wax. But, is it really that easy to pick up 1/10?

Why are you not so sure about the wax?

No fan of simple physics?

Go get Frank Bethwaite's book, High Performance Sailing. In it he lays out exactly what a dirty hull will cost you in speed, and it's a lot more than 1/10th of a knot.

http://www.amazon.com/High-Performa...mp;s=books&qid=1304511678&sr=1-1

Read some of the reviews...if you race sailboats but don't own this book, well, it would be money well spent.

Way back when, I'd heard that since wax is soft any scratches in the wax itself are as bad as scratches to the boat.

I'll get the book. But in the mean time, if a clean fair hull is ultra important, what would you go to get it? Wet sand with 1000 grit then buff with rubbing compound seems like over kill though it looks nice.

Don't use soft wax, use Teflon. McLube makes the right stuff. http://www.mclubemarine.com/

But first I would take it to a professional racing boat shop and have them board sand it and re-gelcoat it. You don't want to do it by hand wtih a small block, it won't be fair enough. You need a longboard, and it's a "job".

Put your pork chop laden weight where it belongs.....

Good morning sunshine!

So, what's your take on a fair hull? When does it become overkill?

There is a boat shop out on 771 near Port Charlotte's Gardens of Gulf Cove owned by a Russian? that does fairing for the Olympic Stars and other race boats. I was driving home from Englewood and saw a truck from Michigan pulling a Star with the best looking fiberglass I have ever seen

Probably expensive.

If you can't eat off the bottom, it's too dirty. I wash and wax my boat (and daggers and rudders) the day before I go to a regatta, then wash the hulls again when I arrive at the regatta, before I take it off the trailer.

Road grime picked up while trailering to the regatta is slow. In the book mentioned above Frank did drag tests of hulls that had been washed after trailering and not, it was very clear which were always faster.

Shall we talk about the dirt on the mast and sails now? Anyone know of a good aluminium polish? ;^)

"...aluminium polish?" I was thinking the same thing but not very seriously.

My boat is well past time for a good overhaul and I was wondering just how far to go. It is still a beach cat and the best finish in the world probably wouldn't survive the first launch/landing or even sand on the trailer cradles.

You don't 'drive it on' to the beach do you?

Yeah, that will -undo- all the board sanding, gelcoat and wax!

I stop in a foot of water and go get the wheels.

There has been and always will be an argument for waxing or not waxing the boat because of boat speed.

My argument....
It keeps the nasty grim off and I don't have to wash it as often.

A sexy boat is a clean boat, which in turn looks fast!

Mike

"...go get the wheels." That's fine when I have crew but a problem when I'm uni. Lately, I've had a mooring line to return to and that is very nice.

Mike: what kind of wax do you use?

I use the Mcguires cleaner wax from the local O'reily's. It waxes and it clean some stuff off of the hull. I also use that on my spin pole.

I have used the Holmekol and it's very nice, just a little expensive.

What I generally do is at the beginning of the year, I use the Holmekol for the "base" if you want to call it that, and the rest of the year use the McGuires.

Pete, when I sail uni i have a small anchor that I tie a line to with a milk jug as a buoy. After launhing the boat, I drop the anchor and tie off my wheels to it right out in the water. When I finish sailing I come in and sail right to my wheels.

BTW, sometimes you need to raise your sails on the water, if so, then you can tie off to the makeshift mooring buoy to do that.

With you on that. In case anyone is interested, I've found this to be a great help.

1/10th of a knot out of your boat? Easy..

Sail more, and get some qualified, honest, feedback on your sailing and what to improve.

Probably not the answer you wanted.

I hear you Rolf.

For some reason, I find it is actually easier to raise and lower the main when the boat is on the water.

I don't own boats long enough to scratch them any more. I'm with mike though, I just want it easy to clean and keep the brown stains at bay, (I should wax my underwear lol) I actually use the same exact wax. Smoother and straighter will be faster, that I do know. But as far as wax or not I couldn't tell you if it makes a difference.