BYYB Forums

Some time ago I had a video posted on Youtube of my capsize test that I performed with Duckie.  For some reason our account was deleted so the video went away.  I lost track of it in my wife's computer, but recently found it again.  I have re-posted it to Youtube and I hope that many of you will find it educational.  The link is ( https://youtu.be/ps1FhrLfmA ).  Give it a looksee.  I will be writing some background comments to give the video some context at a later time.

Al

The link is defective. Is the video still on the site?

Yeah, it is there, but the link doesn't work.  My channel is northomesibe and the vid is VID00083 on that channel.  Maybe I copied something wrong.  It wouldn't be the first time.  I will try to fix it.

Al

Let's try this.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps1FhprLfmA&t=18s 

Yup, that did it.

Al, Thank you for reposting that video. I thought I'd never get to see it again. At one point you had the boat on it's side and it still wanted to right itself but you gave it a final tug to get it over.
Here is what the Stevenson's wrote about the boat:

WHEN YOU TRY TO CAPIZE A WEEKENDER AS WE DID YOU'RE IN FOR SOME SURPRISES.
WE WENT OUT IN A REALLY STIFF BREEZE, HAULED ALL THE WAY IN ON THE SHEETS, SAT ON THE WRONG SIDE AND HELD ON.
THE MAST ARCED DOWN TO THE WATER AS THE HULL TIPPED.
BUT THE WEEKENDER ACTS A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY THAN MOST WE'VE SAILED.
IT CAN SAIL ALL DAY ON IT'S SIDE DECKS WITHOUT GETTING WATER INTO THE COCKPIT.
MEANWHILE THE SAILS ARE BECOMING SHADED BY THE HULL RUNNING ALONG ON ITS SIDE DECKS.
WE NEVER COULD GET THE THING TO GO ALL THE WAY OVER.
IT JUST SKIMMED ALONG ON ITS SIDE UNTIL WE GOT TIRED OF CLINGING ON.

After your test would you agree that the more the boat tips, the more the sails become shaded from the wind, thus preventing a capize?

The video is pretty much what I suspected and what most have experienced in a capsize. Maybe the Stevenson's experienced something different, but the video is pretty clear what happens and this reinforces the math, several of us have done on the stability curve for a Weekender. Simply put, her AVS is about 60 degrees. At 60 degrees, she's lost her RM and a feather can knock her over the rest of the way, which is apparent in the video. Also at 60 degrees, the cockpit is flooding, which dramatically reduces her RM further, making a capsize very likely, so sailing on her side decks as the Stevensons say, just isn't the prudent course for a skipper.

You'll notice at 1.30 of the video, once on her side, she ships water through the companionway hatch. Previously, she'd been shipping water over the bridge deck, from water that had boarded the cockpit. When he tries to reboard the boat, he comments about seeming pretty stable, but she's actually not very stable at all, being right on the verge of having zero positive in her stability curve. This is quickly proven once her tries to reboard the nearly swamped boat - she just rolls over again. He may have had better luck boarding over the stern, though any side to side movement would initiate another capsize, with the boat in this swamped condition.

Sails will lose power in a severe knock down, but not all of it. I've been held down by a sustained gust many times, even though the hull appeared to be completely shading the sails. Also wind will work on the sides and bottom of the hull to further compound the problem.

Simply put, once the boat heels past its AVS, it's going over and with all small water plane, unballasted boats, like Weekender (and many others), the AVS is kind of low and they'll just flop over. Admittedly, it looks like Al had a little fun and the water must have been pretty comfortable. Thanks for the updated link and bumping this thread . . .

And now for the rest of the story.

I had been wanting to do a capsize test for a while.  I asked my friend Ted to film it, so that I could review it and get a better idea of what exactly happened.  We took Duckie to my regular landing and with no gear inside except for my heavy anchor, we tied her to the breakwater with a hundred feet of line in case we needed to pull her ashore afterwards.  It was a warm day in the middle of summer, so there was no worry about spending as much time in the water as I needed. 

I took her over a total of three times.  The first time I had the hatch cover and drop boards in place.  I had to pull her over from the water because I couldn't get her to go over without falling in.  Once she lost her righting arm, she went over with some force.  When the mast hit the water, it didn't even slow her down.  It turned out that the water wasn't deep enough for her to go completely upside down and I am sorry about that.  I may have to try this again in deeper water.  Once she settled out, I quickly swam around and got up on the keel.  Up she came like nothing.  I was really surprised at how easy it was to stand her up.  I re-entered the boat from the side which was much harder than I expected, but not impossible.  I then hauled her to the beach and bailed her out.  There was almost no water inside the cabin, so it only took a couple minutes to get it all out. 

The second time I left the hatch closed and took my time swimming around to get up on the stem.  The result was that there was no more than an inch or two in the cabin and the cockpit which I was too lazy to bail out.  During both of these capsizes the sails were fully up and cleated.  It wasn't until the third time that the jib came undone.  Once again I hauled myself in over the side, but it was a real struggle. 

The third capsize is what is shown on the video.  Ted had a real hard time getting used to the camera, so the first two shots are pretty useless.  The amount of water I report in the video is what was left from the second capsize.  I think that Paul is pretty close on his calculations of the avs.  I know that I had to get the portholes partly underwater before the fight came out of her.  I don't know what angle that is, but I have seen it before when I broached just a quarter mile from the spot I was doing the test.  Scared the hell out of me.  I didn't go over even though my lapper was holding me down while we rounded up.  That was probably the result of my fat butt pushing the windward side down with all its might.  Don't underestimate the power of meat ballast.  These boats are so tiny that a couple hundred pounds will do quite a lot.

After the fact I discovered that I was wrong about the water tight integrity of my bulkhead hatches.  It turned out that the most probable cause of water in the forward compartment was the hatch cover.  I think that my anchor may have fallen against the cover and loosened the seal.  I have changed the way I do the seal, and will secure the anchor so that it doesn't fall against the cover.  The covers that I made for the bulkhead worked like a charm.  They did not leak at all, a fact that I proved to myself later in the driveway.  The covers I made for the seat backs were a total failure, so I replaced them with circular deck hatches from Duckworks. 

You can see in the video that I climb up on the stem to get my weight on the keel.  That is the only place where I can get a grip strong enough to lift myself, and seems to make forcing the boat back up a little easier.  I highly recommend it.  I suppose that a more thorough testing would reveal better ways to go about this, but I'm not going to do it with this boat. 

Because of this test I can say that I would never build another weekender without building in all the floatation that I currently have.  I am trying to think up a way to seal up the cabin hatch so that no water gets inside no matter how long I leave her upside down.  I have already cut down the volume of my foot well and put sealed locker doors in the aft seat locker.  The lazarette is sealed and as you can see floats above the waterline even when she is fully swamped and on her side.  All in all, I should have gotten in worse trouble than I have given the stupid stuff I have done.  I was told early on to trust in the boat which I have done on many occasions where I let go of everything and waited.  She has never let me down. 

Al

Just to stray of topic for a moment, the reason I like Weekender so much is that it is extra easy to tow behind my TJ Jeep and my substantial truck and slide in camper.
With the latter I can unhook and wheel the boat/trailer by hand and park anywhere.............almost as easy as a canoe and I have a pretty boat with a cabin that looks like it would weigh significantly more than it does.
Also, I don't require trailer brakes. Did you know for example, that in New York State, to be legal, you need trailer brakes on any thing you tow that is over 1000 lbs. So in those two respects Weekender shines for me.
Now, the safety issue.............. I think that for safety you should be able to self rescue or be in a rescuable possition.
There are 3 possible ways I can think of.
1) Travel with a group of other boats.
2) Stay swimming distance to shore
3) Find a way to re-enter the boat without rolling it.
If you are in a remote area and the boat flips and it won't be stable enough to allow you to re-enter, and you are far from shore, I would call that a life threatening situation.
So we have to find a way to make a self rescue technique for the Weekender possible.
As far as righting the boat climbing/standing on the edge of the keel........................ I have looked at the modification plans for Kingsfold being built by Gill Bahnsen for the Race to Alaska and righting that boat would seem more difficult.
However he is going to have a self draining cockpit in his boat, so that will be interesting.

I am pretty sure that if I could  have kept the boom on the other side of the boat I could have gotten back in the third time without it coming over on me.  I could feel the balance of the boat disappearing as the boom was moving toward me.  In a wind, maybe a guy could climb up the side to windward with the sail windvaning off the lee side.  But as I say, I am not going to use Duckie for that kind of experimenting.  If I had a beat up old weekender that I didn't care much about, I would do all these kinds of testing.  It would be fun.  I am a total singlehander.  I have set my boat up specifically to accommodate that.  If I had crew, it would be possible to balance the boat with the other person's weight.  Or, climb up the transom.  In the end that might be the best way of all.

Al