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I have been thinking about it for a long time and this offseason I finally took a leap of faith. Tortuga is a fairly wet boat, especially in a quartering head sea. What do you think? Will they work? I still have a lot more stuff to do, so I will be on the hard at least 10 more days. Here are a couple of pics before we glassed them on.
I added them to the Hatteras I had using the glue on smart rails and I was no longer taking a bath every other wave. On the current boat I changed out tiny ones to the 4" wide PVC angled shape that's on the Hamilton site and thru bolted them on. Big difference in a quartering sea with a breeze. It will be worth the effort, at least you will convince yourself that it was.
Mine rise in the bow and do not follow the waterline. They are a foot higher than the boot stripe in the bow and below the waterline aft of about 1/3 the length of the hull. I can't tell you how they work, they've been there since I bought the boat. They were meant as a spray rail and rolling chock. They seem to work.
The rails got substantially bigger after one layer of longitudinal and 2 layers of multidirectional mat. We used gallon of West system resin on each side. Shepard's Point Boat Company designed and formed the divinycil core and let me assist with the install and do all the finish work. I will be on the hard another week, but I can't wait to see if they help.
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and this time I am sure it is not a train. Bottom paint goes on this afternoon and we splash Monday. Been on the hard 33 days.
Splashed yesterday afternoon and ran out to the inlet. It was pretty calm but from what I can tell the rails make a huge difference. Not only do they push the spray out away from the bow, but they give her a lot of lift. She got up on plane with a lot less turns and needed less trim tabs. At max rpm (still had some throttle left but she was light) she made 24 knots. With similar loads (always after the spring haul) she has never made more than 22. She just felt higher over the water. Her loaded cruise on dive trips is 17 knots. I ran into every wake I could find and not a drop off water made it past the rub rail. From what I can tell it is a big improvement. Can't wait for some 20 knot wind to go run her into and see what happens.
Glad it seems to have made the difference. Don't worry, you will get plenty of 20 kt winds just not when you want them. I'm going to the yard for clean up in a week or so but it will only be for 4 or 5 days.
Well, I have run 3 trips this year and I got my 20(+5) knot winds. On Sunday April 26th I had a howling north wind to head into back to port. They spray rails do not eliminate all spray, but even in a 4' steep chop almost dead head on, I could tell a big difference. One thing I am going to have to get used to, when she comes off a bigger than the rest wave with no backside, those rails stop her from going deep into the next wave and make for a hard landing. She also bounces more in a short chop instead of cutting right through it. But the upside is they eliminate any spray from making it to the curtains in a much friendlier sea. I added a 1/2" of pitch to my wheel, so I can't give all the credit to the rails, but under a full load of divers and gear, I had no problem cruising at 18-19 knots instead of last years 16-17 knots. But maybe the additional lift from the rails allows me to spin that extra pitch better.
I am finished with all the projects from this winter: Rails, hull paint, new graphics, all new strataglass, custom helm bolster, new platform, interior and deck paint, bottom paint and wheel work. Total bill: $14k. And that doesn't include 300+ hours of my own labor. But she sure is purdy.
Well, after 30 trips or so in all sorts of sea conditions I can honestly report that the addition of the rails was the best $4K I have spent on the boat since I got her. She is substantially drier, but the biggest benefit was a windfall I didn't expect. They give her enough lift to add 2 knots to my cruise speed, even under a heavy load of divers and gear and a 10% improvement in my fuel burn. Plus she has a much smoother ride as the rails keep her bow from going so deep into the next wave.
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