Vagabond motoring characteristics

Posted By: Rod M. WWP-19 "Spring", Nimble Vagabond "Loligo" S. Gulf Isl
Date: 3/9/07 2:29p.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: Me too. You can see the pair of them I have here (link) (pic) (Ray Henry, Nimble Kodiak Yawl, "Seaweed", NC)

Hi Nimble People, Over two months ago, we acquired a 1992 Vagabond --something we had pondered for a long, long time (close to 10 years, I think.) With one thing and another, it has taken until early March to get her launched and underway. The boat has a 30 HP Honda 4-cycle, the largest I believe to have been recommended. The trouble is that the boat weather-vanes very badly, especially when the apparent wind is forward of amidships. This gives a very erratic, zig-zag course where it is easier sometimes to complete a 360 (ware ship) than to try a correction. Still, I am better at this than the Autohelm wheel pilot. This morning, we loaded 200 pounds of play sand in the forward lockers -- hoping to give the cutwater and forward hull more lateral resistance to the winds and currents. Hah!! The bow is down a couple of extra inches, but performance is not appreciably different. My next thought is to trim the motor down another couple of holes to see if that might bury the bow a little. Am I off course here? Does anyone have experience with this sort of problem. My wife saw an old reference to bow weights, but we have not found it again. Any thoughts and advice would be gratefully appreciated. Rod McNabb