Draft

[Hull_295]

We are moving Katydid next weekend after sorting major engine issues. We have to go through one tricky channel. I have seen a wide list of numbers on ariel drafts. Everything from 4 feet to almost 7 what is the official word.

[mbd]

The "Ariel Facts" page (http://pearsonariel.org/document/Fact1.htm) puts it at 3'8"...

Good luck with moving her!

[ebb]

yeah,
waterlines have a way of rising over time.
Add some inches for good measure!

Mike's link to this Pearson advert is a first for me to see. The drawing on page 2 is reproduced in the Manual.
The lines seem to be as Alberg drew them, as they match another set that seems to be signed by himself. But....
The elevation is a drawing of an actual Ariel I've never seen in photos.
The cabin lights are too small* and the coamings too tall and curvey.

Just an observation,
I've wondered about this representation for a long time.
Not complaining...

338's make-over is copying those coamings there! For good measure.:cool:
__________________________________________________ ____________________________________________
* The windows in our Ariel cabin are the same in what Triton has. Exact same - except at some point the bronze frames were swapped out for aluminum. I swear I saw the same pattern and size on an Alberg 35!

[ebb]

Of the 20 or so different definitions this word has is its use for
a plan or drawing.

I have a problem with all the boat drafts in the Ariel Association Manual.

Features on the drawings (like windows and coaming) are not to scale or seem to have been deliberately altered.

It seems we do not have a lines drawing of the Ariel as it actually exists.
We don't have an accurate outboard profile of a stock Ariel as it exists today.

For instance the Carl Alberg bylined lines drafts that I have used from the Manual to take actual measurements from to relocate THE waterlines on Little Gull shows the lines of a boat with a
SUBSTANTIAL CURVE IN THE SHEER.*

But not Little Gull... From stern to stem her toerail is as straight as a laser beam.


MY A-338 HAS A STRAIGHT SHEER!


WHY?
What's the story?
__________________________________________________ _________________________________________
I'm not complaining. However the plans changed from Alberg's drawing board the result was two boats ahead of their time.
Sweeping sheer lines flattened in the '70s after Ariel and Commander production. Maybe influenced BY the innovative Ariel/Commander sheer line.

Commander has a perennial modern profile because of its well proportioned cabin.
It has an amazing deco rocket look if that's correct. Straight sheer combined with long 'take-off' flight lines of that mahogany coaming. Commander has a unique profile equaled by none other.

Looking at similar coach roof sailboats of the Ariel profile of that era, those with classic sheers tend to look rather frumpy*, and the Ariel, because of its no nonsense straight-line sheer, less period. Less fixed in time.
The Pearson factory had to have their own flat-sheer table of offsets and other measurements for the A/Cs.
Unless the change was made at the mold. Changing the sheer there any boat builder would say is very dangerous because a major change like that affects so many other conditions in a boat's design. I don't believe the molds could have been altered to straight sheer if they were originally built to the Alberg lines we have in the Manual. Another whole 'true' set of plans would have had to be drafted to build both hull and deck molds to the flat sheer our boats have. This includes the cabin liner.

Any idea where those lines are?
__________________________________________________ ____________________________________________
http://islandsailingadventures.com/info/rhodes.htm
*Frumpy? Ayedonno, this Phil Rhodes' Meridian sure is cute!
But you'll notice when comparing these two that the sculpted proportions of the Ariel/Commander hull is pure gold.
__________________________________________________ _____________________________________________
A quick survey of Carl Alberg designs from mostly class boat internet sites shows Alberg designs all have at least a moderate curved sheer line.
EXCEPT the Ensign which has a straight sheer and a profile much like the Commander.

[ebb]

L 22.5' - WL 16.75' - B 7' - D 3' - Disp 3000# - Lead 1200#. PHRF 254 -270. Raced with 4 crew.

The flat sheer Alberg designed Ensign is NOW the largest full keel racing fleet in the world, well, in the States for sure. 60 active fleets. You can buy complete new spars and trailers for the sailboat.

The Ensign was continuously made by Pearson from 1962-83 and sold for around $2500. That's about $1 a pound. Ensign Spars bought the molds when Pearson folded and makes a custom New Ensign Classic that can race with the rest of the fleet for about $30,000. $10 a pound!

Ensign like the Ariel/Commander has the same reputation for being a safe, fun family boat.
But what really keeps it viable is open for discussion.
Could it be that its FLAT SHEER has something to do with keeping it from being antiquated?
Why this classboat of the many others Alberg designed - all of them with similar 'wholesome' full keels?



Ensign along with Triton are two of only 20 deemed worthy of being inducted into the Sailboat Hall of Fame!:p