Because our boats were going to be built of much thinner ply they were going to weigh much less.
Some were concerned that they would not be strong enough.
Others took a more lateral thinking approach with the suggestion the sailor was a better source of weight reduction.
Could a diet make the boat faster?
One of the forum members suggested that we go on diets!
That could take weeks!!!!!!! Much easier to build the boat light.
And a light boat can carry more beer with less degrade in the performance. Now THERE'S an incentive!!!
Quote: While
weight is a consideration, so is resistance to oil canning and
torsional rigidity. Oil canning will slow you down, and the
wracking forces exerted by the sails pushing against the blades can
twist a hull requiring more rudder to hold a course--also slow.
Oil
canning (inadequate panel stiffness) or twist are problems that can be
resolved through structural efficiency. The materials can still
be very light.
There
are many boats that carry much greater torsional loads (bigger masts
and sails, crews on leaning planks or wings) with no problems.
The picture on the right is lifted from the video of the boat
going upwind in around 13 to 15 knots - at times the sailor (me) is at
full stretch (for me - I am getting older) and exerting the maximum
righting moment and thus the greatest load on the mast. Note that
there is no visible twist in the hull.
We did take a
photo of the boat standing in the driveway with Peter and I standing on
diagonally opposite corners of the boat. - much greater twisting load
than will be experienced when sailing - and no visible flex.
They
also go a lot faster so there are big slamming loads to test the panel
stiffness. - some will manage bursts of 15 to 18 knots (International
Canoe, International Moth and many others). Slamming loads are
proportional to the square of the speed (ie kinetic energy) - so these
boats are generating 25 times the panel loads of the Puddle Duck
Our
boats have come out of three sheets of ply - no extras - are fabulously
torsionally rigid and the hull panels are adequately stiff despite
being built of 3/16 (4mm) ply. (as a previous post pointed out a few
dollars extra to get 1/4 inch - 6mm - ply would have eliminated the need for
bottom runners in timber - a better choice, but the rest can still be
3/16 without any problems.
Moth Class dinghies (pics above) in Australia and
the UK were built of 1/16 ply and display no significant torsion while
sailing despite 20ft masts and the crew perched on wings 5 ft from the
centreline - rather than the 2ft of the puddleducks.
In
the case of the OZ PD Racers the bases of the rigidity are the three
buoyancy tanks which as closed boxes are tremendously resistant to
bending and torsional loads. These make up a substantial
proportion of the length of the boat.
There is only about 2 1/2
ft (750mm) of boat that is not so braced - but the side decks and
centrecase structure is used to prevent the rectangular cross section
in that area from distorting, so providing a girder that links the
front box with the two aft ones.
Before the boxes got their
permanent lids the boat was really prone to twisting. Whack the
tops on and it is a different beast.
Rigidity is not about weight it's about structural efficiency.
Quote:
If you want to tune a boat within the rules, you can play with the
tolerances to adjust the rocker in the bottom (though I don't have a
clue as to what sort of tweeking would be most beneficial) and
experiment with different sails. I think either of these is
likely to be more effective then trimming a few pounds from the hull.
We have done all of them - so why not look at weight as well?
It
doesn't add more work - apart from the thinking - it makes the boats
easier to lug around on shore and easier to lift for when the
neighbours's kids want to borrow the boats.
Lighter materials and less timber also save cost generally.
In
the end we all build the sort of boats we imagine - as the wide range
of puddle ducks displays - a variety mind numbing compared to the
narrow views of the more conventional sailing classes.
Each to
their own. :-) As you say - we get excited about all this
stuff. We are having heaps of fun - you should see the
reflections in the surfaces of the centreboards and rudders that I
coated last night. The hollow tapered timber masts are looking
pretty too.
There
are many boats that carry much greater torsional loads (bigger masts
and sails, crews on leaning planks or wings) with no problems.
The picture on the right is lifted from the video of the boat
going upwind in around 13 to 15 knots - at times the sailor (me) is at
full stretch (for me - I am getting older) and exerting the maximum
righting moment and thus the greatest load on the mast. Note that
there is no visible twist in the hull. 
proportion of the length of the boat.