speeds real or false advertising?

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speeds real or false advertising?

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speeds real or false advertising?

Posted by henryv on December 18, 2003 at 06:49:00:

I am hoping to be a PDQ owner soon and have been doing my research while waiting
for my monohull to sell. I am still wavering between the 32 and 36 but am
leaning to the larger boat. I have chartered a 36 and have read reviews on both
boats. It was my impression that the 32 was largely a 6 to 8 knot boat with
occassional double digits under ideal conditions. I gather that the 36 will
spend more time in the high single digits and will hit double digits more often

A new Yachtworld ad for a 32 makes reference to sailing at 16 knots with
averages in the 10 to 12 range. Does this seem a reasonable claim given the
experience of owners?

Follow Ups:

Re: speeds real or false advertising? Ted Reilly 10:54:55 12/28/03 (0)
Re: speeds real or false advertising? Roger Wood 16:16:43 12/18/03 (0)
Re: speeds real or false advertising? Chet White 13:16:39 12/18/03 (1)
Re: speeds real or false advertising? Colin Swithenbank 07:39:26 12/20/03
(0)
Re: speeds real or false advertising? Chris Randolph 11:49:40 12/18/03 (0)

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Re: speeds real or false advertising?

Posted by Ted Reilly on December 28, 2003 at 10:54:00:
In Reply to: speeds real or false advertising? posted by henryv on December 18,
2003 at 06:49:00:


Highlander, PDQ3681, is a tall-rig(+3ft, 10% more sail area) & freqently cruises
in double digits. The extra sail area, particularly reaching under a/s
spinnaker, allows speeds of close to apparent wind speed in lighter air-eg 8kts
sog in under 10kts apparent. Weight is important in under 15kt winds. When
setting off for a Bahamian winter, we briefly wrestle with weight versus crates
& crates of wine/beer. Cheers.

Follow Ups:

Re: speeds real or false advertising?

Posted by Roger Wood on December 18, 2003 at 16:16:00:
In Reply to: speeds real or false advertising? posted by henryv on December 18,
2003 at 06:49:00:


I think you have the 32 about right. Mine sails between 6 - 8 knots under most
conditions. I have had her up past 15 knots twice. both times on a broad reach
in 20 - 30 knots. The boat handles all conditions well, she is solid and very
easy to single hand. I added a drifter on a bow sprint for light winds. I've
been very happy with the boat. Hope this helps. Roger Wood

Follow Ups:

Re: speeds real or false advertising?

Posted by Chet White on December 18, 2003 at 13:16:00:
In Reply to: speeds real or false advertising? posted by henryv on December 18,
2003 at 06:49:00:


Hi Henry,
I have owned Allezcat, a PDQ36 for ten years. I still consider myself a
beginning sailor but have enjoyed the wonderful blend of comfort & performance
of the PDQ36. The boat's performance is very sensitive to weight so that if you
really load it up you compromise its sailing ability. I find with the boat
loaded for a Winter cruise to the Bahamas, (dinghy, outboard, solar panels,
watermaker, spare parts, tools books, groceries, beer& wine,etc.) it sails at
about 1/2 the windspeed up to about 9kts. With a following sea the boats surfs
downwind on the waves at about 10-12kts but these speeds are not sustainable

With the 9.9 Yamahas the boat motors easily at 7kts

Hope this helps

Chet

Follow Ups:

Re: speeds real or false advertising? Colin Swithenbank 07:39:26 12/20/03 (0)

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Re: speeds real or false advertising?

Posted by Colin Swithenbank on December 20, 2003 at 07:39:00:
In Reply to: Re: speeds real or false advertising? posted by Chet White on
December 18, 2003 at 13:16:00:


Henri: Our experience with the 36 is the same as Chets. We are also loaded to
the gills, rear step just in the water (Chets stuff plus bicycles, dive
compressor.) Wind is rarely on the beam and we generally move at 5 - 8 knots

Usually motor with one engine only at 5.5 knots. Did Norfolk to Bermuda in
strong winds average 7.5 knots, Bermuda to V.I.'s average 6.4 knots, and last
week did Apalachicola to Tarpon Springs FL in variable winds average 6.2 knots

Fastest speed ever was 16 knots surfing down a wave on the Chesapeake Bay, and
fastest run was Sandy Hook to Atlantic City under spinnaker alone in strong tail
winds, average 9.2 knots

Re; engine noise. The Yamaha 9.9 is very quiet out of the boat on a stand, but
the hull acts as a sounding board to amplify the noise. Next summer I plan to
remove the port engine support (25 small bolts) and insert some sort of soft
gasketing as sound insulation. Will put the results in the Newsletter. Anyone
have any idea where I can buy soft silicone gasketing which should work well?
Please reply to swithen@dmv.com. Thanks

Henri, hope this helps and best wishes with your new PDQ!
Colin
Cadenza

Follow Ups:

Re: speeds real or false advertising?

Posted by Chris Randolph on December 18, 2003 at 11:49:00:
In Reply to: speeds real or false advertising? posted by henryv on December 18,
2003 at 06:49:00:


I have a 2001 32 w/outboards, pretty fully loaded cruiser. I have only been over
16kts once, in a Northeaster when I was heading south down the NJ coast
(25-35kts of wind), and I was in constant fear of burying the leeward bow and
broaching (the main was double-reefed)

I would say that from wind speeds of 10-20 kts, my experience is that the boat
sails at about 1/2 of the wind speed on most points of sail, leveling off at
10-12 kts at 20-24 kts of wind. After that, things become uncomfortable and it
is usually time to reef anyway

My beef with the outboards is that they are noisy. You can run at 5.5-6.0 kts
for long stretches, but to get up near 7.0 involves running both engines at full
throttle, which is quite loud. For a 32, the outboards are a reasonable
trade-off for space and weight savings, but they should come with earplugs. The
boat definitely sails better than she motors.
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