One of the things I look for when looking at boats out of the water is a nice fair curve of the bottom of the hull from bow to stern.
Contrast our J/109 (above) with the boat below.
The knuckle at the bow does not bother me, but check out the lump in the line just forward of the prop strut. I’m guessing that’s there to provide the buoyancy missing from the pinched stern.
I always prefer boats where the designer has focused on keeping the water happy, not the rating.
How the heck did you even notice that? Maybe it’s more obvious than the pic would suggest?
Hi John,
It jumped out at me from about 100 yards across the boatyard. I guess I’m sensitive to that kind of thing after some 60 years of boat ogling, one of my favourite pastimes.
Can you explain “knuckle”, I cant get a sense of the word when looking at the pictures.
I can see the step change in curve forward of the strut, flat to the keel almost, but the bow bit I am not so sure what you mean.
Hi Alastair,
Good question, I should have elaborated. The knuckle is the short radius curve between the line of the stem and the continuation of the smooth curve in the bottom of the hull, when viewed from the side.
Modern hull forms tend to end up with a knuckle because the stems have less overhang and the hulls are more shallow.