Tomato, Toe-mahto, chevy, ford, tastes great, less filling,,,,

Two sides to every argument (at least, usually more, but lets keep this’un simple)

I have two boats, both glass, both long, both narrow, and both ‘fast’. Simple math, according to what little I know on the subject, Lizzy should be the faster boat as she has a longer waterline and her beam coefficient is lower than that of Lyssa.

BUT

Looking through my picture albums, Lyssa is 4/10thsMPH faster under similar conditions,,,

Now, when I bought Lyssa, the guy selling her was harping on the ‘400 grit finish’ on her hull, and I had heard something about such in circles around racing,,, but so far, no opinion one way or the other.

Lizzy doesn’t have that finish on her hull. Silky smooth gloss finish, 1000 grit buffed to high shine (I know for fact, cuz I did it!) Lyssa’s hull looks dull, rough, but not tore up; more like a cloth sheet than a gel-coat finish that people are used to.

And after seeing the pics of my GPS readings from both boats, I went digging.

And found the whole thing is the Chevy vs Ford dialogue of hardcore believers on both sides. Both will fill your head with the math to prove their position, or demonstrate the differences ‘that matter most’, etc etc etc etc,,,,,,,,,,,,

I can’t say one way or the other… I never paddled Lyssa before they roughed up her hull, and I am VERY hesitant to rough up Lizzy’s (she’s up for sale,,, Don’t wanna ‘ruin’ a hull, and most would say that is ruining it.) And I really don’t want to go through the sweat and effort of buffing out nearly 17 feet of gel coat to find out it’s putting the brakes on a fast boat,,,, (buffing wears a layer off, and if I were to go back to that 400 finish, even MORE off a hull. There is only so much a boat will take before she flips you the bird and sinks like a stone,,,,)

Next weekend is Camptime with B and Fam at the lake. I am taking both boats, no changes to either hull, and I am going to ‘put it down’ and see if my pics were ‘off’ or if there is something to this. If Lyssa remains the faster boat, I feel strongly that there is very real merit to the ‘rough surface’ argument. Mostly due to one single design difference in thier hulls. The cut water on Lizzy is fine and sharp, where on Lyssa, its a more rounded, plowing shape (I see LOTS more splash from the bow on Lyssa) Actual difference in waterline is minimal compared to the definition of the cutwaters.

(sounds of gears, lo-lube and sand)

And as I am writing this, I am thinking about cockpit position in the boat. All of the boats I have built I placed the Center point (the paddlers CG) at .58 of the actual length. This is something of a Greenland/Brit standard, though loosely applied.(and not at all in WW boats) Lyssa has hers much more forward: closer to .45,,,, Yet again, the kayaks are teaching me things,

maybe,,,

Honestly, the only real test would be to push Lizzy hard one run as is, measuring as many facets as possible to include wind and direction of. THEN, rough up her hull and do it again under as near identical conditions. Too many differences between the designs to say finish is the deciding factor,,,, And this may be that .01% change, like a hot coil to a mild coil difference in a HO engine ignition system.

Perception is everything, until you are on the race course,,,, Then the nuts and bolts of it all matter,,,

and I has a race coming up,,,,