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d scow sailboat

Welcome to the MC Sailing Association

d scow sailboat

Upcoming Events

2024 regatta results.

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d scow sailboat

“HISTORY OF THE SCOW”  Film Proposal Woody Woodruff has been sailing scows a long time and is using his talents as a film producer to make a documentary film on scows:  The Project    Donate Here

d scow sailboat

Notice of Election & Annual Membership Meeting

As part of its annual rotation, the Board seeks nominations of candidates to fill the positions of retiring members of the Board of Governors. Nominees must be current MCSA members and available to actively serve a three year term of office beginning January 1, 2025.  The elected individuals will fill the expiring term of Scott Slocum, Scott Harestad, & Natalie Sinn. When contemplating prospective nominees, consider the value of maintaining a Board balance in sailing, administrative, and leadership skill sets as well as a geographical representation of MCSA members.

The following member has accepted a nomination to fill one of the three open positions of the retiring Board members and will be placed on the ballot for a verbal vote:   The following is a list of the current Board members whose terms expire on December 31st of the year indicated:

Natalie Sinn      - Minnetonka YC, MN (2025) Dana Nelson    - Club de Voile Deux-Montagnes, CN (2025)

Kevin Neal       -  Florida (2025) Christy Will      -  Beulah YC, WI (2026) Matt Fisher       - Hoover SC, OH (2026) Sean Bradley   -  Barnegat Bay YR Assoc, NJ, (2026)- Commodore Chris Kubicek   -  Lake Beulah YC, WI (2028) - Vice Commodore Scott Harestad - Spring Lake YC, MI (2024) - Rear Commodore

The election will be held during the Annual Membership Meeting to be held at the MCSA National Championship August 21-24, Lake Geneva YC, WI.   Inquiries should be submitted to Chris Kubicek at [email protected]

© MC Sailing Association, Inc. 2024. All Rights Reserved.

Minnesota Digital Library

D scow class scow racing around a buoy at the 1951 aguatennial regatta, lake calhoun, minneapolis, minnesota.

d scow sailboat

scowsailing.com

scowsailing.com

Scow stability explained.

This has to be one of the best descriptions of the dynamics at play in scow sailing and why many people find the boat to behave so, well, kindly at high speeds and fresh winds.   The Melges 17 scow referenced here has many of the high tech innovations found in modern skiffs, but all scows enjoy the hull characteristics. 

This post was originally made on Sailing Anarchy.

http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=102879&st=25&gopid=2712116&#entry2712116

I’ve seen your attempt to discuss the M17 on the Sportboat Forum (talk about a hostile crowd!), and as Dinghy Anarchy is probably the closest fit you’re going to find for the M17 on Sailing Anarchy, I thought I’d write something to support your efforts (and as you can see from my posting history, I hardly ever write anything here). So if you’ll forgive my making a few comments, here goes:

1) A Scow is a Scow

First off, I understand why you’ve been describing the M17 as a sort of a cross between a sportboat and a dinghy and a catamaran (in terms of the sailing experience) — but as you’ve discovered on Sportboat and are getting hints of here (e.g., Pete M’s posts), doing so can irk those who love a particular type of boat and feel you’re somehow insulting their genre by making the comparison. So (if you’ll excuse my offering unsolicited advice) I think you should embrace the M17’s “scowness” and shift instead to explaining to folks why scows are so fun (e.g., as in Fugu’s observation that M16 husband & wife crews seem happy on heavy air days).

Now LS, as you regularly sail a scow, you can do a far better job at this than I (I’m a trapeze dinghy sailor, and my scow acquaintance extends only to MCs on an afternoon’s visit to Minneapolis); but from my own meager scow exposure and from what I’ve heard from talking with scow owners, here’s how I’d describe the scow experience to fellow dinghy sailors:

A. (Presumably) an M17 won’t have the light, “danceable” feeling of Fugu’s Swift, Pete M’s International 14, or (many peoples’) 505s; nor will it have those boats’ ability to punch through big waves, nor their hair-trigger balance, nor (in the case of the more extreme dinghies and skiffs) their outright speed, nor the 505’s all-weather ability. But what it will have is accessible speed in light-to-moderate wind: it has a (2006) US Portsmouth rating of 79.0 (compared with the 505’s 79.9), so it’s no slouch around the race-course — but more importantly it can be fairly easily sailed by couples, father/child teams, and folks who are no longer teenagers even at heart. 🙂

B. The accessibility lies partly in how a scow feels: unlike high-performance dinghies, which have to be balanced flat (which is part of the appeal!), upwind the M17 will heel over and take a definite set; that is, while it’s of course possible to under or over-heel the thing, the scow has a natural heel angle into which it likes to settle, and as such it’s forgiving to less-than-zenlike crews. In addition, it tracks upwind in a way that’s uncommon for many dinghies: when heeled, the underwater hullform is essentially that of a narrow 17-foot long canoe, and whilst the bow will certainly rise and fall with the waves (perhaps excessively so for those used to skiffs and modern dinghies), the boat won’t be easily thrown off course, and the steering isn’t affected by small changes in heel angle. This combination of speed, steady-tracking, and forgiveness-in-heel makes the M17 feel almost akin to a narrow (and unusually fast) keelboat when close-hauled, and the feeling of power is surprising in something so small and unballasted.

C. Off the wind is when a scow can feel most like a dinghy — but even there it’s a little “odd”. If there’s enough wind to plane, you’ll stop heeling and you’ll sail the thing flat. When you do that, the hull’s odd rocker (fairly flat fore and aft, with a pronounced bend in the mid-section) will bring much of the (flat) bow sections off the water, and the hull will sit on the flat aft sections, with the mid-rocker acting as a sort of shovel-nose. This is a fantastic planing shape in the old-fashioned sense of the word: contrary to the “stepless” transition of ‘9er skiffs, there’s an enormous gulf between planing and not-planing; and once planing there’s an enormous amount of noise, spray, and bouncing over the waves. This does not only feel extremely fast (because of all the commotion), it is extremely fast — not skiff-fast, but faster than many trapeze dinghies if the water’s fairly flat (and heaven help you if it’s not). For a dinghy sailor, the surprising thing here is how controllable everything remains even at top speed: not only does a scow’s (completely flat) hull shape naturally tend to plane upright, but when it does roll or heel, the heel angle doesn’t try to steer the boat and overpower the rudder. Hence broaches and death rolls are not a dominant concern, and as the boat is fairly heavy and the downwind sailplan fairly immense, overall there’s a feeling of tremendous power.

In short, while an American lake scow can be said to (sort of) feel a little like a big dinghy, and (sort of) a little like a small sportboat — in reality it’s unlike either, and it’s its own thing. And on a sheltered bay or lake, it’s great fun — have I got it right, LS? 🙂

2) The Melges 17 is Exciting Because it Brings Dinghy Technology to the American Lake Scow

I think part of the misunderstandings that have arisen in this thread have to do with the scow-focused marketing material that Melges has published, and which has been somewhat repeated here. To wit: as you (and Melges) have pointed out, the M17 is unique among American scows for having shaped (non-flat-plate) high-aspect ratio leeboards, a lightweight carbon rig, a one pull-hoist asymm/pole arrangement, and other pieces of technology drawn from the high-performance dinghy/skiff/sportboat worlds. When these elements are integrated into the basic scow platform (which has some formidable starting advantages), the result can be pretty amazing(!) — but if one cites these innovations without the “first time in a scow ” proviso, it can sound like you’re making much broader claims, which then incites skepticism and hostility. (That being said, this has mostly been a kindly thread; folks like TeamFugu, Bistros, GybeSet (and 505 sailors in general) are — as can be seen in their many other posts — decidedly a class act!)

Now, the above notwithstanding, the M17 is a fascinating boat, as it’s the first real attempt anyone’s made to create a truly modern American lake scow in a manageable 2-person size. As mentioned above, scows have some major things going in their favor to begin with (for lake sailing in typical American summer conditions), and from all the reports, R/P have done an excellent job at bringing the genre up to date. It’ll probably be easiest to explain why by directly addressing peoples’ comments — and so if the rest of you will permit me….

3) Hiking a Scow is Not Like Hiking a High-Performance Dinghy

Bistro’s has pointed out that “Australians have been sailing deadly fast two man hiking boats for twenty to thirty years with similar performance and rigs.” :

Fast 2-man hiking boats have indeed been around for decades (in the UK and elsewhere as well as in Australia, and the Aussie-born Tasar has adherents in N.America)) — but as many people here have already found, they’re not the happiest boats to sail when fully powered up. There’s a reason so many posts in Dinghy Anarchy extoll the virtues of trapezes: when you race a high-performance hiking dinghy in heavy air, your speed through the water is highly dependent upon how hard you can hike. Upwind legs are thus a pain (literally, in the back, thighs, and abdominal muscles), and in a very short while you start thinking “Trapeze. Yeah. Good idea.”.

Scows are different. If you look at LS’s pictures on the first page of this thread, you’ll see that whilst people are (sort of) hiked out, they’re not killing themselves — instead, they’re mostly employing a lazyman’s / middle-aged sort of sit-hike, with their rear ends over the water and their upper bodies tilted at a reasonably comfortable angle. Now, the young’uns in the Glen Lake 2009 photo are hiking moderately hard — but even they are bent-legged and holding a position they (being young & fit!) can maintain quite easily. But more to the point, you don’t need hiking heroics to work a scow to weather in strong wind; hiking does help (obviously), but the performance gain per additional inch of body leverage is much lower with a scow than with a high-performance hiking dinghy, and if you want to relax a bit so your mind can focus on something other than how much pain your body is in, then you can do so without a huge performance hit. That’s why so many couples, father/offspring, and older sailors can be competitive in the M17 class — the hiking is much less misery.

4) Dinghy Intuition Does Not Fully Transfer to Scow Hulls and Righting Moments

I think highly of most everyone who’s posted here (and I’ve enjoyed posts from many of you for several years now) — but on this particular thread, GybeSet is displaying the best intuition. 🙂

As LS’s photographs show, the M17 (like most scows) has zero deadrise, little flare, and hard (though rounded) bilges. There is no skiff or high-performance dinghy with this set of characteristics, and indeed some dinghies possess the exact opposite. Couple these characteristics with the scow’s rectangular planform, and you have a hull shape that doesn’t behave as dinghy intuition might suggest:

A. The Center of Buoyancy Shifts Greatly With Heel With most dinghies, the center of buoyancy lies more or less near the center of the waterplane area. That is, if you heel a dinghy (or skiff) hull so that the chine (or bilge) is immersed and the centerline is about to come out of the water, then the center of buoyancy lies (very roughly!) about halfway between the centerline (keel line) and chine. That presumably is the basis of Pete M’s assertion that the M17’s CB shifts only a foot with heel (Post #33). But with the scow hull shape, the CB shifts laterally much farther than that. To get a rough idea, look at the photo on Post #28, and tilt your head so that the leeboard is “vertical” in your field of view; that perspective shows you the immersed hull shape when the scow is sailing, and the center of buoyancy lies slightly inboard of the leeboard. Eyeballing the photo suggests the offset from centerline lies somewhere in the 20-24″ range….

B. Flowlines Don’t Distort With Heel All high-performance dinghy shapes show marked waterline and flowline distortions when heeled — that is, if you heel very much at all, the immersed hull takes on a warped shape, and the passing water has to take strange paths to get around it. As a result, two (bad) things happen: the boat is slow; and the hull tries to steer itself in a direction the helmsman doesn’t want to go. In short, Heel Is Bad, and high-performance dinghy (and skiff) sailors have learned to sail their boats flat.

With a scow (and also with things like Open 60s), the hull is designed so that heeling yields an immersed body that’s straight and true — and which is narrower and has markedly less wetted surface than that of an unheeled hull (unless we start talking about things like International Canoes and narrow Moths). Hence scows go faster when they’re heeled (unless they’re planing flat), and they maintain control when heeled.

C. The Hull Adds Considerable Righting Moment Because dinghy hulls have to be sailed flat, the weight of the boat has no beneficial effect at all: boat weight does nothing to promote stability, and all it does is inhibit boatspeed.

With scows, however, the (considerable) weight of the broad, flat hull adds considerable righting moment of its own (this is one of GybeSet’s points, which was subsequently ignored). To do a quick back-of-the-envelope estimate: the published weight of the M17 is 335 lbs. If we use the lower of the above estimates for lateral CB shift (20″), that yields a righting moment of ~550 lb-ft (note: the cosine effect at 15-deg heel is less than 5%). To put that in perspective:

* If we were to turn the M17 into a round-bilged keelboat, with a 3-foot deep keel bulb supplying stability, then to achieve 550 lb-ft of righting moment at 15-degree heel, we’d need 700 lbs of lead in the bulb.

* Or, if we made the M17 a sail-it-flat conventional dinghy and put one of Pete M’s 185-lb crewmen on a trapeze (i.e., assume 5’6″ beam, 6′ crewman with CG halfway up his body, laying perfectly horizontal), then that crewman would provide ~1060 lb-ft. That is, the M17’s weight-induced righting moment is worth half a trapezing crewman (on a conventional dinghy).

D. The Total Righting Moment is Not Bad

Finally let’s put (via back of the envelope) the M17’s total righting moment in perspective. If we put 320 lbs of tired sit-hiking crewmembers on the deck of the M17 (LS, is 320 a typical crew weight?), with their CG about a foot beyond the deck edge, then the total righting moment is:

Crew Righting Moment: 320lb * ((5’6″/2) + 12″ + 20″) = ~1700 lb-ft Hull Weight Righting Moment (from above) = 550 lb-ft Total Righting Moment = ~ 2250 lb-ft.

Compare that to a 5’6″-beam conventional sail-it-flat dinghy with single trapeze and equal-sized (6′) crew:

Hull Weight Righting Moment = 0 Sitting Crew Righting Moment = 160 lb * ((5’6″/2) + 12″) = 600 lb-ft Trapezing Crew Righting Moment = 160 lb * ((5’6″/2 + 36″) = 920 lb-ft Total Righting Moment = `1520 lb-ft

Pretty neat, eh? 🙂 You can play around with the above numbers (e.g., if you make the M17 crew completely lazy, and have them sit-“hike” with their CG right on the gunwale, you get a total righting moment of ~1950 lb-ft; if you make the conventional dinghy twin-trap, you get 1840 lb-ft, etc.), but the overall picture remains the same: a scow like the M17 has more righting moment (considerably more righting moment) than a single-trapeze sail-it-flat dinghy of comparable beam, and roughly comparable righting moment of a double trapeze dinghy (again of comparable beam). Of course, balancing that you have the scow’s additional weight (and trapeze dinghies can have hull flares, wings, and racks to significantly increase their beam), but in the end, scows have surprising amounts of righting moment for their size, and that’s why they can carry so much sail.

5) Sundry Points

A. LS, asymmetric high-aspect ratio leeboards are used by many “Open” ocean racing classes (e.g., Open 60, VOR 70), so the M17 is not unique among monohulls here — but your point is well taken. When talking with dinghy sailors, you can mention that these leeboards are like jibing centerboards without any of the problems of such; plus, as you’ve pointed out, by being asymmetric, they can run at smaller AOA than symmetric boards, with concommitantly less drag.

B. On rereading the above, I see I’ve not made clear why the M17 can be less painful to hike on than things like a 59er: it has to do with how far away from the center of buoyancy is the crew CG, and how much the hull weight already contributes to righting moment. With a conventional dinghy, hull weight helps not at all (not if you’re sailing it flat like you’re supposed to), and a hiking crew is sitting so close to the CB that every bit of lean makes a significant addition to the overall righting moment. With a scow, the hull weight is already doing something, and you’re starting already pretty far away from the CB; hence the % change in righting moment is less greatly affected by leaning. (To give a practical example: on a Laser, you can feel every bit of hiking angle on the boat trim and speed — but if you’re on a trapeze and make similar changes in upper body position, the effect on the boat trim is far less….) Hiking still helps of course — but the incentive to kill yourself is far less than it is with a conventional hiking dinghy.

C. If I’ve made a misstatement anywhere above, I apologize! Ditto if I’ve flubbed a calculation, and double ditto if I’ve managed to offend anyone. And apologies in advance if anyone writes anything in expectation of a reply: it’ll probably be a good part of a year before I post again here, so best wishes to everyone, and may you all please have a great winter & spring (and summer & fall for the Aussies and Kiwis)!

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Racing Scows on the Potomac River

Yachting World

  • Digital Edition

Yachting World cover

5 new sailing scows aimed at the cruising market

Toby Heppell

  • Toby Heppell
  • October 25, 2023

There has been a raft of new sailing scows announced this year, with the cruising market following the racing world in design philosophy

d scow sailboat

Those who followed the early stages of this year’s Rolex Fastnet Race will surely have been intrigued by how well the front runners in the Class 40 fleet appeared to handle the brutal wind against tide conditions that caused problems for a lot of other boats. Conventional wisdom has it that a slim, narrow hull is ideal for sailing upwind in a blow. Yet the recent Class 40s carry their immense beam well forward of the mast, with a bow that’s closer to a square shape than a conventional point.

However, when heeled these boats present a relatively narrow immersed section that doesn’t slam into a head sea with the intensity that the flat saucer-like hull might suggest. At the same time they have enormous righting moment, which gives power to punch over big waves and reduces the total time spent sailing to windward. This stability is also an important factor in the boats’ behaviour in strong gusts: an increase of wind that would have many of the rest of us scrabbling for another reef is often handled simply by depowering the top of the mainsail with a bit more twist.

Although this hull form has only been in existence for little more than a decade, since David Raison won the 2011 Mini Transat in a boat of his own design, it has quickly gained traction across the Mini 6.50, Class 40 and IMOCA 60 fleets. It’s now increasingly appearing in designs for cruising yachts, which also have potential to offer considerably more internal volume than other vessels of a similar length.

d scow sailboat

Skaw Paradise

The Skaw Paradise is a very beamy 11.3m foiling scow bow cruiser with its roots firmly in the racing scene, but with the concepts reworked to produce an ultimate cruiser. Skaw CEO and founder Benoit Marie is also technical director, coach and co-skipper (when racing double-handed) for Caroline Boule, who’s notched up a string of impressive results in the Mini 6.50 class this season in her full flying Sam Manuard-designed Nicomatic.

Marie co-designed the Skaw Paradise with naval architect Clément Bercault of Berco Design. “We could not find any boat on the market suiting our needs, so we started designing our own perfect boat,” he says.

“It’s one to take our friends and family around the world to unseen places, in the safest, easiest and fastest manner.”

The Skaw Paradise differs to Nicomatic in that it has fully retractable C-foils that are intended to act like motion dampeners, giving a smoother ride, while also increasing both stability and speed. While much is borrowed from the racing world, this boat has been simplified as much as possible, so it’s not complicated to sail.

d scow sailboat

SailScow 37

Much of the drive towards scow bow cruising yachts is driven by top level racing sailors. Armel Tripon, who raced the then radical Sam Manuard-designed IMOCA 60 L’Occitane de Provence in the 2020 Vendée Globe, has lent his name to the SailScow brand that’s working on a range of four designs from 28-42ft.

“The hull I was able to test racing around the globe delighted me,” says Tripon. “I can easily imagine myself cruising on a scow to take full advantage of the sailing performance, the ease of passage through the sea and the incredible comfort at anchor – I can’t wait to try it out.”

The first SailScow model is a 37ft cruiser designed by Gildas Plessis, a strong advocate of this hull shape. It’s primarily of marine ply and epoxy and offers a step change in internal space compared to other yachts of this length. Options include a four cabin layout, with two doubles forward, both with rectangular beds, while aft there’s a further double, plus a twin cabin with bunk beds. Alternatively there’s space for a giant owner’s cabin forward, plus one aft double port and a generous technical and stowage area to starboard.

d scow sailboat

VPLP Fast Cruising Scow

PLP’s carbon Fast Cruising Scow is a 40ft concept that aims to maximise both performance and comfort. It has a covered and glazed saloon/cockpit area like those found on cruising catamarans. On the same level as the working areas of the cockpit, it provides shelter from sun and water both when used as a dining area and as a watch keeping zone on passage.

Air draught a fraction over 20m (67ft) helps provide a big rig that will produce plenty of power, while retractable foils will reduce heel angles thanks to the righting moment they generate, at the same time as cushioning the passage of the boat through waves.

d scow sailboat

Breton yard IDB Marine was one of the forerunners in producing a cruising boat based on a scow bow design. The Mojito 650 uses the same extreme scow bow hull as the phenomenally successful David Raison-designed Maxi 650 that won the series division of the last Mini Transat race, taking five of the top nine places.

The Mojito 650 is a detuned boat with a new coachroof that gives a panoramic view, plus a six-berth interior with a full-size rectangular double bed forward. There’s also plenty of stowage and all that’s lacking compared to many significantly larger craft is standing headroom and a separate heads compartment. A smaller and simplified rig compared to that of the Maxi 650 makes this an easy boat to sail and a lot less tweaky than the original, yet it’s still one that will happily plane at speeds well into double digits and hold its own upwind against boats 10ft longer.

La Rochelle-based RM Yachts has been forging a different path to mainstream yards for more than 30 years with its range of distinctive fast plywood/epoxy performance cruisers. The latest model – a sixth generation RM designed by Marc Lombard, is directly influenced by today’s raceboats, with the aim of producing a spacious, fast and dry 36-footer that can cover long distances at fast average speeds.

“It offers greater safety, more interior and exterior space and greater ease of movement,” says lead designer Eric Levet. “The hull is powerful and voluminous but not excessively so at the bow, for a good passage through the waves.”

The first example is scheduled to start construction in January next year and is expected to be afloat in July 2024.

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  • Sailboat Guide

E Scow is a 27 ′ 11 ″ / 8.5 m monohull sailboat designed by Arnold Meyer Sr and built by Johnson Boat Works and Melges Performance Sailboats starting in 1924.

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

  • SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
  • D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

  • D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
  • LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

  • D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
  • LOA: Length overall in feet
  • Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

Main: 228 sq.ft. Jib: 95 sq.ft. Spinnaker: 550 sq.ft.

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THE MELGES 17

FUN. MODERN. EXCITING TO SAIL.

An alternative, double-handed scow, the Melges 17 has a reputation for being fast and fun in light or heavy air. A streamlined and sporty scow geared for speed, it is a quick and easy racer with a reputation for being a fun family boat. The rivalry pairings range from husband and wife to teamed siblings, making the Melges 17 the ultimate family racer!

  • Light and easy sailing: hull weighs 335 lbs and the carbon fiber spar is only 16 lbs
  • Features an advanced underdeck board system
  • Incorporates the most innovative sailing concepts: exclusive Melges Hands Free Kite System™ (HFKS), roller furling Kevlar ®  jib with recessed roller furler, self-stepping mast design, new foil rudder and shaped boards derived from aluminum extrusions

d scow sailboat

  • PRODUCT OVERVIEW
  • RACING & CLASS
16 ft 7.75 in 5.074 m
5 ft 6.375 in 1.686 m
26 ft 6.5 in 8.09 m
3 ft 11.5 in 1.207 m
335 lbs 151.953 kg
 MAINSAIL 154 sq ft 14.30 m
 JIB 66 sq ft 6.13 m
280 sq ft 26.01 m
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d scow sailboat

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Wood Mast for 1954 D-Scow

  • Thread starter RHHOTROD
  • Start date Jun 3, 2022
  • Tags c-scow mast d-scow d-scow mast e-scow mast wood mast
  • Forums for All Owners
  • Parts Search

HI, I have a 1954 Johnson Boat Works D-Scow. I'm in need of a good mast for the boat. I'm not sure if one from a C or A could work or be adapted to work Unlike a C the D-Scow has a Jib I do have a mast however due to unfortunate circumstances it is no longer usable However all the hardware from it is usable and I can retrofit any mast in usable condition that might work. I will consider an aluminum mast but obviously vintage would be preferred Any help or information would be greatly appreciated Thanks RH  

Davidasailor26

Davidasailor26

Paging @jon hansen in case he has any leads.  

Thank You So Much... I have not yet figured out if an E-Scow or C-Scow mast could work? This one is about 30' long If it's about the same length I could probably make it work out  

Will Gilmore

Will Gilmore

Can the mast be repaired or rebuilt? A competent Millwright shop might be able to help. -Will  

jon hansen

"Ds" were hand made wood scows from the builder that started the sailing scow race boat game. they came with a lemonade finish. a little yellow tint in the varnish. they had jibs. would one put a chevy engine in his 32 ford? i suppose some might. the OP lives in scow country. either fix the mast or build a new one. it's an old wood boat. old wood boat skills will be used to keep it floating. a mast is there fore no big deal. their are guys up your way that can shed some light on your needs. sniff around, hotrod. hint: lake minnetonka  

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IMAGES

  1. Sailscow 28, la barca da crociera in kit con la prua tonda

    d scow sailboat

  2. Johnson Boat Works SM 6 Scow

    d scow sailboat

  3. SailboatData.com

    d scow sailboat

  4. "M Scow" : 1982 Melges C-Scow sailboat for sale in Minnesota / Looking

    d scow sailboat

  5. scow sailboat

    d scow sailboat

  6. Scow 450 Plans PDF

    d scow sailboat

VIDEO

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  2. someone are not foucas on exercising

  3. 6.5m SCOW Sail Yacht Architecture&Design ANDREI ROCHIAN

  4. Building a Riverton Duster: Part 1

  5. OCSS-057 Holes, Catches, and Latches for Hatches!

  6. 2018 Melges MC-Scow Mods

COMMENTS

  1. E Scow

    The boat is supported by an active class club that organizes racing events, the National Class E Scow Association. By 1994 racing fleets were sailing in Texas, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, New York and New Jersey. In a 1994 review Richard Sherwood wrote, "this is a very fast and sophisticated boat with a long history of development.

  2. Home

    The MC Sailing Association originally formed in Shreveport LA, 1971. Since then, the MC class has grown to be one of the top one-design sailboat racing classes in North America. The scow design maximizes speed yet provides unmatched stability. There are more than 113 active fleets nationwide. An original design by the Melges family in 1956, it ...

  3. Scow

    Scow. A New Zealand scow around 1900. A scow is a smaller type of barge. Some scows are rigged as sailing scows. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scows carried cargo in coastal waters and inland waterways, having an advantage for navigating shallow water or small harbours. Scows were in common use in the American Great Lakes and other ...

  4. Johnson Boat Works

    This sailboat was the beginning of the A-Class. As more classes were founded, Johnson moved on to B's, C's, D's, and E's. Johnson was commissioned to build the 16 ft X-Boat for youth in the 1930s. Johnson designed the J-Scow in the mid-1950s which was converted to the MC. [clarification needed] Through the years, the boat builder built Optis ...

  5. M-16 Scow

    M-16 Scow is a 16′ 0″ / 4.9 m monohull sailboat designed by Johnson/Melges Boat Works and built by Tanzer Industries Ltd., Melges Performance Sailboats, and Windward Boatworks starting in 1950. ... The higher a boat's D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is ...

  6. 16-foot Scow-Style Boat-What is It?

    Details: Stepping it off, my "foot-is-a-foot" tells me it is a 14' boat or 15' boat but not a 16. Definitely a planing hull, slightly blunt at the front, with a small start of a keel, but the exit at the transom is ruler flat. Flat going well forward too. Beefy loooking keel trunk, seems well built in a precision sort of way.

  7. A SCOW

    Nominally a one-design class, today's 'A' Class Scow is the result of a long evolutionary path with origins that can be traced to a prototype that appeared in 1896. (Designed and built by John O. Johnson, original founder of Johnson Boat Works, a major builder of scows for many years). Main: 350 sq.ft. Jib: 150 sq.ft. Spinnaker: 1200 sq.ft.

  8. D Scow Class Scow racing around a buoy at the 1951 Aguatennial Regatta

    Contact Us. Minnesota Digital Library University of Minnesota Wilson Library, Room 60 309 19th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55455 612-624-4002 800-462-5348

  9. One Hundred Years of E Scows

    Officially launched in 1924, the 28-foot E Scow was an answer to the much harder to manage 38-foot A Scows that began sailing in Minnesota in 1900, and the single-sail, 20-foot C Scow that was usually used for training. Typically sailed with a crew of three or four, the boat's sail plan has changed over time, but today it is sloop-rigged with ...

  10. A Scow

    A Scow is a 37′ 11″ / 11.6 m monohull sailboat designed by John O. Johnson and built by Johnson Boat Works and Melges Performance Sailboats starting in 1901. ... The higher a boat's D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the ...

  11. Johnson Boat Works (USA)

    Johnson Boat Works (USA) Founded by John O. Johnson, famed builder and designer of racing scows. Located at White Bear Lake, Minnesota, USA. The company was in business for more than 100 years! Years in Business: 1896 - 1998.

  12. Melges MC Scow

    The scow design maximizes speed yet provides unmatched stability. There are more than 100 active fleets nationwide. An original design by the Melges family in 1956, it is unique in the fact that you can sail single-handed or double-handed. Sailing solo is easy, taking a crew is fun! Melges has produced a brand new style Melges MC: an open ...

  13. Melges A Scow

    THE MELGES A SCOW. With six to seven crew, the A Scow is the fastest and largest of the Melges Scow family. Nothing compares to its century of heritage, delivering a combination of raw power, speed and performance unmatched in one-design sailing. A true classic, the A Scow is monumental to watch, not to mention powerful to race.

  14. A Scow

    The A Scow is a racing sailboat, with the early versions built from wood and the more recent ones built predominantly of fiberglass. It has a fractional sloop with a masthead spinnaker. The hull is a scow design with a raised counter, vertical transom; dual spade-type rudders controlled by dual tillers and dual retractable centerboards.

  15. Scow stability explained

    This has to be one of the best descriptions of the dynamics at play in scow sailing and why many people find the boat to behave so, well, kindly at high speeds and fresh winds. The Melges 17 scow referenced here has many of the high tech innovations found in modern skiffs, but all scows enjoy the hull characteristics.

  16. PDF North American Portsmouth Yardstick Table of Pre ...

    PRECALCULATED D-PN HANDICAPS CENTERBOARD CLASSES Cape Dory 14 Centerboard CD-14 (125.40) [124.2] Caprice. ... D Scow Centerboard. D-SC 82.70. 81.40 [82.0] Dabchick Centerboard. DABCK 122.50. 128.60 123.40. Dagger Centerboard. ... Boat Class Code DPN DPN1 DPN2 DPN3 DPN4. PRECALCULATED D-PN HANDICAPS CENTERBOARD CLASSES FJ (Int.) Centerboard FJ ...

  17. 5 new sailing scows aimed at the cruising market

    SailScow 37. Much of the drive towards scow bow cruising yachts is driven by top level racing sailors. Armel Tripon, who raced the then radical Sam Manuard-designed IMOCA 60 L'Occitane de ...

  18. Sailboats

    Inspired by more than 100 years of competitive racing, this cat-rigged, maneuverable sailboat is great fun and a total pleasure to sail. A modern, versatile and easy-to-sail boat, it accommodates 2-3 crew and is super-charged with a large, powerful mainsail. Built with integrity, the Melges C Scow™ is fast and calibrated superlatively for speed.

  19. E Scow

    E Scow is a 27′ 11″ / 8.5 m monohull sailboat designed by Arnold Meyer Sr and built by Johnson Boat Works and Melges Performance Sailboats starting in 1924. ... The higher a boat's D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the ...

  20. M Scow

    Design. The M Scow is a recreational sailboat, built predominantly of fiberglass, with wood trim. It has a fractional sloop rig with tapered or untapered aluminum or wooden spars. The hull is a reverse sheer scow design, with dual internally-mounted rudders controlled by a tiller and a dual retractable bilgeboards. It displaces 440 lb (200 kg).

  21. Melges 17

    6.13 m 2. ASYMMETRICAL SPINNAKER. 280 sq ft. 26.01 m 2. CREW. 2. An alternative, double-handed scow, the Melges 17 has a reputation for being fast and fun in light or heavy air. A streamlined and sporty scow geared for speed, it is a quick and easy racer with a reputation for being a fun family boat.

  22. Wood Mast for 1954 D-Scow

    Johnson D-Scow Big Sandy Lake, MN. Jun 3, 2022. #1. HI, I have a 1954 Johnson Boat Works D-Scow. I'm in need of a good mast for the boat. I'm not sure if one from a C or A could work or be adapted to work. Unlike a C the D-Scow has a Jib. I do have a mast however due to unfortunate circumstances it is no longer usable.