Kaczor 6m The Kaczor 6m was conceived as a light and easily trailable cruising boat that would not embarrass her crew if raced in the Wednesday evening series. The emphasis in the design & construction was to keep the displacement as low as possible without the component prices escalating into what might be considered 'Grand Prix'. Not only is a light boat a delight to sail, but it is easy to launch & recover and is towable without needing the grunt of a 4x4. The only shore side facility required is a slipway as the rig is light enough to step without a crane, tripod or tabernacle. The gross weight of the boat and braked trailer is less than the 750kg threshold that requires costly license extensions for those of us that have learnt to drive since 1997. The first hull is constructed from cedar strip sheathed in glass & epoxy outside and below the waterline inside. Bulkheads, ring frames & deck are in marine plywood and the coach roof is again in cedar strip sheathed in glass & epoxy. The keel fin is carbon fibre over a marine plywood core with a lead bulb. This retracts through a dagger case into the hull by way of a removable 12:1 tackle leaving just the bulb below the hull. The lifting keel makes slipway launching easy and when towing, the hull is behind the vehicle rather than above it. The rudder is carbon fibre over a foam core and fits into a carbon fibre cassette type stock with integral tiller. This arrangement was chosen as it allows steerage during launch & recovery but also allows the deep rudder to be retracted a little in light airs to reduce wetted surface area and improve feel through the helm. The rig is a very simple fractional spar with one pair of swept spreaders but no backstays, construction is in carbon fibre and the supporting shrouds & forestay are from PBO cable. The rig supports a large roach mainsail and non-overlapping headsail. The primary mainsail controls are a powerful sheet, cuningham and full width traveller. A fractional asymmetric spinnaker is set from a fixed prodder which is also capable of setting code zero type sails. The carbon fibre prodder is easily removable for towing or reducing mooring costs if staying afloat. The deck hardware layout is based around a winch less system. Where more power is required, tackles have been utilised to reduce sheet & halyard loads to a level where lighter crews will not struggle. Mainsail halyard tension is through a 2:1 halyard & cunningham and a handy billy is used for jib and code zero luff tension. All sails are sheeted through powerful ratchet blocks with the main sheet tackle 5:1 & jib sheets 2:1. |