Payload...

I suppose it's all about priorities, CNN keeps getting dumber, and a Firefly moment...

The other day we saw a cat motoring out of the anchorage and as it passed us we noticed its bridgedeck was just kissing the water. It kind of got me wondering...

I don't actually ever recall a boat review ever stating what a boat's actual weight carrying ability was. Oh sure, from time to time you'll see a mention in a boat's specs about displacement and loaded displacement but with no way to decipher it to your advantage. Also made worse by the fact that most of the numbers I see are often a bit cagey as if they are trying to hide something.

A cat design I have been looking at shows an unloaded/loaded weight spread of a kiss more than a ton but the study plan is a bit hazy about what that actually means. For instance, are the outboard motors included in the empty weight or as part of the loaded weight calculation?

In this particular cat with a bridgedeck clearance a bit less than optimum, excess weight would be a killer. Let's take a quick look at just how important the weight of those two outboards might actually be.

The cat in question has sleeping space for six people and if one were to figure that weight according to the USCG AAWPP figure (Assumed Average Weight Per Person) that is 185 X 6 for a weight of 1,110 pounds... So we're already over half the boat's payload just stepping on the boat. One expects folks to have personal stuff so let's figure 25 pounds per person for a total of 150 pounds...

Now let's say you want to cruise for five days with six folks onboard and being extremely frugal on the water front you're willing to go with the bare minimum of one gallon per person per day so that's another 264 pounds of weight.

Folks have to eat so you can add another hundred pounds or so for that and it's best to keep in mind that pretty much everything in the galley (pot/pans and suchlike) are not figured in the empty boat figures so that adds a little more to the total. Fact is, anything on the boat that is in a locker or brought on to the boat needs to be figured in...

I could continues but you get the point so why bother... The bottom line is that, I expect, those two outboards and their fuel will be the make or break on the payload so it IS important whether or not they were figured in by the designer.

Just something to think about.

Listening to Buffett

So it goes...