The Race
between
Lighting Strike - Steel
and
Lighting Strike - Aluminum

Did you know that the speed of a displacement sailboat is not determined by its weight, but the length of its Design Waterline! Click on the following link to see why the proceeding statement is True.

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Now that you have an understanding of the 'Speed to Length Ratio' and the 'Displacement to Length Ratio' lets us look at a practical example thru the design of 'Lighting Strike'. A classic style sleek styled thirty-five (35) foot , Length on Deck, Day-Sailor that can be constructed in both steel and aluminum.

‘Lighting Strike’ has a shoal keel, just my preference, as I wanted a boat that tracked well over a deep fin keel that would demand a bit more attention to the helm.

She, however, is not quite the design that one might expect for steel construction, because in the ‘Minds Eye’ of a vast majority of Sailors, steel is a heavy construction material and simply does not fit their vision as a classic, sleek, racing day-sailor.

However, if ‘Lighting Strike’ was constructed of aluminum, the ‘Minds Eye’ of most Sailors would find this construction material acceptable for this classic sleek racing day-sailor, since aluminum construction is about equal in weight to a fiberglass constructed hull.

Both the steel and aluminum versions, of ‘Lighting Strike’ will have the same hull form, interior layout, Engine, tankage, Rig, ballast and so forth. The only difference is that the steel version, being heavier than the aluminum version, would have a deeper draft and longer Design waterline than the aluminum version.

While this design was on the drawing board the design was evaluated for performance using 'Aero-Hydro's velocity prediction software. to predict the ‘Seconds per Nautical mile’ for both the steel and aluminum versions of ‘Lighting Strike’. These results will give a good indication of how Displacement affects the performance of a steel hull.