Van: 

Pygmalion has this experimental fin to hopefully reduce hobby horsing... I don't recommend this modification until you have the rest of the boat all done and working... I do recommend adding the fairing to the hull / rudder area to reduce drag. One thing most of us have done is to be sure that the water flow into the prop is NOT pinched off by the fairing. 

Please review the information found here https://www.westsail.org/westsailFAQ (for full members) where many repair topics are detailed including updates to original ideas which didn't always work out. 

As I recall, there are usually at least 4 supports while in the yard plus a support on the bow of the boat and under the keel. As far the height, the keel is at least 5.5 to 6' from the water line. Since you will want to move the supports to work on the hull - maybe 6 total supports would be safest. 

Do be careful here as the boat does weigh 10 tons - you really don't want to have it fall over. 

HTH

Jay Bietz

Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the information. Just curious as to what you think the cause of the hobby horsing might be, my experience has been that it is caused by weight. Too much in the front and back. The Perkins 4-108 is a heavy engine and the bowsprit looks pretty solid too. Do you think a lighter engine and bowsprit would solve this? I'm curious what the weight difference is between the wood and the stainless steel bowsprits are? Also I've noticed several of the W32 in the Rendezvous pictures have the W42/43 tubular bowsprits. They look considerably lighter.

Van:

Yes weight forward and aft does affect the pitching of the boat in certain sea states. I removed the Volvo MD2B and replaced it with a Beta 1505 -- and saved at least 100 lbs in the stern -- as I recall. 

HTH

Jay

PS Maybe the Westsail Face book group will get to your questions faster.