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Square shaped cruiser stern


Alan John

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I am so new to boating that I do not yet have a boat. I am looking at buying a lined sailaway 57ft. I like the look of a square shape cruiser stern, not many of these around. Can anybody comment on the handling of this design, is poor handling the reason they are not very popular. Grateful for any help in what is a big decision.

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2 hours ago, Alan John said:

I am so new to boating that I do not yet have a boat. I am looking at buying a lined sailaway 57ft. I like the look of a square shape cruiser stern, not many of these around. Can anybody comment on the handling of this design, is poor handling the reason they are not very popular. Grateful for any help in what is a big decision.

When turning, boats 'pivot' around their centre (not like a car that steers from the front wheels).

 

Get a biro (a pencil will also do), lay it on the table and 'pinch it' with finger and thumb in the middle.

Move the 'nib' in one direction and the 'back-end' moves in the other direction - that is how a boat turns.

 

When you pull away from a mooring a 'square ended' boat will swipe / drag along the concrete / bank, a 'rounded' boat will move away much smoother without 'graunching'.

 

With a square back ended boat you ideally need to reverse out of the mooring (the 'point' of the bow allows the back end of the boat to move away from the side) and when the back end is far enough away, you can go into forward and steer the bow away from the side.

 

It is 10x worse if it is a 'square arsed fat boat' (widebeam)

 

If you have a solid mooring point (bollard, ring etc) then you can spring off using a bow line :

 

Into forward gear and 'drive against' the mooring line and the back end will swing out.

 

Springing on and off

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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If the stern is square, after passing another boat in a tunnel (when you have no option but to travel a few lengths with the whole boat tightly up against the wall) it is almost impossible to get back to the centre of the tunnel again because (as Alan says above) you cannot swing the stern inwards at all so as to swing the bow out again. Instead you must scrape against the brickwork all the way to the other end of the tunnel.

 

The ideal stern shape is a gentle ellipse.

Edited by Keeping Up
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YUou certainly see many (if any)  NEW NBs with a square back end and when you come to sell it - there may well not be a queue to buy = poor resale value.

 

Following up on the previous post (Keeping up) - the shape is all wrong and probably came about by beig able to build a boat cheaply without any curves.

 

 

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3 minutes ago, Rebotco said:

Also, if it is a long boat, the cill in locks can be more problematic.

As cills are mostly curved, a rounded stern fits best.

An observation about lock cills; it appears that if they are designed for wide boats (eg Leeds-Liverpool) they are strongly curved all across but if they are designed for pairs of narrow boats (eg Grand Union) they have a straight cill with just a slight curve at the ends.

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Not loved by many boaters.  Always remind me of the untidy folded rear end of Springers. 

If you have a taft rail on a square ender it will drive you mad catching in narrow locks if it is too upright without enough tumblehome.

TD'

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The other issue with a square stern if you use the nothern canals such as Calder and Hebble or Huddersfield with a 57ft boat is that you will not be able to tuck behind a gate when going uphill so sharing locks will not be as easy. I have seen such boats have lots of extra hassle on the shorter locks.

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"Squarebacks" are usually widebeams that are designed for maximum living space (indoors and out) rather than cruising.

Some sterns are semi-circular but others have a finer elliptical shape to further reduce the navigational problems mentioned above.

 

............Dave

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My 2010 60ft square cruiser-sterned boat is a delight to handle and I don't experience any problems leaving moorings as described above. Though square, the corners are rounded slightly, they are not absolute right angles. I can get off walls in tunnels without difficulty. The extra space on and under the deck is great.  I would certainly choose the same design again. My hull was built by Colecraft who know what they are doing.

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3 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

When you pull away from a mooring a 'square ended' boat will swipe / drag along the concrete / bank, a 'rounded' boat will move away much smoother without 'graunching'

 

Or get your crew to push the bow out so that you have an angle between the hull and the bank/mooring. Engage forward and move off in a straight line.

Never noticed a particular problem with my square bum over last seven years. Lots of deck space. Swim is not a problem - the 'above water' is square but the 'under water' is still tapered to the rudder/prop.

If you want a cruiser deck then a square bum gives more extra space.

But it is still, you pays your money and makes your choice.

Not conscious of handling problems (7 years / 50 ft). Been up against tunnel wall - just stop, push off wall and proceed. But I spend most cruising' hours in the open air so the occasional tunnel not an issue.

Edited by Opener
To answer op query.
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16 hours ago, Alan John said:

I am so new to boating that I do not yet have a boat. I am looking at buying a lined sailaway 57ft. I like the look of a square shape cruiser stern, not many of these around. Can anybody comment on the handling of this design, is poor handling the reason they are not very popular. Grateful for any help in what is a big decision.

 

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