Tigress floor

[Sylvester]

Ok so while I have been trying to get to get to grips with sailing my Cheshire cat (2913) single handed i have found clearing water after a spill  challenging. I can already hear the not again groans! However i have read shed loads of advise on here so am happy to plug away with that one. This did get me thinking about floor modification! Not for 2913, that would be sacrilege! But for 3120, a tigress bought cheap for spares but to good to break. After minor fettling its now solid, but no show winner having  been renovated then 2packed for durability not aesthetics. A peculiarity of this boat is that it has buoyancy tanks under the gunnels from just behind the shrouds to the transom. I have no intention of fitting a full double bottom as I like my knees, however i understand it's previously been done leaving a gully at the bailers  so effectively having fore and aft  tanks. Does anyone have any experience of this and it's effectiveness. Many thanks Dave.

[gbr1918]

Hi Dave,
I'm sure there will be more and much better informed advice on here, but I'd be a bit wary of adding a load more buoyancy in the bottom of the boat in case it makes the boat more prone to a quick inversion and more difficult to right from a capsize.
I'm another newb in N12s (but a lifelong capsize addict  ) and it certainly is tough to get the boat drained out if there isn't enough wind!  Given a good planing breeze, though, it squirts out of the back in seconds, so I suggest you just have to restrict your capsizing to windier days!   Sailing two up may help - I've only single-handed my boat (final chapter) a couple of times - it's fun and fast, but there's a real lot for one person to do.  Before I bought the boat I was a bit trepidatious - who would I sail with? - but my experience is that if you ask around there are actually plenty of people weird enough to enjoy sailing an N12!
Dave Cooper

[Jerry Garner]

Our last Twelve, N3500 Crazy Diamond, had done the reverse to what you are considering.  She was built with a double floor but the original owner could not cope with that and had the central part of the floor removed, leaving a stern tank, bow tank and longitudinal tanks either side of the c/b case.  Though no longer completely self-draining it did have the advantage that, when righted after a capsize, the small amount of water ballasted the boat and kept it steady while we climbed in and got sorted.  As soon as we got sailing again the bailers rapidly removed the limited volume.  Initially we had problems with the open transom.  In a light wind and following sea each wave would dollop a pint of water on the aft deck; the wave would then pick up the stern and pour that water into the foot well!  The addition of simple Perspex flaps cured that problem without inhibiting the self-draining function.  For us she was the ideal geriatric twelve before my need for hip replacement made us retire from the fray.