You make a lot of sense, but you are also, like Nol, an excellent sailor.
To me a daggerboard remains much more simple than an almost 360 degree rotating rudder. And I have industrial strength rotation devices already on the outboard(s) or using the differential between two e-props, below let's say 10 knots, or using the sails effectively at higher speeds. As this should be easily tested on the first schooner vis I'll be quickly convinced one way or another.
The rudder/prop combination is the mounting of an electric propeller on a track on the rudder like you drew for the Seabbatical.
--- In harryproa@yahoogroups.com.au, Rob Denney <harryproa@...> wrote:
>
> What you suggest could be done, but to me, the downsides are much more than
> the up. A fixed rudder is not much less complex than a rotating one, and
> the ability to steer as long as the boat is moving is a very valuable
> attribute.
>
> A schooner has better balance than an Easy rig, although Nol can now
> balance Blind Date well enough to leave it to it's own devices for long
> enough to make a cup of tea. The latest boats have lifting rudders as well,
> which adds some more adjustment.
>
> With the large rudders/steerable daggerboards, the balance is much less of
> an issue. When the boat is moving at reasonable speed, the rudders easily
> overcome any balance issues. At low speeds, ie during a shunt, the ability
> to sheet in a foresail in a schooner is helpful, but nor really necessary
> once you have a bit of experience. On El, with myself and 70 kgs of kids
> on the ww hull (which is a higher percentage of total weight than any of
> the big harrys), the sheet can be trimmed on as fast as possible and the
> boat comes up on course and sails straight. This may be a function of
> lower mass and inertia, but even on the bigger boats, if the helmsman and
> the sheet hand work in tandem, it is rarely a problem.
>
> I have often sailed El off a lee shore with no rudders. The course is a
> series of large diameter arcs and requires a bit of body movement and
> judicious sheet trimming, but it is all pretty predictable.
>
> What is the Seabbatical rudder/prop combination?
>
> rob
>
>
> On Sun, Nov 3, 2013 at 6:20 AM, LucD <lucjdekeyser@...> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > As there are no stupid questions let me ask at least a naive one:
> > A schooner vis comes with two sails and two rudders and one or two
> > outboards.
> > Given that in enough wind one can turn with the sails only and in light
> > wind one can turn well using two outboards, could one do without the rudder
> > function of the boards and keep them fixed?
> >
> > Upwind, Easy Rigged BD requires 5-10 degree rotation of the aft rudder. A
> > schooner would solve that with the differential in the sails. Right?
> >
> > I imagine that in a shunt one could veer off with the sails, drop the
> > outboards for braking further and then veer up in the other direction while
> > the sails pick up the new heading and then the outboards are retracted.
> >
> > Then, of course, there is the Seabbatical rudder/prop combination.
> >
> >
> >
>