Waterline

[mambo]

Hi Folks

Can one of you very clever and nice people tell me where the water line is on the investigator 563 please.

Ideally, I'd get some measurements from the underside of the gunwale down to the waterline.

If it is constant perfect. If not can I get measurement from bow and stern then 4 more at say 93cm approx. intervals.

Thank you in advance.

Mambo

[Ozzie]

Hi Mambo. I did a bit on establishing the waterline on a now deleted thread. As it was a bit of an epic I will see if have a copy and repost.

No ...sorry ...gone, but below here’s a summary from memory (a stretch these days) I know this is obvious but a few things I’ve found from experience are included.

Best method I have found is to float the boat in waist deep water and try to have it loaded fairly evenly (ie balanced) Then mark the waterline with permanent marker every 300 to 500 mm. Then after retrieval use a flexible edge of some sort to join them up. Do not attempt to improve on this line even if it looks wrong, don’t ask me how I know. If you want to antifoul come up at least 100 mm or more to put your mask line as weed and slime will grow up to this level. I then have a 3M boot stripe 25mm above that in red in my case which with black antifoul looks okay.

If floating is not an option I can (next time I’m out) measure down from the front and at the back to establish A baseline for you to create a level. Adjust your trailer tilt so these marks are the same distance from the floor, then just measure up the same distance all along from the floor. I think this might work better then coming down from the toerail given the boats shape. Hope this helps, good luck .

[Peter T]

Ozzie, here are your measurements, however
If you set your boat up level in both directions, ie fore and aft as well as sideways and mark the front and back water line marks off measurements below. You can wind jockey wheel up and down to get boat level fore and aft. then you can use a length ( around 4 or 5 metres) of clear plastic tube almost filled with water to mark the water line right around the boat. As you would know, water finds its own level. You will need 2 people to do this. One stays at starting point, usually the front and has the tube taped to the hull. the other goes around the boat. If you start at the front and go straight to the back, you can check the the boat is sitting perfectly level by holding the tube against the hull at front. Than also at the back. Front man hold tube still and watches for when the water lines up with his mark. other lowers or raises till water mark in tube lines up with back and front measurement marks. If you can't get it to do that, then the boat is not level. Once you have this done, the second man can work his way around the boat holding the tube in place against hull, raising and lowering tube his end till first man has water line on his mark. Mark off on hull every couple of feet as you work your way around the hull.
With the measurements below, the intermediate ones can be out a bit as some boats have different pushpits and pulpits which put those measurements in differing positions along the hull. What I did was to use only the front and back measurements, set the boat level on the trailer and used method above. The very back measurement is not there but it works out to be through the centre of the two bolts that holds the rear rudder pintle on.

ALL measurements are taken from under the lip of the gunwhale following the black lines as per the photo. So measurement A is taken from under the gunwhale at the bow roller and follows the line of the bow to the water. 
B is from the start of the pullpit upright of the rail, dropping vertically to the water level. 
C is from the forward stanchion down to the water. 
D is from rear stanchion down to the water.
E is from the pushpit upright and down to the water. 
All measurements are taken with the measuring tape being held against the boat, following the contour of the boat.

measurements are
A 87cm
B 67cm
C 59cm
D 54cm
E 50cm

[mambo]

Thanks Pete

How good are you?

I'll get the old girl marked and masked up.

Much appreciated

Ken

[Ozzie]

Good thinking Peter, the old builders tube trick. I had never thought of using it on boats.

” You tell young people that these days and they won’t believe you....”

[Peter T]

Sorry Ozzie, the mark at the back on the transom is not halfway through the screws of the lower pintle, it's just under the screws but it wouldn't matter. That's only around 1/2 inch lower

[Ozzie]

I thought it seemed high Peter but it doesn’t really matter, as I mentioned on my deleted post it’s hard to find a sweet spot to stop antifoul. The rocking motion on the mooring allows the hull well above the true waterline to get wet enough to support slime growing and staining. I’ve raised my antifoul line slightly a few times. You don’t want antifoul 200mm above the true waterline as it would look odd but it’s probably practical easy to adjust later by experience anyway.

[Peter T]

Yes Ozzie, quite right. Also, if you keep the outboard on the boat at mooring, a little higher won't hurt. On my last boat, which was a keel boat and kept on a mooring all the time, I used a soft anti fouling (blue in colour) and then I put a boot topping on above the blue about 2 inches or so wide using a hard anti fouling ( red). It looked really good and worked a treat and saved having that rust looking stain just above the water line