SO 33i trimmed down by the bow

[heatherina]

Hello all,

Our lovely SO 33i, shoal draft, sits a bit down by the bow.

Fuel tank full.

Water tank full.

She is probably sitting at 2-3" down by the bow.

I am going to raise the existing AF level over the winter but I am wondering if anyone else has had this problem?

She does have a bow thruster fitted but nothing else that should affect trim.

The broker we bought her from did mention about the anchor chain and that they had downsized the anchor chain on another 33i with shoal draft. I guess a loaded cockpit will adjust things slightly.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Ian

[krawall]

I think on the "smaller" boats this CAN be normal (not saying that it is...)

My 36i was listing when I had all tanks full - it was also stated in the manual.

Did you check the manual?

Tom

PS: Just reading about the bow-thruster, ... with the battery this should weigh quite a bit...

[MartyB]

Bow down can be a good thing. as noted, as you load people in the cockpit, the boat levels out.

Going down wind, many times it is important to get the rear out of the water, for faster speeds. As then the fat arse of the current style boats is not dragging your speed down.

My Arcadia is a bit bow down when at rest. Levels out with 2-4 folks in cockpit etc.

When racing, and a crew of 5-7 total onboard. I shift the rail meat sometimes fore or aft to lesson the effects of weather helm. Sometimes fore, sometimes aft.

Marty

[heatherina]

Thanks guys,

Not overly worried about it but am interested to hear if anyone else has the same trim.

I am going to fit two extra house batteries this winter, they will offset the weight of the thruster and its battery.

Thanks

Ian

[ceriabertawe]

 hi heatherina

I also have a SO33i which is slighting down by the bow. I don't have a bow thruster but I have a substantial anchor and chain on the bow. I normally sail single or double handed so crew weight doesn't affect it much. She sails nicely upwind- up to 7knots, but I have not yet got much speed off the wind. I have a lifting keel and in mast furling and no downwind sails (yet). Is this the sort of performance you get? I have a polar diagram from jeanneau for the 33i which I would attach if I could. Can anyone tell me how to do this please

Thanks

Ceri

[bikerwookie]

We have a 33i shoal draft and have raised the fwd antifouling line. We also have a rear water tank fitted.We tend not to use the one in the bow when racing.
We try to keep any weight as far aft as we can.
It's not just the 33i that suffers from this issue. I reguarly see other 30-35ft modern boats that have lower volume volume bows with fwd water tanks.

[lokum]

Dec 27, 2015 11:00:34 GMT heatherina said:

Hello all,

Our lovely SO 33i, shoal draft, sits a bit down by the bow.

Fuel tank full.

Water tank full.

She is probably sitting at 2-3" down by the bow.

I am going to raise the existing AF level over the winter but I am wondering if anyone else has had this problem?

She does have a bow thruster fitted but nothing else that should affect trim.

The broker we bought her from did mention about the anchor chain and that they had downsized the anchor chain on another 33i with shoal draft. I guess a loaded cockpit will adjust things slightly.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Ian

Hello,
I did have the same problem, removed half the 12 mil chain , it is ok now , also have a much lighter anchor, the one that can be lifted by hand.

[MalcolmP]

Dec 28, 2015 9:23:33 GMT ceriabertawe said:

 hi heatherina

I also have a SO33i which is slighting down by the bow. I don't have a bow thruster but I have a substantial anchor and chain on the bow. I normally sail single or double handed so crew weight doesn't affect it much. She sails nicely upwind- up to 7knots, but I have not yet got much speed off the wind. I have a lifting keel and in mast furling and no downwind sails (yet). Is this the sort of performance you get? I have a polar diagram from jeanneau for the 33i which I would attach if I could. Can anyone tell me how to do this please

Thanks

Ceri

Hi Ceri

I will send you a Message with my email, if you can send me the pdf I will put it on the main www.jeanneau-owners.com site for future reference by all and place a link back to it in this thread

Malcolm

[MalcolmP]

The polar for the lift keel SO33i can be downloaded from here:

kvisit.com/Ow/vEM

This is a temporary location, I will add it to the specs section of the main website in due course

[Xantia]

For my two bobs worth, our SO42DS always sits bow down, regardless of water and fuel tanks, and even if I take off completely the 70 metres of 12mm chain and 20kg Manson Supreme. In the end I stopped worrying about it for we are cruisers not racers and going downwind in over 30 knot winds, which are common here, the boat is perfectly at ease. Upwind she is impeccable, not that we try going upwind in that much of a blow. I cannot even be bothered moving the waterline paint.
Maybe if we had a few friends to weigh the stern down we could fix it, but we are usually two up.

Spent the last couple of days watching the finish of the Sydney to Hobart race from home. (Actually I was fixing the house.) Comanche came right over to our side of the river to show off how you go faster than the wind, on her way to line honours, but the smaller boats made a better spectacle as they came in en masse. I'm glad we don't have their repair bills. Comanche needs a new rudder and a new dagger board after the big blow on the first night. Ouch.

[Torsten]

Hi there,

I own a SO30i (2013) and have a similar experience.
The reason for that maybe -as handbook states- the boat is in a good trim with fresh water tank as well as diesel tank being only half full.

I have a 160l fresh water tank in the bow. Half of that is 80kg which could be the reason, right ?

Cheers
Hansi

[npmr]

We too have a S.O.33i and haven't particularly noticed a bow's down attitude.

It occurs to me that a couple of factors might affect.
1) The loss of some buoyancy from the cut-out area, plus added weight from the bow-thruster.
2) The water tank, if like ours, is not full all the time. When cruising with crew it empties fast, and if at our home, swinging mooring, water is not very easily come by. When the tank is less full, the weight balance will change. (Similarly, for the diesel tank)

On a separate question, how useful do you find the bow thruster? I met another '33i' owner with one and he was not impressed and that put me off considering it, despite the boat's permanent desire to blow off course in slow speed manoeuvres - the bow has so little grip in the water.

[heatherina]

Jan 6, 2016 13:27:45 GMT npmr said:

We too have a S.O.33i and haven't particularly noticed a bow's down attitude.

It occurs to me that a couple of factors might affect.
1) The loss of some buoyancy from the cut-out area, plus added weight from the bow-thruster.
2) The water tank, if like ours, is not full all the time. When cruising with crew it empties fast, and if at our home, swinging mooring, water is not very easily come by. When the tank is less full, the weight balance will change. (Similarly, for the diesel tank)

On a separate question, how useful do you find the bow thruster? I met another '33i' owner with one and he was not impressed and that put me off considering it, despite the boat's permanent desire to blow off course in slow speed manoeuvres - the bow has so little grip in the water.

This is the first boat I have owned with a bow thruster. We are still pretty new to sailing and we were worried about manoeuvring a 30ft plus boat around in a marina. 
Actually had one broker all but mock me when we were looking at a 31ft sailboat that did not have a thruster, "haha you don't need a bow thruster on a 31 ft boat". Funnily enough we didn't buy that boat.
i am very impressed with what the thruster will do, we have only used it a couple of times in anger but very glad it was there. It will throw the bow around pretty quickly. 
We figure it's best to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Gel coat repairs are expensive.
cheers 
Ian

 

[jonnymo]

My 33i is same, and I understand normal and common with a Jeaneau, certainly newer ones. It is more noticeable with a shoal or lift keel, and probably to do with the same footprint for a differently weighted keel. I believe it's one hull design (based on standard draft), with just different keels bolted on. Jeanneau have a different waterline height for these models to ensure antifouling allows for a full water tank. I have learnt to tell the level of my water tank from the waterline! My dad's Moody 376 had a port list (every 376 and 346 does). I believe most beneteaus float down at the back. Not concerned.