300 Series Yeoman Overview
For a specification click here
For more information please contact our class builder on info@ykboats.co.uk.
The new 300 series yeoman is a modern looking keelboat that has been designed primarily for safe, comfortable family cruising and for club racing. Having a long and beamy cockpit with full-length seating, there is always plenty of space for the helm and up to 3 crewmembers. All the seating area is self-draining so any water taken over the side, or rainwater, would automatically drain into the bilge of the boat. All controls such as spinnaker sheet blocks and twinning lines are rebated into the side of the seat unit along with the Genoa tracks and cars. This arrangement increases comfort on board for the helm and crew.
When the boat is tipped over, the water floods onto the seat unit only and will not flood into the boat itself. This design feature has been thoroughly tested and on each broaching test, the boat had taken on average 70 litres of water. This water along with any bilge water can easily be pumped out with the built in bilge pump which is conveniently mounted through the starboard seat.
To find out more about buoyancy click here
To further enhance the safety of the boat, it has 7 built in buoyancy chambers and these are located down each side of the hull under the seat and up into the bow section. With a total capacity of 1700 litres of buoyancy the layout has been designed to give maximum lift and stability in the unlikely event of the boat being fully flooded. Each chamber has its own inspection hatch enabling it to be vented when the boat is laid up.
The side bow tanks have a cave locker which when removed give good access to the chain plates for inspection and maintenance work.
The mast is stepped inside the boat. This makes raising and lowering the as the side cheeks of the tabernacle guide it up and down. The tabernacle forms part of a space frame that is fitted into the boat and this helps keep the boat very rigid and keeps most of the rig tension and sailing loads within the triangulation of the frame. This will help to prevent stress damage around the high load areas of the boat.
Under the GRP floor pan there are 9 floor bearers running across the bottom of the hull and 4 stringers running almost full length of the hull fore and aft. This structure makes the hull extremely strong without making it heavy.
The internal layout has been designed to offer plenty of good storage space. The main sail is stored under the starboard seat and the spinnaker is stowed under the port seat when it is recovered down through the spinnaker chute. In addition there is further storage on top of the forward side tanks and 2 cave lockers under the cuddy plus a large storage area under the aft deck.
The running rig installation is standard for any racing keelboat with controls for the Cunningham, kicker and outhaul lead back to the helm. The carefully designed consul unit also carries the mainsheet and spinnaker halyard and Genoa furling control. There is a step moulded into the side of this unit to assist you when sitting on the coming. Toe straps can easily be fitted to this moulding if required. The centre winch moulding carries controls for spinnaker pole. This unit also has main halyard control, Genoa halyard control with rig tension muscle block. The moulding has been designed not to intrude into the cockpit and does not restrict access under the cuddy.
The 300 series also has been fitted with a new rudder design. This is a very important and necessary alteration for those who sail in open waters. The new rudder has far greater grip on the water and offers vastly superior manoeuvrability and control.
The boat is made entirely of glass re-enforced plastic (GRP) and all the individual components of the boat are fully bonded in place. There are no bolts or screws used in the assembly of the hull, deck and internal mouldings. This construction method makes the boat extremely strong and light and as there is no timber used on the boat (excluding tiller and 2 trims on the forward tanks) it requires very little maintenance work. There is no sanding down of toe rails or floorboards required during winter layout period. It is all maintenance free, simply wash and polish.
The 300 series out performs its predecessors on all fronts.
- It has a larger more comfortable cockpit.
- More than twice the buoyancy tank capacity required to float the boat.
- Easier sail controls.
- Very good anti-swamp protection.
- Strong and more rigid.
- Good storage facilities.
- Very little maintenance to keep the boat operational.
- Vastly superior manoeuvrability and control with new rudder design.
- Wheel steering conversion available for less able sailors.
For more information please contact Phillip Betts our class builder on info@ykboats.co.uk.