The fundamental nature of our PDRacer
The class rules and our culture is setup so that the average person can build a complete boat from scratch, for a reasonable cheap price, compete in the annual world championship race and have a reasonable chance at winning with that boat. The rules are aimed at keeping the bottom 10" shape of all the boats the same. The tolerances that describe the hull shape are set loose enough that a person new to building boats can make reasonable mistakes during the building process, and still end up with a boat which conforms enough to be considered "class legal".
Keeping Bottom 10" Of All Hulls Alike
The hulls are the most complicated and time consuming part to build, so it is very important to keep them all alike. If the hull shape was allowed to vary (whether it actually improves performance or not), then older shaped hulls would be viewed as obsolete, causing people to feel like they had to build a new hull to stay competitive, which destroys the entire concept of this racer. Once a person builds their hull, they freely alter all of the other variables with the boat such as the sails, foils, rigging etc. Those are the parts that are easy and quick to alter - that is why we focus on changing them instead of the hull.
For further explanations of the rules [click here]
Defined Hull Shape:
The hull panel is 8' long.
The hull panel is 18" high (however a 16" hull seem to be preferred by most), minimum required is 10" high.
The station marks are 12" apart, from left to right (stern to bow) they are:
6", 2-5/8", 5/8", 0", 0", 1", 2-3/8", 4-3/8", the last point is 6" from the end, it is 6" up from the base line.
For a metric conversion of the Defined Hull Shape [click here]
1 - The hull must match the lower 10" of the defined hull shape.
A - The "end points" are the corners where the bottom meets the bow and stern transoms.2 - The hull must have flat parallel sides, flat bow and stern transoms, and a flat bottom.
B - The distance between the end points may be as long as 91" or as short as 89-7/8"
C - The proper way to measure the rocker shape is from a straight line between the "end points" on a finished boat.
D - The station marks are measured from the stern end point, which is offset horizontally toward the middle by the formula (length - 90" / 2)
E - The rocker shape of the finished hull must fit within the defined tolerance range below.
F - The rocker shape is to be in the form of a curve
G - The boat must be sailed so the bow angle is normally facing forward.
H - Having a hull number does not guarantee the hull is class legal
[ How To Cut The Bow Angle ]
[ How To Measure A Hull ]
[ Hull Shape Survey ]
A - The chines and hull edges may be rounded, maximum of 1" fillet as per this drawing [click here]3 - The hull must be 48" wide.
B - The stern transom may be partially or fully open, however the sides must still be the full height.
C - Maximum of 1.5" wide fins (centerboards, keels, rudders etc)
D - Slots for foils are OK.
E - The sides and transoms must continue to be flat and parallel, even above the 10" line, except for a gunnel or hiking wings (or other similar shaped extension) with the following restrictions:
must be above the 10" line
must be perpendicular to the side of the hull
must not extend more than 6" beyond the hull
must not be thicker than 1.5"
A - The beam has a 1" tolerance (makes for minimum 47", max 49").4 - The hull must have enough emergency flotation to be self rescued.
5 - No external flotation chambers (such as pontoons, cut waters, amas etc.)
A - Mast head floats are exempted from this rule, and are OK to use.6 - No lifting foils (hydro foils).
A - all foils must be vertical7 - Don't screw with the hull shape
B - Foils may extend forward or aft of the hull, and may extend vertically above the gunnel.
A - Anyone with a registered puddle duck who is participating in a "puddle duck" event, has the right to request the measurement of any puddle duck hull which is also participating.
B - Nobody shall impede, prohibit, or otherwise try to restrict (or make un-cool) this right of any puddle ducker.
C - If a measurement is requested, that request and the measurement must take place before the race, or before that hull's first participation in a series of races.
D - If a hull is found out of tolerance, that hull can still participate, but the results of the hull are not counted, and that hull will need to delay it's start untill all the class legal hulls have crossed the start line.
| Defined Tolerance Range | ||||||||
| Station | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | over to bow |
| Above | 2,7 | 0,7 | 0,2 | 0,2 | 1,2 | 2,5 | 4,5 | 2,2 |
| Ideal | 2,5 | 0,5 | 0,0 | 0,0 | 1,0 | 2,3 | 4,3 | 2,0 |
| Below | 2,3 | 0,3 | -0,2 | -0,2 | 0,6 | 2,1 | 4,1 | 1,6 |
|
For some further explanations of the rules [click here] Posting rule questions to forum Please keep in mind that knit picky rule bending questions, especially regarding the rocker shape, are very irritating and not looked favorably by the group. You are welcome to bring up rule question topics in the forum, however please be polite and try not to head into theoretical la-la land. David "Shorty" Routh is the founder of Puddle Duck Racer sailboat class, sole owner of the Puddle Duck Racer trademark, and is the sole authority on making "official" interpretations as to what the rules mean. Shorty made his best effort to make the rules as simple and easy to read as possible in laymen terms, but at times people either do not fully understand the rules and need extra clarification to create a class legal boat. If you need extra clarification to the rules and cannot find the answer on the [further explanations page]you are welcome to email Shorty directly at (shorty@shortypen.com). |
How To Request A Hull Number
When your class legal hull goes 3D (meaning that the bottom is attached to the sides), please email me direct at: Shorty@ShortyPen.com to request a hull number and send the following information that you would like to have published on the fleets page.
Please copy/paste the following in your registration email:
##### Required Information: #####
your name (or alias) to appear on fleets page ---
one picture of your boat --- (It would be great to have you in the picture with your boat)
##### Optional Information: #####
email address for the fleets page ---
state & country that you live in ---
the name of the boat (if you have picked it yet) ---
link to your web site (if you have one) ---
The reason we ask for your email address is to post it on the fleets page so that we can all contact each other directly for puddle duck related communication.
Please measure your hull to confirm it is within the class tolerance range. [ How To Measure A Hull ]
Please consider putting "PDRacer.com" on the stern of your boat to help promote our club. When trailering down the freeway, many people will see your boat and if you have the website listed on the back, they can find us and participate also.
I do NOT take requests for hull numbers, the hull numbers are assigned in the order their info is received.
NOTE: Sometimes it takes me a week or two to get new hulls registered. I don't have as much time as I used to. I do reply to the registration email with a response when the hull is registered, however if somehow you don't get this email, you can check the updates page to see when the most recent date the website has been updated, and if your boat was added to the fleets page. Also make sure that you include the word "PDRacer" in the body of the message, I have a bit of a spam problem and my email program passes all messages with that word in the body or subject.
Often when we first start building a boat, we have goals and dreams about the way it should be, and after we have been working with it for a while, sometimes those ideals & goals change. The PDRacer is a boat which you can continually tinker with and modify to meet your current needs. To recognize this, we have a concept called the "HIN chunk" meaning Hull Identification Number Chunk, which is a piece from the stern of your boat, upper starboard (right) side area (but not necessarily at the gunnel or top edge of transom), must be at least 6" wide x 3" high. This chunk symbolizes the hull number you received when building your boat, so if you need to do a major rebuild, as long as you incorporate the HIN chunk in the new hull (in the HIN chunk area), then the new hull continues your original hull registration.
Once the HIN chunk has been removed from a hull, the remainder of that hull is considered "materials". Those materials may be used for registering a new hull.