J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Actual boat length

Strange as it may seem, after reading this, I checked and discovered a contradiction in the Class specs. The J/30 LOA is listed as 29.83' (29' 10") in J/30 Journals #2 (April 1981) and #3 (8/20/1982) and an original J/30 brochure (6/84). There were no rules in Journals #4 & 5, but from #6 (Nov 1984) on it became 29.92' (29' 11").

Personally I think the 29' 10" is correct and would attribute this to a transcription error when the class took over the publication. I have no evidence J/Boats changed the specs.

I did some measurements based just the pictures and specifications in the original rules that seem to make sense. It appears the scale is 1"=5' with the LWL approx 5". 30' or 6" at this scale, appears to be stem to the aft edge of the rudder. Pulpit adds about 1'.

I am down at the boat today checking things out and since I will be looking for moorage again soon I thought it would be good to take some measurements. Here is what I found;
Stem to stern, NOT counting pulpit, pushpit, rudder mounts or rudder: 29' 10.5"
Rudder from hull to trailing edge: 19.25"
Pullpit overhang from stem to outer edge: 17"
Pushpit overhang: 3"
Overall/overall length as far as some harbor master's are concerned, pullpit to back edge of rudder is 32' 10.75"
With the rudder, hard over, it extends just 6.5" from the hull, reducing the O/O length by 12.75", for a 31' 10" O/O length.
Conclusion being, if your harbor master wants to charge for every inch, you should be able to get away with 32'. Then, if you are looking at a side tie, on a long dock, they will want to add a couple feet at each end as well.