Archive for June, 2008

XCR 18.5′ Decked Canoe Trimaran

I have a very serious passion for sailing canoes. Principally, I enjoy canoes that are designed as small, lightweight trimarans as I feel they present the greatest number of solutions for serious, expedition sailing with few of the compromise limitations the sailing canoe genre can represent.

I wanted to design a big boat; something out around 18’+ with a modest beam for the length in the 35″ neighborhood and the ability to carry a hefty expedition load without sinking the hull too much or hammering the freeboard. Canoes that long with beams of 35″, or so, have a real chance of being quite fast under paddle if the hull is shaped correctly.

There are some really fine boats out there that could, in the right hands, become very good cross-over sailing canoes when equipped with outrigger floats (amas) and a well thought-out rig setup.

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Posted: June 25th, 2008 under Canoes, Sailing, Sailing Multihulls, Trimarans.
Comments: 9

Gato Especial 21

 

About two and a half years ago, I was engaged in a conversation with a boating friend in British Columbia, Ron Badley, regarding the few choices one had for a small, trailerable cruising cat in the 21-24’ LOA range. We talked about the Jarcat6, the Waller 670 and a couple of other designs as we knocked around the design elements we’d like to see on a boat like this.
 
The quickly penciled design brief addressed a list of things such as:
 
1. Trailerable by a medium sized car or SUV
2. Trailer legal in all fifty states and OZ without an oversize permit (minor adjustment for Euro users)
3. Easily launched by two people (or one if they have their act together)
4. Capable of carrying enough stores for a long week away from civilization
5. Easily driven by a small outboard of 5-8 hp
6. Room to have a kid or two onboard for small families
7. Easily boarded from swimming
8. Respectable performance under sail without getting “over the top” and dangerous
9. Simple plywood build in Stitch and Glue
10. Great looking lines so it didn’t look clunky or dated

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Posted: June 24th, 2008 under Catamarans.
Comments: 54

Nagare 21′ and 17′ Mirage Drive Speedsters

  

Nagare  (nah-ga-ray) is a Japanese word meaning Flow. The two boats in this group are 17 and 21 feet in length and are known simply as the Nagare 17 and the Nagare 21. Both designs make use of the popular Hobie Mirage drive for principal propulsion with the 21 footer being a double Mirage setup and the 17 relying on a single Mirage. Both of them are configured as trimarans with fairly small and unobtrusive amas designed to give the boats remarkable stability in a wide range of conditions.

 The Nagare sisters also have incredibly narrow waterline beam numbers that, when coupled with their fairly long hulls provide for multihull type easily driven hull forms for very high efficiency per unit of energy applied. 

I expect both boats to operate at the very high end of commercially available paddled boats of the same length, beam and weight. So, yes, they can go pretty quickly, but that’s not the real purpose.

The real benefit of the design motif is in the ease with which they are propelled at any given speed, compared to other boats of their size. This efficiency translates directly to those using the boats.

Because the propulsion is derived from the largest muscles in your body, the leg muscles, rather than the arms and shoulders, there will be less fatigue for each mile traveled. Because leg muscles are so much bigger than arms, they will be able to do more work in a given period of time, making for longer possible trips, as well as the mentioned lower fatigue issue. With a less fatiguing effort, more people will be able to enjoy the experience of being out on the water for daylong adventures.

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Posted: June 24th, 2008 under Human Powered Vessel, Mirage Drive.
Comments: 6