Regular visitors to this site know that in September of 2008 I got to spend an afternoon sailing out of La Trinite sur Mer, France on the 105’ French Maxi-Trimaran, Sodeb’O, with skipper, Thomas Coville.

 

Well, needless to say, the experience left a huge impression on me. With an eye to designing a new beach-style trimaran for homebuilders, I’ve been sketching the essential lines of Sodeb’O off and on over the past year. In the drawings, I’ve been searching for something that had the distilled essence of Sodeb’O, at a much smaller size mind you, while also reflecting my own personal take on a few key styling elements.

  

  

  

  

 

The E20 will be available as a cored, sandwich laminate boat, with glass/epoxy skins. Builders may substitute carbon for the glass cloth for an even lighter and stiffer boat, if they choose. The build technique will be vertical foam strips laid into an open, female form. The interior skins are to be wet laid-up and vacuum bagged in place, or resin infused within the closed bag, providing the highest strength to weight ratio typically available for home builders.

A small series of photos below from F-39 builder, Henny van Oortmarssen’s remarkable website: http://www.fram.nl/index.html  The whole process of vertical stripping, bagging of the dry laminates and the infusing of the resin can be seen on this page http://www.fram.nl/workshop/floats/floats.htm  where Henny builds one of the amas for his trimaran… in his garage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Henny also offers a very cool disc called Vacuum Infusion Basics, that shows the whole process, provides instructions for beginners  and it includes a starter kit of the expendable essentials to infuse a bulkhead, so that you wind-up with the basic skills to go on and do your own boat. Info on that CD is here: http://www.fram.nl/workshop/controlled_vacuum_infusion/ripackage.htm

I strongly recommend that you spend the money to buy this package from Henny, as it will save you huge amounts of time and get you rolling immemdiately.

Right now, the Europa design calls for demountable amas with attached aka beams. Utilizing an idea borrowed from the incredible, Marstrom built Seacart30; http://www.oceanlakemarine.com/ The inboard ends of the akas will have four-sided male, conical fittings and will slide into mirrored, female fittings on the vaka hull. This makes the business of setting up the boat absolutely painless, as there will be no stuck beam fittings, or bound, slip-fit tubes that can make the process a bit of a hassle.

The mast is set well aft compared to other trimarans of this size. The mast placement, along with the extended main hull, allows for the use of an assy. spinnaker without the need for a prodder and all of the attendant hardware and structure that would go with that bit of gear. A bowsprit can be fitted, however, should the owner wish to extend the luff length of their chute. Deployment of the spinny can be accomplished with either a furler, or with a launching tube built into the foredeck and drained aft and out of the boat through the cockpit.

Trampoline surfaces extend out from the horizontal seating surfaces to the amas between the aka beams. The inboard edges of the seat are comfortably radiused. There are also triangular, open mesh tramps from the forward beams out to the bow for comfortable bow access on the water.

The daggerboard slides through a trunk that enters the deck just in front of the mast. It is a fairly high aspect foil for minimal drag at the speeds expected for this boat. The aft angle of the board gives helm balance to the boat under sail and lessens possible impact from an underwater collision. With the board fully raised, locked in the trunk and used with the associated hoisting lines, it also provides for a very nice gin pole when raising the mast.

The rudder will also be a deep, high aspect foil that can flip-up, such as is seen on beach cats. If the owners are looking to fly the main hull a lot, there is a provision for ama mounted rudders that operate from the main hull tiller.

The typical rig for the boat will be from a 20’ beach cat and run around 245-265 sq. ft. in area and be of sufficient mast stiffness to fly a spinnaker. The 265 sq. ft. figure yields a Sail Area to Displacement (SA/D) ratio of 43.87*, which is right in the same performance potential neighborhood as the F-22 at SA/D 39.68* http://www.f-boat.com/pages/trimarans/F-22.html and the M23 SA/D 45* http://www.multi23usa.com/ If the E20 were pushed into a turbo mode and equipped with a rig equivalent to the ARC21 catamaran at 282 sq. ft., which it can handle if driven by an experienced skipper, then the SA/D would be more like 45.12.

* Values are approximate and will vary based upon actual sailing displacement

Europa 20 Specifications 

LOA 20′

BOA 15′ 6″

Draft 11″  (board up)

Draft  4′ 5″  (board down)

Displacement 950 lbs. (less engine)

Sail Area 245-265 sq. ft. upwind

Weight 500 lbs. approx.

Utilizing a common, beach cat rig significantly reduces one of the major expenses to build the boat and opens the potential of access to a wide variety of existing sails, as well as hardware. The typical rigs that would work for this boat would be from the following boats: Nacra 5.8 and 6.0. Hobie Miracle 20, Mystere 6.0, Dart 20, Tornado, Supercat 19, or the hopped-up, turbo setup running a rig more like that which is found on the aforementioned ARC21.

The ama hull forms on the E20 are of the latest, wave piercing bow type with inverted bouyancy forms in the most forward sections of the three bows. Immediately aft of the first three feet, the hulls return to more traditional shapes with very full sections throughout, with the largest volumes placed high for generous reserve when driven hard. Ama buoyancy is 200% of total displacement.

 

Even though the Europa utilizes flat aka beams, the water clearance is a generous 21.5″. I studied both the innovative L7 and the very seaworthy, Seacart 30 trimarans, both of which have flat aka beams. Because both of those boats also have relatively tall ama forms, they do not suffer excessive wave slap from having flat aka beams. The Europa ama-to-aka relationship is very much like the strategies used by the L7 and Seacart 30.

 

Making use of flat beams means that the homebuilder does not have to resort to more complex molding with trickier fabrication methods. Surplus mast sections of the proper size are suitable as beams, as are easily obtained round aluminum tubes. I prefer the mast sections, as they, typically, have a molded bolt rope slot in the extrusion that makes for a very clean solution for the mounting of the trampolines.

 

 

The transoms of the amas are generously radiused triangles in shape. These forms allow for added buoyancy aft to dampen pitching. The triangular shapes also present slender forms aft in light airs when the amas will be lightly pressed, reducing wetted surface and offering a more tapered, efficient form at lower boat speeds. As the amas are pressed in heavier conditions, the aft sections take on a new shape as presented to the water, immediately become fuller and wider with more power, as well as buoyant resistance.

 

Similar to the shapes seen on the maxi-tri, Sodeb’O, one of the signature design elements of the E20 is the gently down angled profile of the main hull’s shear when seen in profile. Not only does this shape assist in the wave piercing function of the overall design, but it also offers a hull form that has a significantly reduced aero drag signature when the hull is being lifted.

The Europa 20 is a very modern, performance oriented, easily demountable two-up beach tri made for sailors who are looking for that something extra from a small, fast multihull. Aesthetic and technical design features of this boat will instantly set it apart from the typical beach-style multihull and you’ll likely have many folks coming up to you asking about your exotic, mystery ride.

 

On the bank of the Macatawa River

On the bank at Lake Powell

XCR owners, Kellan Hatch and Ben Algera have been putting their boats to good use over the last couple of weeks. If you have been following this site, then you have already been introduced to both of them through previously posted pieces.

Benjamin Algera ready to push-off

Ben has just completed a very fun paddling cruise with his Dad,  John Algera, on the waters of Lake Macatawa and the Macatawa/Black River in and around the city of Holland, Michigan. http://www.bensboats.blogspot.com/

John Algera about to face the unknown

The Hatch family explore the red rock canyons of Lake Powell

Kellan’s adventure was quite a bit different, as he went to Utah’s scenic Lake Powell with his family as a part of the annual Lake Powell Messabout. http://deviantwind.blogspot.com/ 

In the original article introducing the XCR sailing canoe, I suggested that the boat was incredibly versatile, allowing for a wide latitude of coastal adventure cruising. The modular componentry of the design gives the XCR owner enormous choices as to how to enjoy a boating experience. The boat can be configured as a sailing trimaran, complete with 2 hp outboard as seen in most of the pictures of Kellan’s weekend on Lake Powell.

Sunday morning sunrise at the Hite ramp, Lake Powell, Utah

The XCR can also be used in its base form, which is a fast, responsive and very stable decked tripping canoe, such as is shown in the photos of the Algera’s paddling outings.

The XCR canoe is right at home in confined thin water

The paddled canoe and fully expressed sailing trimaran applications are fairly obvious within the modular approach. What isn’t so obvious, is the boat’s ability to be used as an incredibly stable motor launch for leisurely powered outings.

Cruising the XCR as a quiet and quick motor launch

Lily Hatch relaxes while Kellan tops-up the Honda

Cabin interior from companionway

The builders of the first Gato Especial have mades some really inspired progress with the building of the interior appointments of their boat. They have also completed the stringers needed to support the cabin roof, allowing for a foredeck access hatch from the cabin.

The cabin's center panel framing is completed

The work on the bow chamber, forward of the cabin bulkhead is also ready now and a very nice base frame has been blocked in for the anchor locker hatch.

Bulkheads and framing for anchor locker

I continue to be impressed by the attention to detail and very nice craftsmanship that these guys are producing. It shouldn’t really be a surprise, as the Father is a mosaic tile artist and his son, Alex, is a graphic designer. Both of these guys have a wonderful sense of design proportion and a real feel for the materials as they complete their boat.

Starboard hull under the cockpit

Port hull interior

Cabin interior from galley

Kellan and Lily Hatch glide past Mount Moran in their XCR

Kellan recently returned from a wonderful, but all too short, cruise on Jackson Lake in Wyoming’s Teton National Park. Imagine a lake that is beautifully positioned at the foot of the stunning Teton range. Imagine primitive camping sites on the non-inhabited side of the lake with wilderness all around you in virtually the same state as it was when the area was visited regularly by the fur trapping mountain men of the early 1800′s.

Kellan had those images and much more running through his head when he joined his wife, Lily with their XCR, along with good friend, Mike Jackson and his Hobie Adventure Island, for a long weekend adventure of sailing and camping.

Yukon Expedition kayak on beach Jackson Lake, WY

 Some years back, I also enjoyed a beautiful canoe and kayak trip along those same shores in early October, so seeing the photos from Kellan and Mike brought back a heady rush of clear crisp air, scenery that is some of the most dramatic in the US and the shrill whistling sounds of bull elk as they called out to the opposing males during the annual rut.

Kellan and Lily hangin' with the XCR and Hobie Adventure Island

The three sailors launched from Coulter Bay and then made a big looping tour of the southern end of the lake, staying overnight at different  camping sites on the western shore of the lake.

Lily tends to the boats on the beach

Kellan heads for the bear proof steel box at one of the campsites

Soft cruisin' at the foot of the Tetons

Mike Jackson Mirages across the water in calm conditions

Scenic camp cruising in the Wild West

 If you are interested in finding out more about Kellan’s boat, he has started a personal blog  http://deviantwind.blogspot.com/  specifically about the XCR, his adventures with family and friends and the remarkable improvements he has made to his boat along the way. In one of the articles, there’s a really tasty cockpit cover that was sewn by his wife. Really great stuff from a very talented family with very diverse interests.

A fabulous cockpit cover created by Lily Hatch

Two additional stringers will be installed to stengthen the center roof panel. They will run from the mast stepping bulkhead (#4) down to the bow.

Hobie Alter introduced the Hobie 16 catamaran in 1969 and the sailing world, as it was known, hasn’t been the same since. In 1992, with many of the beach cat lifestyle crowd having families of their own, the Hobie Cat company introduced a new boat called the Hobie 21 SC (Sport Cruiser) that was aimed at the more leisurely needs of beach cat cruising, rather than the well-known, hull flying beach cats.

  The 21 SC was, as you might guess, 21′ in length. As a fixed beam design, it was limited to the typical, US trailer legal width of 8’6″. It featured a built-in cooler, an outboard mount and it had a 29′ mast carrying 222 sq. ft. of sail area (main and jib).  The Neo 21 is designed to accept rigs from a wide variety of beach cats making for a reasonably easy job of obtaining a really good used rig for the boat. This feature, alone, will make for a very economical boat to build.

The design calls for a main and jib rig between 218 sq. ft. and 250 sq. ft. (20.26 sq. m. - 23.22 sq. m.) You can go bigger than that and no doubt some will, but you’re on your own. The larger rigs may require an adjustment in the placement of the daggerboard, but that’s about it.

Getting away from the discussion on how big of a rig can be run on the Neo… I wanted to explore the potential of a cruisy-style beach cat that would be more stable for a young family. The Neo and its collection of studied variants, has been in development, off and on, for the past couple of years. The Neo is much more about spirited cruising potential than it is about shredding up the local waters with all-out performance, as one would typically see from a big beach cat with a high performance rig. The boat, while sporting a fairly wide, 11′ stance, is also carrying more weight than a typical performance cat of this length. Slightly heavier, yeah, but the Neo will show a very nice turn of speed, to be sure.

There’s a faster boat hiding within the base philosophy of this concept, but it’s going to be coming along a bit later and it will have a distinct set of design rules for a much different purpose.

The typical beach cat tends to suffer from a small collection of problems that make them somewhat less than desirable for coastal, camp-cruising type applications and a full day on the water with no breaks.

At the top of the list of things that could be better are the issues of:

1. Low bridgedeck clearance, which is the primary cause of slamming in a choppy seaway.
2. Fixed primary stability that is a lower design priority compared to the go-fast regime at which they excel.
3. Restricted leg placement arrangements while seated on what is normally a flat hull deck and adjoining trampoline surface.

The design of the Neo 21 addresses each of these basic issues, as well as solving a few additional problems, making for a really fun, fast and stable beach style cat for coastal cruising and camping.

 Striking a balance between the typical big beach cat and some other cats with much more flared hulls, the Neo experiences a bit of both design advantages by having mildly flared hulls as a key element of their design.

Because the hulls are not meant for sleeping quarters, or sitting within, the flare angle can be kept down, reducing the effect of wetted surface drag when pushing through a seaway. Similarly, because of the mild flare, the Neo has a lot more reserve buoyancy than a beach cat. In real terms, this means a boat that will be able to strongly resist the tendency to want to bury its leeward bow when pushed hard, or when taking a surprise gust. Not only will the skipper of the Neo 21 get more time to take action to avoid a pitchpoling incident, but he’ll have more of a safety cushion to stay way from the scenario in the first place.

Cautionary Timeout: There isn’t a boat out there that can’t get tossed by wild conditions, or poor seamanship. If you decide to build the Neo 21, you will need to observe and respect all the same danger points of sailing to stay upright and moving towards your destination. Even though the Neo 21 is capable of filling many of your boating dreams, it is not a magic carpet that can get you out of any jam you manage to ignore too long.

Let’s face it, one of the really great advantages of having a multihull, is the speed benefit over a monohull of the same size.  The Neo design presents an attractive hull design that is decidedly cruising oriented while retaining the key aspects of outstanding performance under sail, or motor. Just as important is the aesthetic impression of the Neo hulls. They just look fast… even when sitting at anchor.

There’s more, though, to effcient boat performance than the design of the hulls. One of the key elements to overall performance and truly good upwind sailing potential is the efficiency of the jib. Jib efficiency is very closely tied to the tension of the forestay and the issue has to be addressed specifically for beach-style catamarans.

Bigger cats place a large beam at the bow and equip it with a seagull striker to maintain high levels of forestay tension. While the Neo 21 is equipped with a beam at the bow, it is as much there to provide a nice taught forward trampoline perimeter, as it is to help with forestay tension. The real power behind the forestay tension on the Neo is obtained through the central pod, which runs the entire length of the boat.

Much like the ultra high-tech, D35 cats, the center pod on the Neo performs a number of design, structural and utility tasks for the boat, not seen on other beach cats of this type. This pod acts as a structural beam fore to aft and provides solid fixing points for the sliding beams that connect the two hulls. The center pod also allows for the rig to have a very taught forestay, which properly shapes the leading edge of the jib for much better pointing upwind and sail shaping. Because the pod absorbs a good deal of the compression loads of the rig, it serves to lessen the compression loading on the main beam. The smaller total load on the main beam allows for the removal of a dolphin striker from the engineered beam, allowing for faster setup and take-down times on the launch ramp.

Above the deck, the trampoline deck volume of the pod serves as a storage compartment for the anchor and ground tackle while cruising and also provides a really nice back support for sitting out on the forward tramp surface. Well aft, the pod provides a very strong, outboard engine mounting point behind the aft beam sliding structure.

So, is this just a case of,  “Hey, why not just build a trimaran?”

Not in my opinion. The pod is significantly smaller in height, as well as beam, than any trimaran hull might be for a boat this size and is very easily and quickly constructed. The application benefits of the form far outweigh the time, money and weight to include the pod in the build of the Neo 21. I see the pod as a clever means for spreading the powerful loads of the mast, as well as a way to comfortably keep the entire boat aligned while spreading, or compressing the beam at the launch ramp. The center pod is not a principal flotation form, though it will provide for a decent degree of buoyancy, should the Neo be capsized.

In place of these fixed beams, Neo uses three structural beam elements. The full width, removable forward beam is positioned at the bow and serves as the mounting point for the forestay, as well as the forward limit of the bow area trampoline surface. The main and aft beams are each made of two, equal diameter tube sections, which slide past one another through fixed containment structures mounted to the deck height surface of the center pod.

The trailering configuration of the Neo 21 is very simple after lowering the mast and removing the rudder system.

1.) The forward beam sections are removed from their half sockets on the inside surface of each hull and the alignment slot in the center pod

2.) the main and aft beams slide past one another in the two containment structures and the hulls slide toward the centerline until the boat is at trailer legal width.

3.)The sliding beams are then pinned in place for trailering and the forward beam tube is bundled with the main sail and boom.

As discussed previously, the standard Neo 21 is designed to use the rig (230 sq. ft. of sail area), sailing hardware and rudders from a donor Hobie 18 . H18′s are available all over the place at near fire sale prices, so the really expensive stuff for a homebuilt boat, the rig, sails and rudder systems, are easily obtained.

I am suggesting that the Neo be equipped with a set of mast stabilizing lines that mount to the mast at the rigging hounds and are fastened on each side of the main beam. There is a gin pole that drops into a socket in the forward part of the center pod that serves as the lever to hoist the mast while the stabilizing lines keep the rig from falling off to the side during stepping. The forestay is used for this procedure with a rope extension that is quickly clipped into place on the forestay shackle. The rope is led to the hand winch on the trailer for the hoist.

Once fully raised, the safety lines are unclipped and fastened to the mast and the forestay is shackled in place. This is an easy, simple method for mast stepping that has virtually no danger of getting out of control and can be done by one person, if they are strong enough to safely move the mast into the correct position for stepping.

The hull pans and the rounded deck surfaces of the Neo are strip built in Western Red Cedar, or other suitable softwood. The large, planar hull sides are constructed from ¼” marine plywood. This gives the Neo the look and feel of a production boat with rounded surfaces employed where they matter most, the in-the-water hull shapes and the rounded, wave shedding surfaces of the decks. The easily fabricated hull sides of plywood have smooth, softly flared runs, bow to stern.

In the cockpit, the inner edges of the hull decks are notched back at deck level to provide a nice leg angle when seated on one of the center facing cockpit lounges on each hull. These seats are removable for transport and have backs that fold down for a more compact storage unit in the hulls.

There is also a fully rotating, contour shaped skippers chair located just forward of the aft beam. This chair gives the skipper a full, 360 degree view by just spinning around with his feet. Want to face forward awhile and talk to the other folks on the boat while comfortably driving… you can turn the seat any way you want it while having your fanny cradled in comfort. The owner/builder can even install a contour shaped seat with a reclining back feature. The guy doing the driving gets to pick how he wants to sit and in what direction he will face.

The hull decks have nicely spaced access hatches and ports for easy storage of everything from the camping gear, to a built-in cooler.

The main deck is a hard, flat surface that serves as perfect platform for tent pitching when at anchor. Along with the area provided by the notched deck surfaces, the owner can comfortably pitch a 7′x7′ domed camping tent for remarkable comfort for a family of three. I’ve seen this size of tent available for under $100, making for a great value… if you pick one that can hold together for several seasons.

If the owner so chooses, they can also drop 4′ stanchions into built-in sockets at the four corners of the deck/hull area and hang a large awning over the entire bridgedeck, supported by a topping lift, or boom gallows. Weather covers of this type can be anything from bone simple to pretty darn luxurious, complete with no-see-um netting, depending on the desires of the owner. The advantage is that the tent volume can be extended out over the decks of the boat on each side, making for a much bigger space than a 7×7′ tent. Like anything else about boats, the final choice will be determined by preferences… and budget.

Admittedly, this whole, tent camping thing on an open deck catamaran is not for everyone. For those individuals/families who do not care for this approach, the Neo would probably not be a viable boat for your needs unless you are looking for a big, quick, day sailing beach cat.

If you don’t like camping, I would suggest the build of my Gato Especial design at 21′ LOA. The Gato has a full cabin with interior room for a queen-sized bed, a small galley and a compact space for a port-potti that can be screened for privacy.

The deck surfaces of the Neo are hinged, accordion fashion and folded to a vertical position for the sliding together of the hulls for trailering.

The cockpit notches in the main hull also provide strong creature comfort for long sailing sessions, as the crew can bend their legs while sitting on the removable, fold-down seats on each hull. This feature immediately takes the boat away from the typical, tiring beach cat arrangement of having your legs straight-out on the trampoline surface for hours on end.

The tramp forward is made from any of several suitable trampoline products which have small wind and wave resistance, while still providing a nice place to lay out on a warm sailing day. For reference, as well as a highly regarded supplier, you can check-out the various types of trampoline surfaces that are available. http://www.multihullnets.com/product/product.htm

You can go with the typical, beach cat style trampolines made from a mesh-like woven cloth, but I’ve seen very good knotted, or woven net tramps as well as surfaces made of flat webbing, sewn at each cross-over point for totally secure footing. Cost, use and durability will guide you to the proper decision on the tramp surfaces.

With the main hull now successfully launched and then paddled briefly with his wife and kids, Ben has taken the first important step towards the completion of his XCR.

Sailing and paddling trips await Ben with this boat as it can seemlessly morph from a straight-up decked tripping canoe to a very nice sailing trimaran in minutes.

There are all sorts of photos of Ben’s build progress at his Blog site.  http://www.bensboats.blogspot.com/ 

Take a few moments to scan through his entries and you can see for yourself how easy it is to build an XCR of your own.

The boat looks spectacular, guys!

With the installation of the most recent elements on the Gato Especial,  the builders are now ready to fabricate the hull turning structure that will stabilize the boat for the big rollover.

 Underneath the hull, they will build mirrored, 45 degree chamfer panels that strengthen the hull-to-bridgedeck connection on the underside. They will then install a triangular shaped longitudinal beam from bow to transom. This form will spread the compression loads from the mast, give the boat bullet-proof stiffness fore to aft and deflect waves from unimpeded slamming of the bottom of the bridgedeck while underway.

The hull turning process has been completed, the builders have installed the wave deflection/ longitudinal beam and the hull-to-bridgedeck chamfer panels.

The builders apparently had quite a fun session with the hull turning, as they had several friends over and the actual process went quite quickly.

 Once they had it upside down, they quickly installed the wave deflection unit and moved on to build the chamfer panels.

The addition of these two structures insures a very strong boat, fore to aft, as well as a more comfortable ride in a choppy seaway. In the time since these images were sent, the builders have completed the fairing of the complete underside of the boat and are ready to seal it with a coat of epoxy to prep the hull for a first coat of primer.

The guys in Greece are serious about their boat building . They just keep moving along at a steady clip, working to complete their new catamaran. They have installed the bridgedeck installation support strip and fixed the hulls to the correct spacing for the complete joining of the Gato Especial hulls.