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.

 

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.