Lock Crowther Biography.

[oldsailor7]

I was browsing the web and came across this Bio for Lock Crowther.
It may be of interest to Locks fans.


Lock Crowther

Famed muli-hull designer of Australia. Among his most notable designs were the Buccaneer & Kraken series trimarans, Spindrift 45 & Catana 40 cats, as well as a great number of other cruising, racing, charter/commercial and power cats and tris.
Lock Crowther built his first boat, a trimaran called BUNYIP, in 1959 while still a teenager. The following year he raced in the Easter regatta at Paynesville, Victoria, Australia, beating 300 boats to the finish. The success of his boat inspired several of his friends to build similar boats and thus Lock Crowther’s design career started, though he did not expect to make a living out of it, and studied electrical engineering. In the early 1960s, when there were only a handful of people designing multihulls, Lock Crowther was involved in this international scene and also a member of the Amateur Yacht Research Society.

BUNYIP was followed by the Kraken 25 design, which somewhat widened Crowther’s recognition. His reputation was established internationally in 1996, when his first offshore racing trimaran BRANDERSNATCH won the Sydney to Hobart multihull race. Even more notice was taken in 1966, when a Kraken 40 won the New York to Bermuda race with him aboard.

During Lock Crowther’s career, more than 2500 of his designs were built. He started out with racing boats, where most of his new ideas were developed, though he was successful drawing cruising and commercial craft as well. Among his outstanding designs was the trimaran SPIRIT OF AMERICA, which was an early user of GRP-foam sandwich construction and had innovative composite beams with uni-directional fibres and turned-down ends. Lock Crowther also developed the use of ‘bulbous bows’ as a measure to reduce pitching, and hence increase speed when sailing upwind in a swell.
Since his death in 1993, Crowther Designs was run by Lock Crowther’s son, Brett.
On the 27th of July 2004 Crowther Pty Ltd was shut down and the company name de-registered.
Brett moved on to join INCAT P/L to form INCAT- CROWTHER, and concentrate on development of commercial vessels. Lock Crowthers DIY multihull sailboat plans are now permanently archived and no longer available.

[bad dog]

I had the great pleasure of racing on Lock's own last boat, a 48' cat named Deguello (built 1989 in Gladstone QLD), which moored then in Pittwater (just north of Sydney), now sold and gone to Hobart. Lock actually died on board of a heart attack I think, and I'm sure his ghost assisted in getting us fired up when needed. He was a very clever man, and all multihull designers now stand on his shoulders (amongst several others!).

[oldsailor7]

Lock actually died on board of a heart attack I think,

Yes it was a bit sad.
Deguello was about 1 1/2 NM offshore when Lock suffered a heart attack and was given resusitation to keep his heart beating. The ASR helicopter was on the scene in record time but the mainsail hung up on a jammed track slide and could not be lowered. As a result the heli was not able to land a small team with life saving equipment. By the time they came out in a fast boat it was too late. RIP Lock. :(

[sabahcat]

I put up some of his design notes and info on wave induced capsize on this thread here

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f48/lock-crowther-design-notes-as-promised-5910.html

[oldsailor7]

Lock had many, many friends and aquaintances. If any of you have anecdotes, or tales to tell, of Lock and his lifetime, it would be nice if you could see fit to tell them here in this thread.
A lot of us would be really interested.
For instance here's one.

Lock had a very dry sense of humour.
When He and Logan Apperley came over to Canada for the World Multihull Symposium in June 1976, They sailed with my wife and I on our Buccaneer 28 No:1 in an overnight race on Lake Ontario. The next morning we were sailing along in light winds when Logan went out onto the bow of the Stbd float to hank on the spinnaker pole downhaul----and promptly fell overboard.
There was a moment or two of ghastly silence and then two sets of white knuckles showed up on the rail at the aft end of the float.
Without missing a beat Lock shouted, " Logan--stop mucking about and get back on board" I'm sure Logan will never forget that.

[Ad Hoc]

He worked as a customer rep, for a client, in the company i worked at in the early 90s. Was bloody tall, as i recall, nice bloke easy to chat with. He sadly died shortly after the project was finished.

[Corley]

I found the following on the web sadly it seems Howard Stephenson has passed away as I've tried to contact him without success to let him know I was doing up Lock's Kraken 25 Trimaran. Out of interest does anyone know what became of Trio or Bunyip? I'm also interested as to the fate of one of Lockie's later daysailing tri's Jabberwock.

TRIMARANS ON THE GIPPSLAND LAKES

I have learnt a lot from my friends. Stuart Harris and others taught me about amateur radio. David Theobald and I together learnt saltwater light game-fishing. David Williamson showed me how popular songs were constructed. Lock Crowther taught me a lot about how boats were designed and stimulated my interest in learning more.

His real name was Lachlan, but he couldn't stand it, and insisted on being called Lock, or Lockie. I knew him slightly from our home town, Bairnsdale. In 1960 or 1961 we ended up by coincidence in the same Melbourne boarding-house. We were both part-time students. As Lockie had a car, he would sometimes give me a ride home to Bairnsdale for the weekend. On one of these weekends home I went to Paynesville, about 15 Km from Bairnsdale, on the Gippsland Lakes. This was one of my favourite places, because of the boats there. There was the Government Slipyard, with its two RAAF crashboats. I loved to peer through the portholes at their triple straight-eight Packard engines. Tied up near the slipyard were rows of fishing boats and cabin cruisers. Between Christmas and New Year there would be speedboat races on the lake. Home-built Bondwood three-pointers powered by modified V-8 car engines would tear around the course at speeds reaching thirty knots and more.

There were sailing boats at Paynesville too, but they were too slow to attract my interest, until one Saturday afternoon I saw something that moved like a speedboat with sails. From a distance of half a kilometre or so I could see a huge plume of spray arcing out from either side of the boat as it rocketed towards Montague Point in a gust of wind. I wanted to be on that boat.

I knew that Lockie and his family were keen on sailing and that they had built a trimaran. As the sailing speedboat I saw that afternoon was a trimaran, I guessed, correctly, that it belonged to Lockie's family. It was not long before I'd wangled an invitation to go sailing.

Their trimaran, 6 metres long, had been designed by Lockie and built out of plywood on wooden frames and stringers by him, his two brothers and their father. Maybe his sister and mother had a hand in it too; they were a close family. The tri was sloop-rigged with a wooden mast. The balanced jib was attached to a boom. The decks between the main hull and the floats were plywood. In an effort to provide lift, the floats were flat-bottomed. Although this feature was not an absolute failure, more often than not it just created extra drag. The trimaran was named Bunyip, after an Australian mythical creature.

Another feature, intended to prevent broaching, was the very full bow on the main hull. This was the reason for the twin jets of water that came off the forefoot, ensuring that at any speed at all the crew became absolutely saturated.

On my first outing, we were three-up; I was just a passsenger. As the wind was fairly light, the Crowthers had rigged a single-luffed spinnaker as a genoa. One of the brothers was out on a trapeze and Lockie was steering. I just sat there, thrilled by the water hosing off the bow into my face, by the rush of wind and by the streaming wake. I was hooked, but I was still a student, with no spare money at all. Building a trimaran myself was out of the question, at least for the time being.

Lockie, feeling that he could do better with a new design, started work, in a Melbourne suburban backyard, on a cat-rigged single-hander about 600 mm. shorter than his first effort. The sail was fully battened, with a huge roach. The side-decks were plywood. Instead of a trapeze, there was a sliding seat which could also be pivoted fore and aft. A new idea was the use of a daggerboard in each vee-bottomed float, canted inwards at forty-five degrees so as to provide both lift and lateral resistance. There was also a conventional daggerboard in the main hull.

This design was not a success. It was too heavy, because of the sliding seat and because it was built out of heavy hardwood plywood instead of the fir plywood which had been to build the earlier design. Being deep in the water, having no jib and with two off-centre daggerboards, the tri would not tack properly. It was almost always necessary to back the main and reverse the rudder to get onto the new tack.

Lockie's next attempt was an even bolder step into the unknown. Fortunately, it was much more successful. At that time racing in C-class catamarans for the "Little America's Cup" was all the rage. Lockie decided to design and build a C-class trimaran. The C-class rules required a maximum length of 25 feet (7.6 metres) with a sail area of 300 square feet (28 square metres). At that time his ideas were somewhat influenced by Scandinavian square-metre keelboats, whose main design restriction was also a fixed sail area. They seemed to go well with their large overlapping jib, a genoa, just as Lockie's first design went well in light airs with a genoa. So the new design featured 28 square metres of sail area, about 11 square metres of it in the genoa. This allowed a relatively short aluminium mast, just over nine metres tall, as I recall.

The main hull was quite different from any of the C-class catamarans. The curved forefoot carried forward into a very fine overhanging curved bow. The mid-section was a conventional (for a multi-hull) semi-circle, but the bottom was flat by the time it reached the transom. The floats had a similar bow, but with a vee-shaped midsection; the afterbody tapered towards a triangular reverse transom. I am not sure where these ideas came from, but they certainly produced an elegant shape. I guess he was trying to minimize wetted surface area and reduce hobbyhorsing. Lockie drew up a nice set of plans for this boat, including an isometric projection which I greatly admired

The three hulls were cold-moulded, with a lot of effort put in by his family, and some by me too, stapling the veneers, then pulling the staples out after the glue dried. (This reminds me of the way ships were built in the days before the steel plates were welded together: half the building crew would be making holes in the plates and the other half filling them up with rivets. Some aircraft are still built this way, although not with steel plate, of course.)

By now I was earning a proper wage and I wanted to build my own trimaran. For someone who had never made anything more difficult than a doorstop, this was a major decision. I reckoned that I could rely on Lockie and other yachtie friends to advise me on boatbuilding, and save a lot of time by purchasing a ready-made main hull. But who made stock trimaran hulls? No-one, of course; but Charles Cunningham was turning out fibreglass shells for his 6-metre Austral 20 catamaran. I bought one of these, decked it with plywood, built timber-and-ply crossbeams and floats to Lockie's design and fabricated much of the hardware from stainless-steel plate. E.F. Prior of St Kilda made up a genoa and fully battened, heavily roached main out of sky-blue Terylene. The spaces between the hulls were filled with two canvas trampolines, also made by Prior at what my mother considered an exorbitant price. The result was a cut-down version of Lockie's latest creation, with seven percent less sail area, less beam and length and a lot less weight.

Instead of a daggerboard, I followed Cunningham's idea of using a leeboard. Once we solved the engineering problems -- I broke several boards -- this set-up worked quite well, but obviously was less efficient than a daggerboard. Eventually I discarded the leeboard, glass-and-epoxied a daggerboard case into the hull and made a nice hardwood daggerboard which never looked like breaking. This arrangement proved to be much more efficient. This was the first time I had used epoxy resin. In those days it was very expensive and hard to come by. One of the Bulmer brothers was an industrial chemist and he was able to purchase some for me at a reasonable price. It was as thick as treacle on a winter's day, so I would scoop out each small batch into a pot, heat it on the kitchen stove to bring it to a manageable viscosity, mix it with the right amount of hardener, then apply it very quickly before it started to set.

Meanwhile, Lockie's larger tri, which he named Kraken, was performing well on the Gippsland Lakes. Admittedly the only competition came from Lightweight Sharpies and Flying Dutchmen, so it was hard to gain a comparison with other similar boats -- C-Class catamarans, for instance. In due course I finished my boat. It should have been up with his, at least in light airs but, partly because of my inexperience, my "Trio" was hardly ever a match for the bigger tri. There was one occasion when Trio beat them all, Kraken included: one of the Gippsland Lakes Yacht Club's annual long-distance races. The course was set from the yacht club at Paynesville, south-west along Lake Victoria to Waddy Point and return, a round-trip of about 15 nautical miles. As there was a gentle south-easterly sea-breeze that day, the course was virtually two long reaches, with no tacking and just a gybe at Waddy Point. We won easily, in record time.

We also used to cruise the lakes although, without auxilliary power, we ran the risk of being becalmed. Once Hugh Crowther and I took Trio for a day-sail to Lakes Entrance, about 15 nautical miles from Paynesville. We arrived there in good time, had our picnic lunch and headed for home. By the time we got to Metung, only half-way back, it was dark and we had run out of wind. I had to call my father to come and drive us home. We sailed the boat back to Paynesville the following weekend.

Lockie once took Kraken to compete on Port Phillip Bay. It turned out not to be competitive against large catamarans. They were designed for the bigger seas and stronger winds of the Bay. Our tris excelled in the light breezes and small chop which we mainly encountered on the Gippsland Lakes.

This was fun, but even more fun was when there was a beam reach in a stronger breeze. The sheets would be just started, the apparent wind being well forward of abeam. My crew would be out on a trapeze and I would be out there on a trapeze too, barely maintaining control via the tiller extension, nearly three metres long.

I also enjoyed light-weather sailing. Neither tri had a spinnaker, but we hardly needed them: our technique was to tack downwind, heading up in the lulls and bearing off in the puffs. Even to windward both tris were faster than all the monohulls, although we would lose out if there was any short tacking to be done.

These good times eventually came to an end. I left for Queensland, returned briefly, sold my boat and went overseas. Lockie decided to give up his day job and move to Sydney where he became a famous and successful designer of trimarans and catamarans.

Nearly forty years on and living over a thousand kilometres from the sea, I still daydream about boats. These days my interest has returned to powerboats, because I enjoy fishing and need plenty of shade; my skin no longer lets me sit out under the sun for hours. Maybe I can find a design somewhere for an easy-to-build trimaran which could be fitted out with minimal camping-style accommodation and powered by a smallish outboard engine.

Howard Stephenson

November 1999

[rebel1]

I too had been "touched" by Lock in late 1969 and 1970 but not by involvement with his early racing designs. In January 1970 I was transferred by my employer to Townsville NQ., where I found two of Locks early cruiser/racing designs had recently been launched. Both boats were 33ft long and of a design by Lock called I think "tempest" versions.

One boat called Jindivik was owned by a Don McGrath, the other by a local engineer, Ian Hamilton, was called Nomad.

These boats were full bridge deck versions of what was known as the Kracken 33. Slightly wider in the main hull than a Kracken, a habitable cabin, and in the case of Jindivik a small cabin aft of the rear beam, cold molded round bilge plywood construction with what today could almost be called a center cockpit. Nomad's cockpit was in the stern and one would sit on the rear beam and tiller steer.

Both of these boats "owned" the Townsville Cruising Yacht Clubs easter race to Dunk and the Townsville to Whitsunday series in the early to mid 70's.

Jindivik in fact held the Townsville Dunk Island race record for many years prior to it being beaten by a later Lock Crowther design. The race was 96Nm as the crow flies and Jindivik finished the course in 8 hours 16 minutes. Very quick in those days.

I had the pleasure to be crew on Jindivik during that race ( and many other races) and can remember the boat surfing down huge waves, completely controllable, and us, the crew, celebrating whenever the log showed over 20knots.

Mid 70's saw Don Hinch sell Manta 11 to a local doctor and I had the pleasure to sail on this boat during a Townsville to Brampton Island race.

In short, I have a huge respect for Lock I must, now my memories have been revived, contact Lock Crowther’s son, Brett to see if he has copies of the "Tempest" design.

[brian eiland]

I put up some of his design notes and info on wave induced capsize on this thread here

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f48/lock-crowther-design-notes-as-promised-5910.html
Did you post, or was there posted another such subject thread on that other forum about Lock's designs??

I had gathered together a couple of his yearly 'portfolios' and scanned some of his better designs with the aim to post them over on that forum. I got distracted by other work and forgot about the project. I'm sure those scans are somewhere around my office.

To my knowledge there is no one really actively selling Lock's old plans, so I thought it might be OK to post some here on these forums to keep his memory alive??

...what a great guy. I met him on several occasions when he visited the USA.

[Barba 22]

Hello everyone,

I have a question regarding a Crowther Tempest 37 trimaran. Can anyone give me some information on that boat? I found virtually nothing on the internet, so every bit of information will be very appreciated. The intended use would be cruising in the Indian Ocean.

The actual boat can be seen here:

http://tri4sale.net/

Thanks.

[rebel1]

Hello everyone,

I have a question regarding a Crowther Tempest 37 trimaran. Can anyone give me some information on that boat? I found virtually nothing on the internet, so every bit of information will be very appreciated. The intended use would be cruising in the Indian Ocean.

The actual boat can be seen here:

http://tri4sale.net/

Thanks.

Barba, My recollection is that the Tempest was designed by Lock at 33 feet. Having said that, I do know that one of the boats I referred to in my earlier post, "Nomad", was lengthened by extending the stern in an effort by the owner to beat his rival "Jindivik".

Looking at your pics I would suspect that boat has had the same treatment as the skeg hung rudder was under the stern in the standard design and the transom was more upright and immersed at rest. This modification would make the boat about 37 feet LOA.

Although I have had no contact with the builder of Nomad for many years I believe him to still be in Townsville. Should you wish to know more then send me an email to rebel3 at tpg dot com dot au and I'll pass on what details I have to enable you to contact him. Change the email address to a normal format.

[Gary Baigent]

Barba22, here is a crappy reproduction from an old AYRS.

[rebel1]

Gary, Thanks for that copy. Sure brings back some memories of not only very pretty boats but very quick ones at that.

I consider myself very fortunate to have sailed on designs by two pioneers of Tri's in Aussie land. Lock and Hedley Nicoll were the driving force of the industry at that time.

[catsketcher]

I never sailed the Tempest but had a Twiggy. The Tempest was in Lock's first attempt at a cruising tri range - Zephyr, Tempest, 38 foot Impala and a larger one as well.

I thought the Tempest looked a little fine. It was drawn before Lock and John Hitch drew the Kraken 33 (Lock told me the design was a collaboration) After Bandersnatch he beefed up the designs.

The tri will be an old design with little load carrying or volume inside for its length.

cheers

Phil

[Barba 22]

Hello and thanks for the input. It's very much appreciated.

I understand that the boat doesn't have very much space inside but it's not so much of an issue in the tropics. It's the space outside that you want there. A small cabin to hide from the rain when sailing, is more or less sufficient. At anchor, you rig a peace of cloth over the boom and you're fine.

However, I was not able to figure from those pictures how much space really there is on the deck. Also, with no daggerboards, I wonder about the capacty of that boat to sail to weather, especially in short, steep seas?

The carrying/loading capacity is more of an issue than the size of the cabin. Even though I intend to sail "light" (no 40KW genset to run the 15' plasma TV...) , I have to carry some rice and beens, and some chain and anchors...

Cheers

[Buckster]

I actually recently bought a Crowther Tempest 33. I find it to be very stable and comfortable, but so far the windward performance has been very poor. When I bought the boat, she was badly in need of a bottom job. I sailed throught the summer, then had her pulled in the fall. It was so bad that I was unable to come about through the wind and had to use the motor to turn. I also think she was way overloaded with weight. I have beed in the process of removing unneeded gear and provisions. She is being relaunched in 2 weeks with new bottom paint. I hope for better windward performance. I will keep you informed.

[Barba 22]

Hi Buckster,

This is a very helpful information. I'm very much interested in the results of further testing of windward performance after the bottom job and overload removal. I was considering a small multihull for laid back cruising in the tropics, but she MUST be able to sail to windward...

Best. Senad

[oldsailor7]

These early Tris of Locks were superceded by the Buccaneer (cruising), and Kraken (racing) designs. Although Krakens were very fast they tended to be built too heavy and often proved to be no faster than a well built Buccaneer.
I was fortunate enough to be included in the crew on the first Kraken 40,"Ringo" in the 1969 New york to Bermuda race, setting a race record. I later crewed on Logan Apperlys K40 "Mana Moana". Lock was aboard when she set a record for crossing from Sydney to Auckland NZ. I loved the K40 and have always considered that it would be a great fast cruiser for four. It moved out so effortlessly and was always a delight to sail. Logan sold her shortly after a monohull sailor (who had never sailed in a multihull before) capsized her in the middle of Manly(NSW) harbour, when hit by a "bullet gust" from the eastern hill.
Locks Buccaneer 24 was his best selling design, and the plans are still the only ones of all his design which are still available today,-- sad to say.

[Gary Baigent]

oldsailor, the Kraken 33 and the 40 would still make competitive racing boats with three not difficult alterations: yes, build them lighter, increase the beam to near square platform plus foils in the floats ... and most importantly, put on a decent fractional rig with rotating or wing mast. Turbo Krakens would then shock a lot of people with their performance. Have you got any K plans left at a reasonable price? ... better stand back from the door for the rush.

[oldsailor7]

Lol Gary.
Sadly I haven't got any of Locks plans except the B24.
Unless someone can twist Brett Crowthers arm to release some of them, I don't know if they will ever be available again. :(

[CT 249]

These early Tris of Locks were superceded by the Buccaneer (cruising), and Kraken (racing) designs. Although Krakens were very fast they tended to be built too heavy and often proved to be no faster than a well built Buccaneer.
I was fortunate enough to be included in the crew on the first Kraken 40,"Ringo" in the 1969 New york to Bermuda race, setting a race record. I later crewed on Logan Apperlys K40 "Mana Moana". Lock was aboard when she set a record for crossing from Sydney to Auckland NZ. I loved the K40 and have always considered that it would be a great fast cruiser for four. It moved out so effortlessly and was always a delight to sail. Logan sold her shortly after a monohull sailor (who had never sailed in a multihull before) capsized her in the middle of Manly(NSW) harbour, when hit by a "bullet gust" from the eastern hill.
Locks Buccaneer 24 was his best selling design, and the plans are still the only ones of all his design which are still available today,-- sad to say.

The account I heard from Lock's office of the Kraken 40 capsize on the harbour said that it was more than operator error. And Krisis went over in NZ, too, as did the second 55 in a Sydney-Brisbane.

The Krakens have always been great looking boats and very slick performers, but they do appear to capsize even when monohull sailors aren't involved.

[Gary Baigent]

Ct, I was just behind Krisis when she went over - it was, again, a combination of crew error and a catabatic gust coming over the city and straight down to where Krisis sat moving slowly in a lull. Spinnaker sheets were cleated ... and by the time the crew reached the spi sheet winch, he'd lost balance and fell down the ever steepening angle of the trampoline. From behind it all looked very elegant and slow ... but too fast for the crew. A wider K with foils in floats would be a way to make a slick boat even better, also safer - not that they were unsafe in the first place. Krisis still sails and has done an incredible mileage.

[oldsailor7]

The account I heard from Lock's office of the Kraken 40 capsize on the harbour said that it was more than operator error. And Krisis went over in NZ, too, as did the second 55 in a Sydney-Brisbane.

The Krakens have always been great looking boats and very slick performers, but they do appear to capsize even when monohull sailors aren't involved.

Yes it was more than operator error---but operator error started the result.
I was Logans regular navigator on Manu Moana, but I was not on board that day. Logan himself told me what happened.
When the gust hit logan had just dodged down below for something.
Instead of allowing the boat to point up the mono sailor hauled on the tiller and allowed the boat to heel in regular monohull manner.

The lee hull bow was pressed down so far, ( about three metres in Logans assessment), that the water pressure caused the bow hull sides to implode---and the boat instantly capsized diagonally.
Yes it was a structural failure, but one that needen't have happened.

Thats why I recommend to anyone planning to extend the float bows of the B24, to put in an extra stringer and crossbrace forward of the crossbeam attachment frame.

[CT 249]

Right, but the structural failure was ignored in your post, and a monohull sailor was blamed.....

A bunch of people I know have capsized multis offshore. A few people I know have sunk monos offshore. Those who capsized multis all got back, which is more than all of those who sank monos did.

However, to completely ignore a structural failure in favour of blaming a sailor - and not just blaming a sailor but specifically mentioning that he was a mono sailor - seems to be rather unnecessary.

If a monohull sank because of a mixture of structural failure and a multi sailor's error, would you think it was fair and reasonable if some people completely ignored the structural failure and only mentioned that it was a multi sailor's fault??? If, say, a Farr 40 was knocked down in a broach when being helmed by a multi sailor and the keel fell off, would you be happy if accounts said "the boat was sailed like a multi and therefore it capsized" and those who told the tale conveniently failed to mention the structural failure?

As Gary mentioned, an experienced multi sailor or several also tipped in a Kraken 40 (and a 55) but funnily enough, that was completely ignored and you just mentioned that the mono sailor was guilty....

As I specifically said, I reckon the Ks are great boats; very fast for their day, beautiful; I spent some time looking at a very nice one (I think) off Bundeena the other day.

But they WERE susceptible to crew error, as were other multis of the time, and to not only ignore that but blame it on a particular sort of sailor seems a bit odd. Maybe it would be better if we were balanced in our accounts, rather than conveniently ignoring the stuff that suits our cause and blaming accidents on mono sailors when multi sailors did the same things on the same type of boat.

In my experience, Lock himself was a LOT more balanced and to be fair to his memory, we should be too.

[Sea Stallion]

Locks Buccaneer 24 was his best selling design, and the plans are still the only ones of all his design which are still available today,-- sad to say.

I've got a set of B28 plans.

[oldsailor7]

REF:- Post #24.
Chris. Methinks the lady doth protest too much, :eek:

[catsketcher]

Pat I remember getting told about some "bloody unsafe tri" that capsized when its bow collapsed. That was Manu Moana. I also remember looking over her in Lane Cove a few times in the 80s when she looked a little sad.

I reckon the mono sailor did everyone a favour. I certainly would not want to go to sea on a boat that had float bows that could implode - especially in the flat water of Sydney Harbour. The submersible floats obviously were under done. Far better to learn it there (although in front of a partisan crowd) than out to sea. Obviously either Lock or Logan stuffed up. That's fine, they got on and fixed it and we are all the better for it now. Lesson learned - submersible floats on tris probably need more laminate than 150 % floats.

Also I am very hard on skippers in these situations. When racing a good hand should be on the sheet (don't cleat a kite harbour racing - ever) and the skipper should only go below with an experienced hand on the helm. Also unless you are under the headland you can track the gusts down to you - and if you are so close that you can't track gusts - don't go below. Be better prepared.

If something goes wrong on my boat it is always my fault - as I should have foreseen the situation and prevented it. I wouldn't blame the helmsman at all.

Why am I prickly on this? Well when I was 15 I brought my Nugget home to Sydney to the shaken heads of my friends - they actually stared stone-faced as I motored her through the Spit bridge. All I ever wanted was my mono friends to accept my choice with good nature. I guess I just want to make sure I don't do the same as they did back then.

Plus the other reason - if you asked me what I want to race it would not be multis - probably a J24 or B14, maybe a Laser or a Tasar. Great sailing and great racing, and fabulous sailors in monos.

cheers

Phil

[Gary Baigent]

3 metres down and bearing away - there would have been huge, twisting loads on that buried float. I know the Kraken amas were meant to be submersible - but not that far. Sure, the owner has to take responsibility ... but the helmsman did screw up/down in this case, literally and figuratively. I would have thought the natural reaction for a monohull sailor would be to luff, not bear away.
Krisis snapped one of her ama forward sections off when hit by a large breaker over a reef near North Cape during a heavy weather Round North Island race. Duncan said they knew it was there, kept out and figured the deeper water would have reduced the waves, - "Wrong decision - but we weren't frightened, just terrified."

[catsketcher]

I don't agree Gary - I think that the design criteria for a submersible float must be to remain intact during a 90 degree inversion. (For a 28ft wide 40 footer this is about 12ft - around about half an atmosphere - a heap of stress) Otherwise it is a little like a keelboat that breaks it keel bolts when the strain comes on in a knockdown. When it hits the fan the boat better take it well and in this particular case the boat failed the crew.

Tri bows are always a worry. The Echo I built had an extra stringer along the sides with carbon unis. The thing was buried way back past the front bulkhead in the wing. Three Cheers lost float bow one hitting a boat- that's a Newick, Cirro lost one - a Chamberlin, Iren lost whole floats in race boats and Lock lost a float bow. Absolutely stellar crowd - if only I could draw like the worst of them on a bad day.

CT is keeping mum on a pertinent point. Some years after this he was a cadet yachting journo sent to ask Lock about multis and mentioned the Twiggy - "Do they have submersible floats?" was the query. "No - if they did they would implode" was the response from the great man.

And back to the thread. I knew a bloke with a Tempest. David Drew I think. He cruised it for years and then sold it to get a C10. He kept it very light. It was not a great cruiser as it didn't take much weight and was pretty small inside. Still he liked it a lot. Sadly the end was not good. I was cruising and heard about a tri that dragged anchor at Lady Musgrave. The owner rowed out into the dark to get his boat. He was never seen again and I found bits of the green tri on South Percy. It was sobering considering I had been on the boat a bit.

cheers

Phil

[oldsailor7]

PHIL.
David Drew is alive and well and keeps his cruising catamaran on a mooring in Pittwater. :D
It must have been some other guy.

[Sea Stallion]

REF:- Post #24.
Chris. Methinks the lady doth protest too much, :eek:
A boat has already been built from these plans. Just letting you know they won't pass into obscruity. They are part of the Texas Gulf Coast Multihull library.

[catsketcher]

It wasn't David, Pat - he sold it and bought a Crowther 10. I don't know the name of the guy who he sold it to.

Phil

[Buckster]

My Crowther Tempest 33 has returned to the water at last. She has a new paint job below and above the waterline, and has shed approximately 1000 pounds of weight (it is shocking the crap that people will load on to their boats. Steel pipes? 100 pounds of charcoal?). I am amazed at how well this boat performs. We hit 12 knots on a close reach, and she came about through the wind as pretty as you could wish. This all happened with old sails, and a main rigged with a Dutchman. My next upgrade will be Kevlar sails.

She may not be Lock Crowther's best work, but she is the best boat I have ever sailed.

[cavalier mk2]

Nice boat, the amas look similar to a Nicol Islander though your main hull is more slender. Lifelines will reassure parents if you take people sailing. Post more views if you can.

[Pedigreecats]

Just to add some info about the great designers plans.

Crowther plans are still available from Stuart Bloomfield, he has the rights to them and we are currently building 2 of his designs. Stuart Bloomfield <info@bloomfieldinnovation.com>

[oldsailor7]

Just to add some info about the great designers plans.

Crowther plans are still available from Stuart Bloomfield, he has the rights to them and we are currently building 2 of his designs. Stuart Bloomfield <info@bloomfieldinnovation.com>

Which two ????

[redreuben]

Would the Bucc 28 plans be available from him ?

[Pedigreecats]

You have his e-mail above, I do not know what all Bloomfield has access to. Whathe has done for us are both new designs as far as I know, the 65' Sport Fisher and the 75' Motor sailer and I know he has a new 50' power cat as well.

Stuart@BloomfieldInnovation.com

http://cat-plans.com

[oldsailor7]

Just to put this matter to rest, I have just got off the phone from Brett Crowther.
He said he is fully involved with his work at "Crowther-Incat" and has no further interest in the old Crowther sailboat plans. He said that if Stu Bloomfield has any of the old plans left he is welcome to sell them, as he (Brett) "Couldn't care less". There is no such entity as "Crowther Designs" and that phone number is in fact Crowther-Incats number.
Stu , in his website says:-
"We are exclusive agents for sales of Crowther Multihulls range of sailing design catamaran plans covering racing and cruising designs up to 60' and have access to the entire Crowther Multihulls intellectual property base on multihull sailing design."
So perhaps you should ask Stu if he still has any of the old Crowther plans and is prepared to part with them.

Meanwhile as far as Brett Crowther is concerned ALL of the old plan master copies have been permanently archived. :o

[Corley]

I'll have to have a chat to Stu next meeting and find out what he actually does have.

[brian eiland]

Just to put this matter to rest, I have just got off the phone from Brett Crowther.
He said he is fully involved with his work at "Crowther-Incat" and has no further interest in the old Crowther sailboat plans.

Meanwhile as far as Brett Crowther is concerned ALL of the old plan master copies have been permanently archived. :o
Shame he should dismiss his father's memory in such a casual manner...I guess that's youth

[Gary Baigent]

That is distressing ... and arrogant at the same time. Perhaps he thinks his new stuff is superior to his father's .... I don't think so.

[oldsailor7]

Gary. Don't be too hard on Brett. It was not his decision.
I don't know the whole story, and it's none of my business, but I understand there was some sort of liability case which resulted in the company being wound up and Crowther Pty Ltd was de-registered on 27th of July 2004.
Brett susequently became a partner in Incat-Crowther.

[brian eiland]

I also believe that he was always far more interested in the power vessels than the sailing ones

[Stephen Ditmore]

Just to add some info about the great designers plans.

Crowther plans are still available from Stuart Bloomfield, he has the rights to them and we are currently building 2 of his designs. Stuart Bloomfield <info@bloomfieldinnovation.com>

Where sailboats are concerned it would appear Bloomfield is the inheritor of the Crowther legacy. A visit to http://www.bloomfieldinnovation.com/about.html is worthwhile.

Another interesting Australian catamaran designer is Schionning: http://www.schionningdesigns.com.au

In both sail and power there's not much question that Australia has been a leader in catamaran design (thanks, in great measure, to Lock Crowther). It seems a shame that as far as I know there is no Australian team challenging for the next America's Cup (in catamarans). Should such a team materialize I'd hope both Bloomfield and Schionning would be considered for the design team.

[oldsailor7]

In the above post it gives a reference to Stu Bloomfields website.
That website no longer makes any reference to the availability of Lock Crowthers sailboat plans. Also I have not been able to raise Stu at that phone number. :confused:

[diegokid]

Thats a shame. The 28 sounds like the perfect boat for a small family weekender or coastal cruiser.:(

[sabahcat]

That website no longer makes any reference to the availability of Lock Crowthers sailboat plans.

Are you sure about that?

In addition to the extensive range of plans for Crowther multihull sailboats we sell, we are continuously developing upon the Crowther base of intellectual property which has been developed over decades of research and refinement, with a reputation legendary in the sailing fraternity. Our range of trimaran and catamaran sailboats includes racing boats and cruising boats as well as designs suited to charter/commercial work. We have plans for boats ranging from 24' to 100', including state of the art carbon fibre racing yachts and large commercial catamaran sailboats.

We also offer consulting services on component design and development of systems on trimaran and catamaran sailboats, including:

rig design
scantling specification
hull design
vessel modifications
foil design
deck layout
Design List:

SY016 - 7.5m (26') Production Racing Trimaran (under development)
SY001 - 9.3m (30') Racing Catamaran (Carbon Fibre - Raw to the Core)
C462 - 14m (45') Cruising Catamaran (Crowther 462)
SY014 - 15m (49') Cruising Catamaran (Fibreglass Kit Construction, under development)
C403 - 15.2m (50') Racing Pod Catamaran (Crowther 403 - Wahoo)
C591 - 15.2m (50') Cruising Catamaran (Crowther 591, as seen in MULTIHULLS magazine)
SY017 - 15.2m (50') Aluminium Cruising Catamaran (Aluminium version based on Crowther 591, under development)
SY006 - 16m (52') Cruising Catamaran (Fibreglass Kit Construction, under development)
C294 - 17m (56') Luxury Cruising Catamaran (Crowther 294 - Fibreglass, Aluminium)
C318 - 17.1m (56') Racing Catamaran (Crowther 318 - Raw Nerve)
many others...

http://www.bloomfieldinnovation.com/Multihull-Sailboats.html

[diegokid]

Some "old things" aren't really old, just forgotten. I've got quite a few. One of the shotguns i hunt with is a winchester model "1912" 20 guage. Most folks don't know the first model 12 was the 1912 and only in 20 guage. Uncle gave it to me when I was 11 years old. I don't really hunt anymore but when I take the grandson thats what I use. Two cars over 40 years old, hell my wife is even older than me. If she reads this I'm a goner.

Anyway it sounds like Mr Crowther was one of a kind. I've already ordered the 24 plans. If anyone has the 28 or the smaller kraken plans I would like a copy of them too. If for nothing else historys sake.

One of the museums on a AFB base I was stationed at threw away hundreds of old photographs from the 40's to the 70's. I saved a few of em.

I have a picture postcard from my Great Grandfather of the Wright flyer, you could take a ride on for 5 cents, 10 if you had a postcard made with you in it. He splurged. Only worth anything to me, and its priceless.

I like old stuff. Old stuff that works is even better.

[oldsailor7]

Sabahcat.
I presume you are referring to this line "In addition to the extensive range of plans for Crowther multihull sailboats we sell,"
As far as Brett Crowther is concerned Stu doesn't have any more of Locks plans -----and if he does have some left over he is welcome to sell them.
I can't raise Stu to ask him. Has anyone had more luck.?

[Corley]

If I see Stu at the next meeting of MYCV I'll see what plans he has to sell. He is a busy man these days with a lot of projects on the go and Stu and his wife have recently welcomed twins into the world he was looking somewhat frazzled last time I saw him, not surprisingly. Most of the club have been away at the Multihull nationals at Wangi so with that out of the way we should have a meeting fairly soon.

[Pedigreecats]

Be warned, we sent Stuart Bloomfield several thousand dollars for plans 1 1/2 years ago and got nothing but promisses " by the end of the week you'll have them". and this from the first of November, this year.

"The rudder calculations are complete; I was working on the drawing today, but have not quite completed it. If you give me until tomorrow, I think I can get it to you."



His stuff is now off our site, 1 1/2 years is enough, I don't care how busy you are, don't lie. He has a crew on hold because of this and now we have to get another designer to design our rudder, etc., for the cat he started to design.

I'll let you know if we get our money back, everyone hold your breath. He does get the Trophy though, he's the first designer who did this to us in our 36 years of building composite custom multihulls.

Everything on our site promoting him has been removed and we are warning all clients interested in new cats, don't send money to this one.

[pjssailor]

Helo Buckster
I just found stumbled onto this thread and your boat. I own the one at tri4sale.net. When I bought her 10 year ago I was told she was a tempist. The Austrian tiltle listed her as 33ft but she measures 37'. I can see where she was extended. I think the extension helped the lines a bit. I am glad your work greatly improved her windward performance. As you describe it , it sails now about as mine does. Not a problem to run pretty close. She only draws about 1 meter. Maybe a little more with rather short fixed keel boards on each hull. Frankly, sails better to wind than I expected. Apparently yours was a bit overloaded. Mine seem to handle the load we carry quiet well. In fact, when the breeze gets above 15 knots, I tend to reduce sail. At that wind level, the waves start to get a bit steep in the shallow part of the Adriatic I often sail in, and the boat runs upwind fairly quickly and it gets a bit rougher than I enjoy. Although I admit, I have never seen any signs of flexing. I agree - best boat I have ever sailed. Lloyd Simonson

[oldsailor7]

The Tempest was a first generation Crowther design.
She was superseded by the much more successful Buccaneer 33.
Nevertheless, she was a good boat though.

[pjssailor]

Thanks for the info. Interesting. I certainly like mine. We have sailed her a lot the North Adriatic and into the Croatian Islandshere we often get sudden wind and very strong wind shifts. And my firstg mate is a bit skiterish. But Wellenlaufer has never failed to do anything but reassure my lady.
I will do some looking for the Buccineer. Again thanks. Lloyd

[Buckster]

Lloyd,

I want to thank you for all of the pictures of your boat on the internet. My Tempest 33 was a bare hull when I bought her, and I copied your pictures. We now have a full galley, running water, awning, ect. I am very curious as to how fast you are able to sail at different points of sail. I have been sailing hard, and I have noticed the performance has been dropping off. I can now average about 7-8 knots in about 15-20 knots of wind. I feel like my sails are too streatched.

Buck

[brian eiland]

Does any one have a photo of Lock Crowther's 40' racing cat called "John West"

How about a photo of his 46' cruising design, "Vehia" or "Odara"

[sabahcat]

Does any one have a photo of Lock Crowther's 40' racing cat called "John West"


http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/200523_207943265889954_196203187063962_911740_4140390_n.jpg

Note the marriage proposal on the sail

More memorabilia here http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.196205457063735.56608.196203187063962