Rotomolded sailboat concept-grad project

Hey all, just joined the website, Iam an Industrial Design student working on my grad project- a rotomolded daysailor. The innovation in the project is to design integrated ammenities that can be used to create a tent or camper-like enviorment on the daysailor. I am still in the research and conceptual phase and would greatly appreciate the input on the survey that I have developed to detiremine the interest in the concept. Any additional comments are appreciated.

Survey Questions

1. How much would you pay for a recreational daysailor?( non-racer)
2. How much would you pay for a weekender sailing cruiser? (think catalina 22)
3. how much would you pay for a daysailor with overnight/ weekend ammenities?
4. What aspects of the average daysailor would you change?
5. If you could add an ammenity to a daysailor, what would it be?
6. What would you bring with you if you could use your daysailor as a camper/ tent?
7. Any suggestions/ comments?

 

I would like to know what size you would consider a daysailer -
Rotomolding is very rare over say 16ft, but you mention a catalina 22.
I am not sure I would be interested in a rotomolded boat the size of a catalina 22 - it seems an impractical material.
In canoes that are rotomoulded, they have "space hulls" for bouyancy and stength - in a day sailer, I would expect top be able to "get inside" to store gear etc.
Can you provide a bit more info about the concept you are working on please?

 

The boat is going to be somewhere between 14 and 16 feet,the catalina reference was just a market interest question. The concept is to incorporate softgood innovations/ designs into a daysailor so that it is possible to spend the night or have a shelter on the boat. Marketed towards younger sailors and warm water sailors, the boat allows people to use a low cost and highly durable daysailor as not only a recreational craft, but also as an enviorment to take shelter in while on the water, or beached.

 

The boat is going to be somewhere between 14 and 16 feet,the catalina reference was just a market interest question. The concept is to incorporate softgood innovations/ designs into a daysailor so that it is possible to spend the night or have a shelter on the boat. Marketed towards younger sailors and warm water sailors, the boat allows people to use a low cost and highly durable daysailor as not only a recreational craft, but also as an enviorment to take shelter in while on the water, or beached.

 

I wouldnt consider that a daysailer, barely enough to get out on the water let alone sleep in it.
Can you make it wide enough using rotomoulding to keep any gear in it?, or put any hatches in to keep gear dry?

I think you might consider it a recreational boat of some kind, but not a day sailer as such.

 

Upon looking up on the Vangaurd website, the PICO( which is the Hull and Deck inspiration for the concept) is referred to as a "recreational" boat, so you are correct in the classification. I guess i wasn't aware of there being that much of a difference between the two classes. In regards to the storage and size, the PICO is only 12 feet long and appears to have oppurtunies to integrate storage options into the hull to allow for overnight gear. By increasing the sidewalls and not only giving more bench support while sailing, storage could also be innvoated into those enlarged setee areas. By expanding the beam and length to respect a 16 foot length, i would imagine you could have more than enough room to enclose with the pop up tent feature so that 3 or 4 people could inhabit the space.

Both the PICO and the RS FEVA are roto sailboat plans that i could see being altered to support the concept.

links:
http://www.teamvanguard.com/2007/boats/RSFeva/photos.htm
http://www.teamvanguard.com/2007/boats/Pico/photos.htm

What exactly is the difference between a recreational boat and a daysailor? The daysailor having a more competitive edge, rather than just sailing?