Triangular experimental hull

Does it look like this?

http://www.svensons.com/boat/?f=MechanixIllustrated/TheThing/TheThing2.jpg

 

I remember that one. It was called "The Thing" in the 1950's.

 

Both the Cadet and Mirror are Jack Holt designs, one approx twenty years after the other. Weight is somewhere around 54Kg for the hulls, and actually along with the Oppie, they are reasonably good boats, with few vices.

Personally I always found the Cadet underpowered with full rig, but then I did weigh about 68Kg myself, at 17. When it got interesting, they cancelled the racing..... The Mirror is faster and a bit better in a chop, still a remarkable all rounder and a lot of the kits were made from excellent quality plywood.

I think you will struggle to get good performance from a Cadet main, partly too small, partly it is cut to work with a jib. You could try a hull with no rocker, but having seen one hull like that, I would not advise it!. I would think the RS Tera is not a bad guide to what can be done in that sort of size range, and a wooden approximation is possible. It actually took several design iterations to get the Tera shape right as it is quite tricky with these small hulls. Note that that is even for a proper Naval Architect

Now putting a Nat 12 mast and main on a home made 'land yacht' and belting across the playing fields. That was quite good fun....

 

James it all depends a bit on your age and height as well as your weight. Depending on where you are, have you considered a Sabre? They can be home built or you can probably get an older one and do it up. It will be quicker than your Mirror and Cadet and will provide some challenges to learn.
If you must experiment, what about getting an older Flying Ant and modify it to take a single sail. The mast step would need to go forward or the dagger board back - or a bit of both. The hull design is pointy at the front (an improvement to the bluff bow on the Cadet)

In New Zealand we have the Starling which was designed in the late 60s, but would still be NZs most popular class after Opties. This has good racing up to 15 years old and they will definitely plane in a breeze.

Good luck

 

How about we just skip the intermediate ones, and go straight for the boob?

 

Squidly and Tom, I still have the ancient How to build 20 boats magazine with plans for the "Thing". I have never been tempted to build one however.

 

Looks like The Thing needs some serious torturing of the plywood towards stern.

I wonder if superhigh quality plywood was cheaper back then, due to more trees.

 

I suspect that is your standard mode of operation for most things.

Go ahead and start the thread. Dibs on Betty White -long low and wide -a good surfboard shape.