Dreaming of the home build sport tri again

[Bigfork]

I've been doing my share of lingering on the fringe at this site, the Hobie forum, and Sailing Anarchy. Loads of good stuff out there. I firmly believe that one can improve knowledge and skill through comprehension and practice...ie: watching skiing movies (closely) makes you a better skier. Ergo, sponging info from everyone's posts seems to add to my bank of sailing skill sets. I thank all those who post more than I do...So here is the skinny:

My brother is trashing his H-18 rebuild project in lew of acquiring the same boat--but in much better condition. Now he has two of everything and can make the best of both worlds.

The old hulls...problems galore, but perhaps salvageable as amas. One has had a full top-sheet/core rebuild at over the cost of nearly 1000$ in glass and time. They second (where the project was wisely terminated after much thought given to the condition of the second hull and other problems the cat had) has yet to be fixed. Unfortunately, both hulls were so soft (tip to transom) that a severe re-build was the only option and now all has stopped with just one hull "finished".

Sooo...silly ideas left and right:
1. Put the hulls into supportive cradles, on close centers, as if for a ground-up build.
2. Remove the rebuild on the one hull and gut out the remaining soft one.
3. Now the interior of both has been revealed as if it were a narrow canoe. Install the necessary reinforcement and additional bulkheads to the interior in order to support aka loads and an aka that either curves or leaves the deck at a higher point (essentially creating some sort of curving build-up to distance the water from the aka). Rebuild the dagger trucks while I'm in there (angled perhaps?).

I guess my question are:
Is this just a total waste of time? Do I hear "throw the hulls in the landfill and start from scratch" (??) I'm a recycler and I just can't bear to see these hulls in the dump. The bottoms are fine, no soft spots, only minor blems and dings. Seems like I could modify/build up the inside quite easily in order to configure the chosen aka system. Could I cedar strip the new topsheet or am I better off sourcing foam and fiber glass like my brother had initially done?

The next main question is what sort of vaca can I get away with? I can cedar strip or stitch and glue. Would H-18 hulls be enough buoyancy for a 18 foot performance vaca that could barely squeeze a boy and girl below. I really like Chris's designs (perhaps the vaca from the Collage, Montage, or similar size). I'd love to have something that could still rip it up, but stuff a person (and small wife) below. It has to handle irregular 5 foot wave trains on often blustery, mountainous lake of Flathead Lake, Montana. It has to be a "trailer tri". But, I still want speed (in launch and under sail)! I'm used to slow cabin cruisers and screaming fast Hobie cats.

Not being a boat builder, having years of sailing experience, and having expert wood working skills leaves me tip-toeing around some the naval architectural language. What kind of vaca (size and volume) would be a good match to H-18 amas for a sport emphasized minimalist camper? I fancy the notion of getting production plans for the vaca and modifying from there as necessary.

Thanks for all your thoughts...likely the landfill but I had to ask...

Future trimaran builder, bones.

[Chris Ostlind]

Hey Bones...

Are you back in the land of round door knobs, yet?

[Tantalus]

Hey Bigfork,
having just sold my F24MKII (and bought an old motor launch), I can vouch for the Farrier designs. Google Ian Farrier and enjoy....

Pierre