Historical multihulls

Disadvantages

Double the $$$

Double the things to go wrong

Double the windage

Double maintenance aloft etc...................

 

Have to disagree, Red, okay, sail area is larger than single rig so you're paying more there but no way double the cost. The windage is open to question too - because the rigs are lower, less loads, less reinforcements and stays - think it equals out. The big plus is full sail carried hard reaching - will beat an overpowered sloop every time.

 

But not every point of sail is a reach.
Look I'm not against it, in fact I like them, especially the weight/power down low.
But more **** to go wrong, two mast bases to support, shrouds, backstays to reinforce etc = weight, low down maybe but it is still weight that eats the payload budget. E=mc2
The cost probably isn't double but it is certainly a fair bit more x 1.5 maybe.

 

It's a very wise decision; these boats, even in 2014, are very fast and learning how to get the juice from then is already a lot of work. I would make a complete revision of the boat, maybe neglected during years.
The front beam has shown to be a bit undersized, so maybe a carbon dolphin striker would be a good idea to reinforce a 27 years old carbon beam. Only glued, no hole is allowed on this piece.
Rigging hardware can age badly so a very detailed checking is mandatory. The pivoting ball of the mast needed a check up after every race, so a good look at it, with maybe magnaflux and measuring the play with the bearing on the mast is a good idea.
For questions of weight, and because there were five strong guys on the boat, the winches were rather small and needed a lot of maintenance (checking and greasing the bearings, change of the springs and ratchets if needed) the winches must run freely and smoothly without hard points. Maybe you will need bigger winches to be comfortable, there are plenty in the used market. The angle winch/sheet is primordial, a well designed support is mandatory.
Blocks suffer a lot and need a complete revision as the mainsail track and chariots. The plastic balls get worn fastly and must be changed rather often. Lubrication is done with dish soap, do not use any grease as it catches sand grains. We used to clean up them with a small karcher with soapy water.
All rotating items must run smoothly and freely.
Look at the bearings of the rudder; they were often spherical in Teflon and technical plastics. The play must be within the limits.
All that is more important than a new paint...
It's already a lot of work and a respectable amount of euros...

 

The rig is interesting when used with just a small jib like on an old F40. We made that on a light (for its size, very few amenities as it was for a lone guy) cruising cat with 2 equal masts, fully battened mainsails and wishbones, and a very small "automatic" jib, plus an optional gennaker. The hardware was minimal, wishbones do not need tracks... The rig was very easy to tune, and very efficient "downwind". The weight was rather moderate as the masts were short, thus smalls. The rigging was made in kevlar rope with four stays for each mast. No diamond stays. The masts were in plywood and carbon. The interest was in the stability (the cat was able to sail alone), the very simple maneuvers (tacking upwind needed only to push on the tiller...). Finally the mean speed was excellent, as the cat was able to make a steady way by itself. Fully battened mainsails are the best all around sails.

 

Great stuff, thanks again. The front beam on the first two boats of 86 were found to be problematic, the design was then changed for mine, the third, which was not yet fabricated, and then retrofitted to the two earlier boats. It is a very stiff structure, overall, and my boat was raced for two seasons then dry stored, disassembled, until 2006, as I am told, so the structure has had very little use. It was used as a charter dayboat for a couple of years after that, and all that needed renewal was renewed. When we reassembled it here in Brittany I went through the mast and all metallic components with dye penetrant and didn't find any issues.

I still have a maintenance list as long as my arm, that grows every time I visit the boat. We had issues with corrosion of the rudder stocks, which we had to redress when we reassembled, as the rudder bearing is just a teflon tube mounted in the boat acting directly on the stock. It is still nice and free after a year in the water, but I intend to change out this system for something more robust in future. We have to change some of the line clutches, re-stitch the trampolines, etc., etc., but the basic structure is in excellent condition for its age, with no delamination or soft areas anywhere.

We are using the hull as a platform for some propulsion experiments we are doing, and it is fine for use like this in the Rance for a while, with the odd sail included, but I have no illusions as to the scope of work required to make it safe for coastal racing. Fortunately around here we have excellent support for getting work done on these boats, with people who understand the structures and the loads involved. It is a steep learning curve for me, but a real pleasure and I can take my time.

 

You're a lucky man to find such a boat in good shape, just 2 racing years and kept dry, after just day charter ... Yes, the maintenance list like on any boat is longer than an arm...but as you said you're in the good place; there are plenty of people qualified in multis in France, and plenty of material new and used.
For the rudder, I'm a bit surprised as these boats used generally "spherical bearings" so the rudder stock could flex under stresses without blocking in the bearings. It's very expensive...But the hulls made by JF de Premorel were sold bare (600000 francs in 1987, 120000 US dollars) and were finished in several shops. Beginning of nineties, the non-competitive cats were sold around 200000 francs complete, about 40000 US$ and were very hard to sell...
What do you call "propulsion experiments"?

 

Chris White's Ketch Rig

Chris White was certainly complimentary about a ketch rig,...almost same size masts

http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/sailboats/aftmast-rigs-623-7.html#post198607

...and there were others who liked mizzens
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/sailboats/aftmast-rigs-623-7.html#post204495

 

I watched them race on Southampton water in the 80's, and have been looking for one since 1997, at which time they were around £50k and up, which was beyond my budget at the time. As I've got older I watched the prices increase and the condition of many boats deteriorate, and then a few years ago the prices started to drop markedly, for any boat that actually sold. I looked at getting an ORMA60 instead, and was close to buying one, and then found that the only mooring I could get was on the Rance, with a 13m lock gate, so the ORMA was not possible, hence focusing back on the F40. In retrospect an ORMA would have been a liability for me, as the F40 is great for having a couple of hours on the water, easy to handle, my son can sail it quite happily, and it takes ten minutes to get ready or shut down at either end of the sail. For the next few years this is all the use it will get, so we wouldn't get much use out of a bigger, more complex boat.

The propulsion experiments we are doing are for a novel design of surface drive we have developed that offers improved efficiency over existing drives. We are using the cat as a mule and fitting drive modules on a frame that sits between the hulls and can be removed, modified, and refitted simply without altering the boat in any way. The cat is ideal for this as it has low resistance which can be artificially increased so that a wide range of thrust vs. speed combinations can be created.

Regarding the rudders, I took advice from Nigel Irens, who has been very helpful, to make sure we weren't misinterpreting what we were looking at. I used an inspection camera inside the rudder tube and did not see a spherical bearing, unless the bearing was already aligned perfectly. Certainly nothing wanted to move easily within the bearing structure, but I will investigate further next time I drop a rudder.

The boat came with a set of ORMA transom-hung rudders and stocks that the previous owner had intended to fit, as he wanted to be able to beach the boat to pick up clients. Having retractable rudders is attractive to me, too, but I'm not so sure about having them transom hung. I am interested in exploring the use of foils on the rudders to provide some pitch control, so at some point will make some modifications to both rudders and daggerboards.

 

Just to show what I mean by large sail area down low - the hull shape and light weight also helps performance too of course.

 

Cox's Bay Skimmer

Can't you have a little mercy on some of us and put together an hour long video showing the Skimmer sailing in various conditions? Huh?! 20 minutes?

 

+1

+ more details, specs, and pics about the wing masts

 

A nice article (part 1 of 2) over on the French blog "Foilers" showing development over time. It even features a photo of Gary's "Flash Harry"

http://foils.wordpress.com/2014/05/14/foilers-et-trimarans-a-foils-dappoint-12/

 

Fred's got a great site-always good stuff!

 

A nice video narrated by Warren Miller of the 1976 Olympics includes some good archival footage of Tornado's racing.

http://youtu.be/gxesEHoKK4A