Hobie/J24 Trimaran Conversion

[oldsailor7]

Hi Delane.
Glad your conversion worked out to your satisfaction.
One thing bothers me though. Your unsuported crossbeams.
Where are your waterstays.

[lane]

Here is a pic of my "new" trimaran named "Tri Again". 18 feet of Hobie 18 main hull, with two 5M GCat hulls serving as amas. The boat trailers at 8.5ft beam and then telescopes to 16ft beam for sailing.

Here is a pic, fully rigged with the Hobie 16 mast and ready for fitting the sails from a donor Hobie 16.

Lane

[oldsailor7]

ZED.
Thats not a Catamaran----Thats a Proa.

I wouldn't think much of a sailboat broker who didn't know the difference.

[oldsailor7]

.....

[Zed]

Originally Posted by oldsailor7

ZED.
Thats not a Catamaran----Thats a Proa.

I wouldn't think much of a sailboat broker who didn't know the difference.

That will be the Boatpoint mob, their system never had an option for Proa so I guess they called it a cat, kinda lucky it didn't get listed as a power mono hull really! <--- This is a reference to the abilities of BoatPoint dataentry staff in ID'ing such a craft!

Edit: but the description is from the owner... I guess?! A 'SHIPWRIGHT' so I dunno what that says!

I thought it was interesting given the surfboat discussion!

Further Edit: To the sad sack that zapped me for this post ---> Get A Life!

[Zed]

Back to the PROA and my originally unposted thoughts....

20K for an old surf boat cobbled together with a surf ski! Not of my money mate! You have to be kidding me!

Enough of a contribution for you? Well you asked for it!

[harrygee]

Hi Delane
I'm interested in your conversion as I've done a similar thing with a Soling for similar reasons. I designed and built my own floats and beams, removed the keel, installed a c/board and dropped about 500 -600lbs. I kept the same rig (restayed) and sails (20 years old, I'm on a budget) with these results that may be of interest to you.
I race in a mixed fleet with a "by guess" handicap which has gone up 10% since the conversion. Not much of an improvement there but the boat is so much more fun to sail. Last year, as a stock Soling, I was slower than the other Soling in the club, slightly quicker than a J24, both of which could outpoint me easily, a big advantage around the buoys. This year, I've been quicker in all but two races, sometimes by big margins. My advantage is most obvious in winds above 20 knots. Above 25 knots, I can go to windward with Etchells, not pointing as high but footing at speed, 9 to 10 knots tacking about 100 deg. Running square, I am hardly any faster (the boat sits 1.5" higher) but the spinnaker is easier to use (no pole). On a reach, there is no contest. I've also done four races against a well-sailed TT720, which I used to own, with two wins and two losses. The most I've seen on GPS is 14+ knots, at which speed the spray is blinding - she throws a bit of water around. Ease and fun of sailing, whether with crew or single-handed, has transformed the boat.
So stick with it, it's all about having fun.
Harrygee

[Delane]

Harrygee,

Our boat are comparable in speed and handling from the sounds of it, although I haven't seen over 10 knots yet. I'll soon try out my spin on a bow sprit soon and post some pics as well. I've added water stays as well and plan to add strut wires at the front beams. Wanted to be able to handle more shock loading due to the current configuration. I would love to see pics of your creation.

Yes it is all about having fun!

[harrygee]

Hi Delane
I'll try to send some pics and, if that works, I'll follow up with a description.
Harrygee

[harrygee]

Hi Delane
I managed to get a pic to fly. I'm no computer nerd so that impresses me no-end.
The tri does everything I was hoping for, at an affordable cost. The Soling cost very little, about the price of a mast so it was a good place to start. I've done nothing to change the basic hull shape, though it could be made quite a bit faster with a bit of scalloping. That would make it slower to tack and I get a lot of fun out of spinning fast 360's - it'll spin in ten seconds or so and keep doing it until I get sick of it. The jib is self-tacking so the boat is very easy to single-hand. I'm currently cutting a couple of feet off a J-24 genoa to fit, it will be about twice the size of my self-tacker and will help in light winds.
She goes well in a breeze, hitting a wall of spray at about 14 knots, trying to plane. There are no signs of stress anywhere, though I've only had one racing season so far and the most I've experienced is 30-something knots of wind and 3' seas. The beam-ends are a tight fit into tapered sockets for trailing and they seem okay. I don't have structural stays on the beams but I can't detect any movement. The beams are just low-tech laminated oregon and gaboon ply with double-bias skin. The floats are stone-age csm and wr, all polyester, 150 lbs each.
I'd like to get hold of a proper roachy main or an Etchells rig and sails. Even better would be a conversion of an Etchell, they're fast boats and, with nearly a ton of keel, there's a lot of potential. As a bonus, their keel is lead, whereas the Soling keel is cast-iron. A good mooring, not much else.
I'll try to get some more pics.
Take care
Harry

[Delane]

Harrygee,

That looks like a very fun boat. Yes I think an Echells would make a great converion boat as well. Lots of potential with that hull.

Take Care!

[Delane]

Planning to modify the Vaka in the following way and wish to gain some insight. The plan is to add a hump section to the center of the main hull in an effort to add buoyancy and in effect take out the inherent rocker design of the boat. Basically I want to stop the suction action that is created by the fat rocker design and reduce friction. Another way of saying is I want the hump to do what the hull did previous but in a more efficient manner so to speak without all the spray and drag factor. The rear U section (frame) would measure somewhere on the order of 16” wide X 23” deep. All frames forward would off coarse reduce in size due to hull shape to the center and then increase again forward before becoming narrow into a plumb bob wave splitting nose. The idea is to calculate enough volume to lift the Vaka about 8 more inches dry. With that said I’m sure I would need to offset the Ama’s as well to compensate for the titter factor. I’ve been thinking about this for a while and during a 25 mile broad reach leg last weekend I was convinced that the hump would provide additional speed. We hit 10 to 12 knots several times in about a 16 knot blow. Of course flying a Gennaker, 115% Jib and Main helped with speed. If anyone wants to see I’ve got Video of that day. Do you think I’m on the right track?

[Delane]

Here's an idea of what I'm talking about from a profile view.

[oldsailor7]

Why does this thread leave me shuddering.

[bad dog]

...maybe because, as my kids would say, "you're old" ??