Slickest folder ever

Hey Frank

We live in NW Florida-- Ft. Walton Beach. I'm trying to get Slider ready for the Everglades Challenge. If you can make it down to the beach at Fort DeSoto Friday afternoon (March 2) I'd like to meet you, and there will be lots of interesting boats to look at.

There are at least a few home-made multis entered in the event, most of which will probably be faster than Slider. My hope is to beat some of the Hobie Adventure Islands, and even if I'm not faster, which I might not be, there will be two of us sailing, so we may be able to keep going when the AI guys have to rest.

 

Well Ray, you can still beat them. Just do it where no one sees you and use a bigger stick.

Very cool sailor !

 

and watch "Slider" on the mapping page on the watertribe site.

Ray, have you got a link to your Spot "shared page"?
sometimes the tracking page loads up
and it would be nice to see your page specifically!
Do you need a spare tracker for this trip?

 

Hi Ray - I will definitely be at the EC "pre-launch" in March 2. We live only 30 minutes or so from Ft. DeSoto. I won't have a boat there (still lacking a worthy boat...and the huevos to pilot it), but it's a great place to see all the entries and their owners / builders in broad daylight. I'm sure you'll trounce the AIs. Even my little tris can do that -- and keep me a heck of a lot drier!
Were you there last year? Seems to me I recall seeing a boat a bit like Slider.
Cheers - Frank

 

No, this will be my first year to enter, though I went to the start a couple years back, when we had a daughter in school down there.

I hope you're right about the AIs. Slider seems to be faster than a Windrider 17, especially to windward. But your tris are a lot faster than Slider, I think, though we might catch you to windward. The fastest I've ever sailed Slider in flat water was just over 10 knots.

Honestly, my goal is to finish, and to demonstrate that a little cat can be pretty comfortable. We'll definitely be drier.

 

Hello Ray,

Are you building another cat, and can we discuss it ?

 

Fanie, I am-- a folder based on a fairly weird idea, which I want to hold off on discussing until I've made a model, at least. I can say that it will be a fairly low-tech cat... maybe a sprit schooner. I've been pretty well amazed by how well Slider's sprit sloop rig goes to windward, and I'd like to explore that a little further. If it turns out bad, which it might, I can always change it to a more conventional rig as long as I keep that possibility in mind while I draw it. However it turns out, at least it should be entertaining.

I spent today finishing up the install of Slider's new nav lights. They're LED, and they are really bright, but draw very little juice. Tomorrow I have to spend some time at the hospital, but when I get home, I hope to install Slider's new solar panel on the removable cabin I built for the EC. I'll say this-- the next boat I build will have the electrical system planned ahead of time, so I don't have to come up with some weird kludge, when I get around to it, as I did with Slider.

 

If the 'fairly weird idea' is the V-hinges you have on your web page, it's not that weird. The only problem is that you will have two sets of beams. The hinges will be additional weight and the main beans will still have to be clamped (or something) to the hull to prevent twisting.

I actually made some vertical hinges, the problem is to make them strong enough adds too much.

I've made a simple folder out of two tri-yaks that turned out pretty easy to operate for launch and folding, even with the 6hp motor and fuel tanks attached. The frame and folding is stainless, I didn't have time and not enough space to have made it from glass. The total width is 4m, folded 1m400.

If your hulls permit you could possibly consider the same. Folding down is easy, to fold up you simply step on the side of the hull and with a rope tied to the same side of the oposite hull you lean backwarts and the whole thing folds up. Takes less than 5 seconds in the pool. To keep folded a cleat where you pull the rope in and that's it.

The tri-yaks weigh 35kg's each and the frame with the trampoline is around 40kg's, it's very light and easy to handle. The 6hp motor is 28kg's plus all the rubbish you pickle along. The tri-jak hulls shape sucks, anything over rowing speed makes huge drag They're not displacement nor planing. Dunno what you call them Probably floating

 

Ray - If you will be at the pre-race day gathering on Friday, I'll be able to meet you. I plan to be there for a while in the early pm Fri as well as at the 7am launch time on Sat. Any idea what time frame you'll be there on the beach with Slider on Friday?
Cheers - Frank

 

Frank, I'm sure you'll see us in the afternoon Friday. I don't know how it goes, since this is my first EC, but we'll have to be inspected, and there's a captain's meeting that's required, so I hope we'll get to meet at some point. If you're there at the start, we may have lots of time to talk, since I'm not too sure about my launching system-- could take me a while to get off the beach.

Fanie, this is actually a completely different approach from the one on the web site. The beams are sliding beams, sort of like the ones on the L-7 trimaran, if you're familiar with that one. The weirdness comes not from the beam system, but the general arrangement of hulls and sails. I'll tell you more after I've made a model to see how it all works, but conceptually it's sort of a low-tech cross between a proa and a cat. You're absolutely right that beam systems are a source of way too much weight in many of the folding cat attempts. I just like cats better for cruising than tris, or I'd be building a tri, where the problems are a little easier to engineer.

As you know, I keep changing my mind right up until it's too late, and sometimes even later.

I have to get to work mounting my solar panel this afternoon. Rain this morning, cooler tonight. 5 days left before we leave for St. Pete.

 

Ray, I'll probably be at the beach at Ft. DeSoto in the 2-3pm bracket. Since I probably won't have a boat there that would help you figure out which person is me, I'm hoping to have a T-shirt made with my DIY-Tris url on it (as well as a few choice expressions). But I'm sure I'll be able to spot you, now that I know what Slider looks like. Of course, I may also have two of our tris on a trailer in the parking lot -- or we might actually try brazenly sailing right up to the beach. But we would quickly be spotted as the poseurs we are
- Frank

 

Hi all. Just a short update: Although I really liked the folding amas and E-Z-Up mast & sail rig on my little double ender in the video, I really didn't care for the hull. It was a deep V, and it went upwind amazingly well despite having no leeboard / centerboard / daggerboard. But it drew too much water (9" with me aboard vs. 4-5" for my other boats), it didn't track well, and it was a bear to steer. Not sure why the rudder was so heavy...
So I built an entirely new hull for the folding amas and E-Z-Up mast & sail rig -- now that I know they actually work. I made the new hull a lot like my older boat, No Commotion, except that it has a V-hull with a 20 degree dihedral vs. the 35 degrees of No Commotion.
I have tried it with three different sails - my 102 sf leg-o-mutton, the 84 sf leg-o-mutton from Laura's tri, and a 95 sf version of my "Smoot FanSail" as a friend has labeled it. It goes great with all three sails, but I'm eager to see how it goes with the original 90 sf fansail from the double-ender.
The new hull is also MUCH lighter than No Commotion (140 lbs all up vs, about 200 lbs). It turns on a dime and floats in an inch or two less water. I added a leeboard -- my best so far -- and it tracks and points beautifully. So now to get some photos of this new hull up on the site....

PS - I took lots of videos and still shots of the Everglades Challenge 2012, and I am about to create a special page on my web site with about 10 links that cover both launch-day (Saturday, March 3), and the Friday before where you could see all the boats in broad daylight.

And there's a photo just for you, Ray, in the set at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77554933@N07/sets/72157629504057425/

 

Ray, I really liked the looks of Slider. Looks like a great build. Very inspiring.

 

Yes, it looks a bit like a little cruiser. Do you think there is enough displacement?

 

Hallo, Manfred. Ja, ich glaube Verschiebung ist genug. It looks plenty big enough for a coastal cruise in good weather. Last weekend was pretty severe though.