2xTandem Island Rigs on Trailer Sailer?

Toying with an idea. Getting a cheap old trailer sailer with worn-out/broken rig/sails and mounting 2xTandem Island rigs on it. For easy deployment, setup, and simple single-handed sailing where reefing can be done effortless and swiftly.

Hobie TI rig shown here in action-packed video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJuuymSuBLA

Could look something like this, pardon the naive MS Paint sketch.. (Scale and proportions probably not accurate)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7gquu1qfhwojn4w/2x Hobie TI Sails on Trailer Sailer.jpg

2xTI rigs Would have slightly larger sail area (90 sq ft x2) than a WWP19 with main+genoa.

Could that work? Would the sailing performance be rubbish compared to a regular bermuda rig? Of course, re-inforcing roof to handle un-stayed masts would be a challenge.

 

Your drawing reminds me of the new haven sharpie sail plans. They had three mast positions, but it seems only two at a time were in use. I belive the mast were small enough they could be repositioned swiftly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpie_(boat)

 

Wow, nice boats, must be/have been a challenge to master.

 

You should check out the SolarWind Presto30, its exactly what you are looking for.

http://www.solarwindboats.com

 

From a theoretical perspective, your idea could work quite well. The only problem is the engineering. The trailer sailor may have more righting moment than the little, two man trimaran.

Though, arguably, you have two masts, dividing the load between them, they may not experience it evenly.

If you get this wrong, your masts can jamb up or even break.

You also have to account for the sheeting angle (fore and aft) of the aft sail. The long center hull provided plenty aft sheeting distance for a single sail. Now you are contemplating putting two of these sails on a boat that may only be a few fee longer than the little trimaran, which has only one. Your aft sail may need either a long boomkin or a boom.

 

Very nice boat, but the $140,000 plus options and taxes is a little harder to cough up than $10-15K for a nice used trailer sailor, $10K for spars, wishbones & rigging, $5K for sails, $5K for materials, $5K for a Naval Architect to design/plan and a year's worth of fun in the shop putting it together. Add on $20-30K if you hate getting your hands dirty.

Be worth talking to Mr. Sponberg for his thoughts.

 

Looks fantastic but way out of budget for me I'd assume and my next boat should be in 18-21 feet range, and be light enough to be towed behind a smallish car.

 

Yikes, I was thinking more like a maybe-not-quite-as-nice trailer sailor for 1500-3000 Usd (e.g. http://www.boatsandoutboards.co.uk/page/text/boat/uk/16/) and then pay something like 5000 (?) Usd for 2xTI rigs. Rest I'd put on the recreational/educational learning-by-doing account. Don't mind getting my hands dirty, it's what what I like best out of work in the office.

 

Thanks for interesting remarks. Do you think a small trailer sailer (sub 21 feet, sub 2000 lbs) would have more righting moment than even small triamaran like the Hobie TI? My StorTriss Mk2 (17,5 feet, around 1500 lbs) is almost like a dinghy, more than a light breeze and crew needs to counter-balance.

Agree that aft sail sheeting angle might be an issue, the "sheeting frame" I tried to display in the sketch -above/behind the rudder might need to be longer on such a small boat. Adding a boom would take away some of the advantage of this rig. (but perhaps add others)

 

I was aiming at the aforementioned Presto 30 in quality, performance and appearance, with carbon spars, wishbone booms, new sails, roadworthy trailer and usual options.

You could certainly do a more economical approach, although I think the Hobie Islander rigs might be a little unsubstantial. If you are okay with looking a little more "Occupy" and a little less "Wall Street", go for it!

--
CutOnce

 

based on your drawing the aft mast has to be located right at the companion way, making it strong enogh to take the loads would very significantly reduced access to inside the cabin. Even if you could get the rig to balance and behave I thigh you would drasticly reduce the value of the boat.

Two rigs I think will always be more complicated to operate/balance/trim than one, if you want simple sailing why dont you go the other way, go to a cat rig or a junk rig. A junk rig is easy to make, easy to operate, lower forces on the components and are easy to single hand/trim/reef. Junk rigs are also very efficient, it should sail better with a smaller sail. the only area of performance they suffer is they do not point as high, but I think some careful design might overcome this issue.