Multihull Structure Thoughts

This is about a couple Mark and Isabel Hardesty, who live aboard their Seawind 1160, JollyDogs, since 2014 and logged more than 26,000 ocean miles around the Pacific. 1,400 miles northeast of Hawaii and 1,600 miles from the U.S. mainland, a mid-ocean collision with an unknown floating object (UFO) occurred, damaging the starboard bow. There actions to initially save the catamaran, get it back to land and repair the cat is an educational story.

After the initial shock of the accident the crew went into action to save the boat. Making improvised repairs for a mid-ocean collision was practical while hove-to and sloshing about. Hand tools or air tools are probably the only reasonable way to drill and saw when being splashed with salt water. The most useful tools we had on board were a battery-powered drill/screwdriver, a jigsaw, a Fein oscillating tool with various blades and sanding attachment, a Dremel tool with a selection of implements, a heat gun, a hot-glue gun, and a hacksaw. A small Honda generator allowed emergency power to operate tools and onboard systems such as the watermaker and water heater without depleting batteries or burning diesel, which were need for propulsion.

Initially the temporary jerrican fairing quickly failed simply due to wave action and structural loading. Wrapping and securing sailcloth around the complex bow shape was possible but was rejected as it might fail in a few days fouling the prop or rudder. The collision bulkhead was holding allowing a fishing net to be wrapped around the bow to prevent the remaining structure to be stabilised for the 14 day, 1600 miles back to USA.

The insurer, Lloyd’s of London, appointed a surveyor from AqualisBraemar, who witnessed the haulout and took statements. JollyDogs had suffered a “whiplash” incident, prompting inspections of fuel tank mounts, engine mounts, sail-drive diaphragm seals, and the standing rigging. In addition to the bow repair by Johnson Fabrication, in Port Townsend, Washington, we hired Brion Toss Yacht Riggers to replace all standing rigging, and SEA Marine to replace the starboard sail-drive diaphragm seal.

Now the issues began. The owners did not understand the magnitude of task and the time it was going to take. Several things conspired. Covid and a shortage of storage and housing available to the owners who had to move out of their “home” for the 8 months whilst the repairs were being done. During this period supply chains and parts were also difficult with delays being caused by a lack of a few key components and workers.

The insurance covered a lot of the costs but EG a “project manager” had to paid for by the owners and other items were also not covered. Please read and understand your insurance policies as what they really cover. Transocean insurance is not cheap, and if there are many “exclusions” you may not get full value for your money.

There is an emotional toll at the point of impact, doing mid ocean repairs which is about “survival” and on return to land the difficulty of organising and controlling the repair process. This needs to be considered. On the positive side if radio communications are still available many cruisers in the area and fellow sailors will try and assist in any way possible. During the midocean repairs, the owners were able to talk to others about the repair approach and best way to return to land etc. Regular calls by others supporting the owners during the return to the USA was very helpful emotionally.

The jpegs give an idea.

 

I came across this video of what I believe is a demonstration of the linear actuated forming bed used to create complex panel curves that we discussed some posts ago. Pretty neat to see in action.

Wevolver.com on Instagram: "Imagine making 8m x 5m double-curved panels without waste and cost from tooling. This adaptive mold boasts over 1,300 actuators and more than 50,000 magnets, designed to hold a membrane sized 8m x 5m. Now, shifting from a 3D file to double-curved panels up to 8m x 5m with a minimum curvature radius of 400mm is a reality! Video Credit: ADAPA A/S - Adaptive Moulds -------------------------------- Get your company on Wevolver. Wevolver reaches millions of professional engineers every month who leverage the platform to stay up-to-date and connect with the industry. Learn how your company can publish via the “For Companies” link in our @wevolverapp bio. #composites #concrete #architecture #moulding #molds #moulds #engineering #technology" https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9NSBZmiBz3/?igsh=MTJubHVlcDk5NHFsMw==

 

Triad is a Newick Creative design which we have spoken about before, this is an update with some more jpegs. The build of Triad was in West System by the Le Jeloux Brothers and was the 4th of the Creative designs to be built in 1982.

The Creative design is 42 x 28.5 foot with a weight of 6,600 to 8,000 lbs depending on the material selection and skill of the builder. The displacement was 11,000 lbs. The 52 foot Aluminium mast was upgraded to a wood wing mast then a carbon fibre wing mast of 80 square foot as new owners owned Triad. The rig is 9.4 mm stainless steel 1x19 wire. The sails are a mainsail Zoom square head 575 square foot, a 100% jib 277 square fully battened and a storm jib of a 150 square foot. there is also a genoa and spinnaker. The length to beam on the main hull is 11 to 1. The draft ranges from 2.2 foot to 8 foot over the main hull rudder and daggerboard.

The accommodation has a cockpit that is 8 x 6 foot with shoulder high seat back coaming. The forepeak has a double vee berth with storage under, built in lavatory with sink/fresh water hand pump. There is storage in wings. The navigation station is adjacent to daggerboard amidships. The main cabin has two single bunks 6 x 4 foot on the wings. Varnished dining table with removable leaf adjacent to the galley, fold down seating to port and fixed seat/locker to starboard. Galley is to starboard. Aft cabin has a 6 foot bunk with storage under.

Hulls and decks are cold molded wood veneers (WEST system) sheathed with fiberglass. The daggerboard, rudder, and Bruce foils are laminated wood sheathed in fiberglass. The hulls are two 3 mm epoxy/cold molded fir veneers over 3mm mahogany plywood. The decks/soles are 9 mm mahogany ply. Bulkheads are18 mm mahogany ply with structural members of fir, oak, ash, mahogany. Fiberglass sheathing over all decks, hulls, and cockpit seats and sole. The finish is Dupont Imron paint on topsides, Awlgrip on decks, cockpit sole & seats. Interior finished bright (varnish). Rudder: balanced kick up cassette mounted; laminated fir/mahogany, fiberglass covered. Daggerboard: 10’6” long, laminated redwood with 2”x 6” carbon box beam central structure, vacuum bagged 1/8” glass sheathed. 10’ 6” 2003 Bruce foils: 5’ x 12” asymmetric canted, laminated wood core/fiberglass sheathed, vacuum bagged.

Triad has raced in many events and often has placed highly. To quote the 2022 owner: "Triad is a very fast and robust ocean going cruiser/racer trimaran. She reaches at wind speed, beats upwind at 2/3 wind speed, and tops out at 25 knots. She is very comfortable while sailing at moderate speed (10 – 15 knots), handles chop easily, and accelerates quickly when the wind pipes up. controls lead to the cockpit except for the halyards which are handled by dedicated winches on the mast. Tiller steering makes for direct hands-on control. Well balanced and sea kindly, she tacks reliably and effortlessly. through 90 degrees."

To give you an idea of Triads future I will quote its new owner Jacques F. Valente in 2023: "I have just purchased the TRIAD currently in the USA in the Walter Greene yard in Yarmouth and I will bring it back in France in May during the Bermuda Lorient. With a 4-year program – OSTAR 24 and RDR 26 – as part of the be creative project"

A very good 32 year old tri that is doing OSTAR and Route de Rum in the future. A superb design that is well built and has been maintained/loved by many owners. The jpegs give the idea.

 

I have waited for someone to do the following as its shows the reality of amateur boat building. The following is a breakdown of work hours and costs associated with building a 39 foot trimaran using resin infusion. The tri is a Farrier F 39 that was built in Holland and was built very well by its owner in a very advanced approach for a home builder at the time..

A Farrier 39 is 39′ 4″ x 27′ 3″ with a weight of 5500 – 7000 lbs and a displacement of 10,500 lbs. The rotating mast is 52′ 4″ with a sail area (main & jib) of 890 square foot. The draft ranges from 1.9 to 6.9 foot. Engine can be an outboard or inboard.

The real point of this item is the following:



Yes, you are reading it correctly, the build took 10,900 hours (the equivalent of 5 years full time work) and 120,000 plus euros for a 39 foot trimaran. Remember this was part time and was spread over 15 years at an average of 30 hours per week. Yes, it was a sophisticated build and had many hours of developing and applying new techniques (home resin infusion was new in 2003-4) but with resin infusion, the glass layups were very short.

When you study jpeg 1 with the breakdown of the work hours for the floats versus the main hull, the 2 floats took 27% of the build time of the main hull. The float foam and glassing work took 50% of the float build time while the mainhull foam and glass work took 30% of the mainhull build time.

Jpeg 2 shows the overall hull shells took 34% of the total build time whilst the interior bulkheads and interior construction took 26% of the total build time. Are you starting to believe the comments about when you finish hulls you are only a third of the way there.

Jpeg 3 shows that the hull and beam construction costs were 49% of the total build cost. The vacuum consumable costs were the same as the cross arm beam material costs. Resin infusion is good and fast but not the cheapest way to build.

Also in Jpeg 3 is the design cost, 4% of the total build cost. Designer fees are good investment as they will often save you more in material and rework costs than those costs that are incurred in a home design.

Jpeg 4 shows a more detailed breakdown of work. The Fram builder was a very well organised person who thought twice then built once. These numbers are realistic, so please think about your skills, motivation and strength of your relationship before starting on a home build. Sometimes its better to buy second hand and compromise a little.

The jpegs give a guide but look at the Fram website for more information.

Source of images: Time and costs graphics http://www.fram.nl/workshop/figures/timeandcosts.htm

 

Up My Sleeve (also known as ATNine.com) is a Formula 40 trimaran that was designed by Walter Greene in 1986 and built by the initial owner Jim Godbey in Milton MA USA. The tri was basically a racer and was driven hard over its life and it had a few incidents under various owners.

Up My Sleeve is 40 x 33 foot with a weight of 5,000 lbs and a “displacement” of 6,000 lbs (as a short handed racer, possible). The 65 foot wooden wing mast carries a 1000 square foot of sail area in the fractional rig. The floats have 150% of the buoyancy of the tri’s weight. The draft ranges from 2 foot to 8 foot over the centre hull daggerboard. The engine is an outboard.

The interior is limited but still has bunks, galley and “toilet”.

The construction was wood west system with some composite construction. Walter Greene at this stage had designed and built many west system tris with composite components (like floats and parts of crossarms) so most of these vessels were well built and long lasting. The only problem was the skippers as you will see.

This tri was raced and successful up to about 2004 when the tri was purchased as a damaged boat which required a rebuild by Walter Greene who installed the new 65 foot wing mast and made other improvements. The tri then entered the 2005 Ostar and had to retire due to damage.

In 2010 the tri was entered in the Route De Rhum but capsized and was abandoned 1500 miles from Guadeloupe. A cargo ship spotted the inverted tri months later, crew went aboard to check if anyone was on board and recovered any salvageable equipment and returned the “salvage” to the last owner.

The tri has not been recovered to my knowledge. The story is the same. Well designed and built boats being over sailed by skippers in short handed racing. Safety is important.

The jpegs give an idea.

 

I'm presuming everyone heard Walter Greene just recently crossed the bar. Perhaps a retrospect is in order...

 

Walter Greene passed 23 July 2024. The boating world has lost a very talented man who was primarily a boat builder but also a designer. He had friends like Dick Newick, Mike Birch, Phil Weld, Phill Stegall etc and was revered in France. Walter built many ground breaking boats for many talented sailors. He also raced several boats and at one point Walter was quoted as saying, "Ocean racing is 90 % boredom and 10 % sheer terror." In an article in the Maine Times. Walter used one OSTAR race to catch up on his reading.

Phill Stegall described Walter well: "What can you say about Walter? Guru comes to mind… Walter larger than life Greene…Walter don’t let him buy the food for the race Greene…Walter not a slave to fashion Green...Walter the cost effective solution Greene… I’ve never met anybody who could get more out of a dollar to make a boat go faster than Walter Greene. He has an innate art for dragging the last few percent out of a bucket of resin, or a pound of fiberglass, or a kilo of carbon. Today I’m dealing with PhDs in the composite business on a daily basis, but when I want to know the real deal, I call Walter. If I give him a laminate sample, out comes the knife and the hammer, and right away he knows all about what’s in it, how it went together, and if it will work.

"Walter build me a boat that can sail the ocean Greene… Over the years that I’ve known him, all of his boats have had a superb functionality… and these aren’t just bay boats, but ones many of us have crossed the ocean in. "He's truly one of the original thinkers. He has not only the power to think in dimensions that are different from those the rest of us experience, but also the ability to come up with the end solution.

"He brings life and enjoyment to everyone he knows. He is the richest man I know; he’s a true follower of his own dreams and has no hidden agendas."

That is a very strong testament to the man. A bit of background. Walter Greene,1944 to 2024 passed after a long fight with Parkinson’s. Walter started Greene Marine in 1978, a small yard in Maine USA, building the Walter Greene's trimaran design Acapella. Walter and his wife Joan raced this boat in the 1978 Round Britain race, coming in 1st in class and 4th overall. Later that year, Canadian Mike Birch sailed Acapella (renamed Olympus Photo) to a first-place win in the first Route du Rhum trans-Atlantic race (France to Guadalupe), and Walter's reputation as a multihull designer was firmly established. There were 4 other Acapella designs built after that all of which were successfully sailed, cruised and raced. These were the start of 140 boats built by Geene Marine that included vessels like Moxie (Ostar outright winner Phill Weld Newick design), Sebago self-righting 45 foot cat, Eric Loizeau’s Gauloises 4, a 32 foot Roger Hatfield design wave piercing catamaran etc.

To give an idea of Walter’s build skills in the (OSTAR). Greene-designed and built boats also took 3rd, 4th, and 5th place overall in the 1980 OSTAR. The fifth-place boat was skippered by Walter. In 1981, the first Two-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race (TwoSTAR) saw 6 Greene entries, with Greene boats winning two first-in-class and coming in 3rd, 7th, 13th, and 15th overall. Sebago placed 4th in class in the 1984 OSTAR and 1st in class/7th overall in the 1985 Round Britain race, among other races. I think you are starting to understand why Walter Greene is revered in France. Walter's early boats continued to be raced in transatlantic races, although they are no longer contending for line honors. 4 Greene-designed boats competed in the 2010 Route De Rhum.

Over Walters life he and Dick Newick had many discussions on how to design and build multihulls with Dick not always winning the discussion. But Walters Newick builds were always successful which made Dick happy. Oh, to be a fly on the wall of some of those discussions. Mike Birch was a firm friend and provided a lot of feed back as he sailed Walters boats. This trio helped put multihulls on the map. We owe them all a lot. Thank you Walter Greene, your insite and design/boatbuilding skills will be missed.

 

A new longer range cruising power cat, the Cora 48, is now on the market. It was designed by Dr Albert Nazarov who owns Albatross Marine Design and is manufactured by PMG Shipyard in Thailand on a semi custom basis. Dr Albert Nazarov is a very smart designer and PMG Shipyard, is an experienced builder of sail and powercats between 41 and 105 feet.

The Cora 48 is 48.4 x 23.7 foot with a weight of 28,700 lbs and a displacement of 53,700 lbs. The draft is 3.3 foot. The underwing clearance is 2.8 foot. The standard engines are 2 x Steyr 280hp diesels with V drives. The fuel tanks provide 2000 litres of diesel.

One test report said “The fuel economy and performance is modest, as expected for its power-to-weight ratio, but nearly 17 knots of speed was available when I used maximum throttle. At cruising speed – about 10 knots – the Cora 48 Catamaran happily jogs along sipping fuel frugally. I noted total fuel burn figures of 9.45 litres per hour (lph). However, a substantial rise occurs beyond this (17.6lph) for only marginal speed gains – something to remember on long coastal voyages.” This implies a range of 2000 miles in good conditions at below 10 knots. As I said Dr Albert is a smart man who understands hull shapes.

The semi-custom Cora 48 Catamaran is a displacement coastal cruiser that in sea trials has done 1,600 miles on one tank. The accommodation includes an owner’s version, with the port hull as one apartment, while two cabins with ensuites shared the starboard hull. The single-level cockpit and saloon flow together nicely but can be separated by sturdy sliding doors. Inside, the galley is aft while the lounge-diner is up a stepped level, its elevated position ensuring clear views when seated. The sheltered flybridge has the helming, extra seats and navigation etc available. This cat can be configured to suit your needs as it is a semi custom model that PMG intend to only make 3 or 4 a year of. Cost starting about $US1.5 million.

Australia’s far north has 30 feet plus tides resulting in vessels beached, and PMG Shipyard’s made efforts to ensure the Cora 48 Catamaran can be dried-out. The rudders and hull shoe protect the propellers. The hull structure is monolithic around these pressure points, with foam fiberglass vacuum infusion resin structure above the waterline for hulls, decks and bulkheads. This creates a fairly lightweight hull more easily propelled by the modest 280hp motors. Hull structure includes watertight bulkheads for the engine rooms and bows. Build standards offered by the yard include building to AMSA Australian charter and European CE, as well as Lloyds.

This is a well designed and built long range cruising cat that is coastal capable. Please study the fuel numbers as this will show high speed in “cruising cats” cat be a fuel expensive operation. The jpegs give the idea.

 

Sorry, but I have an electrician doing work on the place all day so no item today.

 

Once to reef a headsail you unhanked the headsail and hanked on a smaller headsail. If you had a good selection of headsails you had good sailing with 10 minute interruptions for headsail changes. As people wanted bigger boats with less crew alternate solutions were required. Many went for cutter rigs with multiple forestays and often multiple masts.

But many could not afford or want many components and started to experiment with rolling sails around their forestay to reduce sail area. In dingy or smaller boats they connected swivels at the deck and masthead and with a cheap drum at deck level used to wind the sail up to reef the sail. This works OK in smaller less powerful boats but the components were often not up to the loads that were starting to be applied also the were often sails cut for one wind speed and did not operate well over a wind range.

Next came aluminum tubes or plastic foils over a fixed stays. Sometimes these were improvements but occasionally if the tube or foil were over a 1x19 stainless steel wire the tube or foil would break a stand of the 1x19 wire which meant a rig would fall. The second problem was with some of the earlier plastic foils there was not enough stiffness in the foil so that the sail would get fuller as it rolled up.

The demand now was getting large and professionals started bto address the issues. Sail makers started to cut sails that suited roller furling and the engineers started to design for the loads that were being generated on larger boats. Now 100 foot plus multihulls and 200 foot plus monohulls have roller furling gear that allows single handed sailors cross oceans.

The latest commercially available gear come in a range of sizes and style to suit most boats needs but choose wisely. Modern gear ranges in price from a $1000 to over $50,000 depending on what you want and need. EG in large boats you need electric or hydraulic motors to furl large headsails. Bearings in heavily loaded headsails need to be lubricated or run in an oil reservoir for smooth running. These furling systems need to be inspected and maintained regularly.

And now we get to the real problem of furling headsails. When they go wrong especially on multihulls you can be left with a partially reefed sail in a rising storm and if you cannot reduce the sail a disaster can happen.

So back to the basics. To self build a small roller furling setup for eg a 20 foot boat can be done at home. The first 5 jpegs give the idea. This useful for inshore small boats and needs a good swivel at the mast head. But for any serious sailing you need commercial quality stuff.

Most commercial brands allow you to keep your existing forestay and simply slide the luff foils on over the top. And if you want to accommodate a turnbuckle or rigging screw to adjust forestay tension, the furling drum assembly is designed to fit neatly over it. That said, adjusting it can end up being a bit of a mission. All the brands offer an array of different toggles and brackets for fitting the furler unit higher or lower off the deck. Some sailors want every inch of luff length, in order to maximise sail areas, while others like a high-cut yankee that clears the guardwires.

For the commercial brands only Furlex supplies a new headstay with every order. “By the time an owner needs a new furler, it is likely the forestay needs to be replaced.”

Profurl claims to be the only one on the market that can handle “severe loads” thanks to “specially designed mechanisms”. Bearings are held in a waterproof grease bath and require no maintenance. They also include a special arrow-shaped device at the top of the foil to prevent halyard wrap. Profurl backup there claims with a 10 year warranty.

Facnor has many years of building cruising furlers and also has a race variant (as most of the brands I am mentioning). The drum is made of plastic, with stainless steel arms to protect it and retain the furling line.

The MkIV is Harken’s answer to headsail furling, available in a standard or newer Ocean variant and five different sizes covering boats from 22ft to 80ft. The standard version is a performance-oriented product, with a split drum that can be easily removed for racing, twin track luff tube, and independent tack and halyard swivels (using no fewer than four Torlon bearing races) which allow the sail to start furling in the middle, where it has the greatest depth.

Furlex claims to be the world’s best-selling jib furling system with a full range of manual, under deck and electric furlers for dinghies, keelboats and yachts up to 65ft. They are ergonomically designed with stainless steel detailing and composite bodies, and you can remove the drum for racing.

This is a sample of furling gear available and vary in price and detail. Each has its place in the market but there “racing”, “simple cruising” and “serious offshore” furling gear. Select carefully to suit your real need as this could be a life saving selection.

 

I did not know this trimaran existed in Lock Crowthers portfolio but I suspect the co designer/ builder used the Kraken 40 racing trimaran and “modified” it for aluminum construction. Lock had worked with the Italian government in the late 70’s on multihull construction rules and regulations and was well versed in construction. So, I don’t know how much of this design is Locks versus the co designer/builder. The designers were listed as Crowther/Nessi and the builder is listed as Aluferco.

A Kraken 40 is 40 x 26.8 foot with a displacement of 6000 lbs. It carried a 48 foot fixed aluminum mast. Fortuna Syntofil was 41 x 26.3 foot with a displacement of 9000 lbs and had about a 50 foot fixed aluminum mast. The draft for both boats was a kickup centreboard that had a draft from 1.5 foot to 4.5 foot.

The original Kraken 40 design was a timber plywood build, Lock Crowther later modified it to a foam glass build. Fortuna Syntofil was an all aluminum build. Structurally good, but a little heavier as thin aluminum is hard to weld without distortion so builder tend to use thicker sections for less distortion and easier fairing. Fortuna Syntofil looks a very fair tri so I suggest that someone has done a reasonable build job here.

Now the purpose of the tri was to be a racer cruiser. After an initial attempt at the 1978 Rhum race, the then owner, Piero NESSI, entered it in the 1983 Route De Rhum. Fortuna Syntofil broke its mast whilst racing and stopped at Punta Delgada (Azores) and on December 28, arrived in Guadeloupe Pointe à Pitre for repairs. Nothing is known after that.

The first jpeg is of a Kraken 40 design followed by 2 jpegs of Fortuna Syntofil.

 

I'm intrigued, what was "Sebago's" self righting method/mechanism?

 

Tomorrow i will describe the self righting mechanism. You in effect build each hull in different materials.

 

Sebago is a racing catamaran that Walter Greene designed and built that was the “1st self-righting” large offshore multihull design.

Sebago is a 45 x 29 foot racing catamaran displacing 15,800 lbs, It carries a 59 foot wing mast with 1180 square foot of sail area. The draft over the hull-based daggerboards is 11.5 foot.

This is a pure racing cat that was later converted into a charter cat in Mexico in the 1990’s with a small cabin placed on each hull. Very little accommodation for sleeping and not much else. Whilst racing it achieved a 4th in class in 1984 OSTAR. 1st in class, 7th overall in 1985 Round Britain Race and in 1986 entered the Twostar with Lauren Holland (boat designer wife) and Joan Greene (Walters wife). They broke a forestay of St John and retired. Entered the Quebec-Saint Malo but was dismasted again.

The interesting part is the self-righting capability. This was achieved by creating a “sinker” hull which had a different build structure to the “floater” hull. The boat when capsized then floods the sinker hull which sinks to 90 degrees. Then the sunk hull is pumped out and hopefully rises to the surface. It’s an idea that was never tested (the thought of trying to hand pump 3000 litres of water out of a hull in windy weather and waves is beyond my comprehension). But the boat was built according to the principle and raced successfully. Unfortunately, the self righting approach requires one heavy hull build to work, result it is a relatively heavy racing boat.

The structure of the starboard hull was 3(300 gsm unidirectional e glass) 450 gsm e glass double bias on both sides of 25 mm balsa (all in epoxy). The port hull 3(300 gsm unidirectional e glass) 450 gsm e glass double bias on either side of 3 mm okume ply. The port hull also has stringers and a partial 9 mm plywood shelf to provide the rigidity lost by the thinner hull core. There is some carbon fibre in the cross beams etc. Result a heavier cat that structurally has lasted over 40 years but to my knowledge was never tested in its self righting capability.

The jpegs give an idea of the cat. (PS this item is an update on the item of Page 24 of this thread)

 

A short one about one of the more important designs in multihull history. Trifle was an offshoot of Toria, Derek Kelsall’s entry into high performance multihulls when Piver designs were the “standard” for design. Trifle/Toria had several “firsts” like foam glass construction without CSM, open wings and tube crossbeams, thinner hulls and a bigger than average sloop rig etc.

Trifle was built around 1967 and was 41.3 x 26.5 foot with a weight of 6500 lbs. The draft has a centreboard that draws about 6 foot.

The accommodation was a few single berths, some seating and a small galley. But the real issue is the tri’s performance. It participated in the Isle of Wight 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, and 75 tour which it won 5 times. It participated in the Chrystal Trophy in 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, and 75 which it won 5 times. In 1978/79 it entered the Route De Rhum.

After the Route De Rhum an aft cabin was added for more cruising comfort.

The build is the interesting part. This is the first series of tri’s that used EG Airex foam and 1 or more 600 gsm Woven Rovings on either side of the foam using polyester resin. The surface was filled with Qcells, faired and painted. The cross beams were aluminum tubes and there was a minimum of plywood in the total design. These tri’s are 40 plus years old and still sailing which says a lot about the build approach. Yes, if you used epoxy and double bias cloths with Corecell you will have a stronger lighter boat but the 1967 build has worked well.

The jpegs give the idea of a boat that was given away for free in England in 2022.