HarryTri

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnLmKXY-FCg

I have the above little tri. It is great fun for day sailing, but pretty much impossible for cruising around on. The interior "berth" is one person wide at best, and the daggerboard is there, and occasionally gets stuff wet. I have thought of a number of ways the main hull might be recut to add berths, but the boat is so good at what it does that I really don't want to hack it all up. So here is the thing. What if I simply sailed it as is for the summer, and then decided, OK, for the next two weeks I am going to cruise it. So I add an ama designed to carry accommodation. It would be like a Harry in that there would be the ama, and there would be the pod area built light enough to accommodate a couple, and a toilet compartment. The whole thing could be slapped on, and off one goes. Sure it would seriously reduce the sailing capability, but this thing sails great with all 5 family members on it, and if all but two were left behind one would pick up 200 pounds and lower the windage, enter the pod, which need not be terribly hefty as it is essentially an amas with a tent built onto it. Nobody walks on the roof, there aren't any rigging loads other than one stay to the ama as usual. The ama could be made to kiss the water or to level the tri out for a more cat like feel at anchor. I probably wouldn't go the whole harry route with the ama being short, or fat. It would remain 20 feet long, a little higher displacement.

What think you all? Fugly is not really the issue, though if done right it might not be all that bad...

One could take it a step less far and simply make it a deck pod for the ama though it seems like less of a design statement at that.

 

Boom tent. Out to the amas.

 

thanks To, that would probably be the logical approach. I really don't like the thought of the work that would be involved in a whole other boat, virtually. But I know a tent wouldn't get used. There isn't a platform of sufficient size, and it doesn't feel like home the way a cabin should. There isn't a double berth sized area 6+ feet long anywhere on the boat.

To the extent that one has a gag free reaction to the idea of the Harryproa, and many obviosuly don't, I don't seen any reason why it has to be pushed by a proa rather than a tri. Or a cat for that mater. Cat has been done already, Bimaran, won an award. There are actually quite a few trimarans with similar problems out there. Particularly those that have only a cockpit, though those could certainly be tented.

A tent seems like a mainly fair weather proposition, on a boat, certainly on my boat, where the only area is the nets. I would prefer a cabin that sleeps two.

 

Probably a good thing that looks are not a consideration and the performance loss is not a concern. ;-) It is certainly not the way I would do it, but don't let that stop you having a go. I am happy to comment on any drawings you care to produce. I guess the worst case scenario is that the new hull is the first step towards a 'proper' harry with all it's advantages.

rob

 

It's like having a 2 stroke outboard, the 4 stroke would be better (in the specific case only maybe), but it isn't the "motor" I have.

I don't really see that there would be huge performance loss. I could take the current boat, and for the sake of a mind experiment, build a cabin onto the current ama, out of foam. Would have less windage than two people I regularly carry, and the weight could easily be less that 60 pounds. That would get a double berth. Conceptually it would be no different than throwing a 7 foot plywood dingy in the net. Lots of people do that., even seen it on boats this size. The way the concept would have performance increase to it, would be to then strip back all the stuff that is cabin like in the current design, or others, so that the basic tri is more rigidly conceived as a fast daysailer/racer. The berth then becomes something you only carry when you need to. That would easily save the weight that would then go into the Harry part of the exercise.

Aesthetics, let's be serious, mainly comes down to two things. Good design like say Mark Stevens HarryProas, were kinda nice looking. The other issue is pre approval by your peers. Peopled hated the aesthetics of tris and cats when they came along, many still do. Same thing with proas from tri and cat owners, or even within proa ranks. Luckily I don't care. It is a wilderness up here, never see other sailors, certainly nothing multi like. It is hard to make the Hughes look super great, it has nice hulls, but the cabin and beams are not all that pretty, so how much worse could it be.

Thanks for the offer by the way...