sailing party barge ?????

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by hoistasail, Apr 11, 2007.

  1. hoistasail
    Joined: Apr 2007
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    Location: texas

    hoistasail New Member

    plenty of you have looked at my post. but no replys. is there something inherently wrong with this?

    i've driven hobies, nacra's and a big prout. but more of an ericson guy.

    i'm thinking of taking a party barge ( 2 aluminum pontoons ) and putting a rig on it. adding a centerboard. i know there are many details to work out, but has anyone ever seen it. or think of reasons why it can't or shouldn't be done.

    thanks,
    nick, landlocked in texas
     
  2. mcollins07
    Joined: Jan 2006
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    Location: Texas

    mcollins07 Senior Member

    Pontoons

    I have considered doing a similar thing with 2' diameter fiberglass drainage pipe.

    As far as i can tell, it is not an optimum design, but should work.

    A very good source of information is:
    "The Cruising Multihull" by Chris White.
     
  3. RCardozo
    Joined: Oct 2006
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    Location: Columbia, Maryland

    RCardozo RCardozo

    I dont think you would need a centerboard. Add a skeg to the pontoons and that should do the trick. There should be two rudders. one on each pontoon.
     
  4. marshmat
    Joined: Apr 2005
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    Location: Ontario

    marshmat Senior Member

    Don't expect Hobie performance from it.

    The maximum righting moment of the thing should not be too difficult to estimate. Round aluminum pontoons have virtually no form stability, so an approximation based on a simple free-body diagram showing moments about the leeward hull should get you a rough answer for stability at relatively small heel angles. You could do this knowing only its weight and a few key dimensions. How you expect "rail meat" (crew) to behave, for the purposes of the calculation, is up to you. It will be a very rough estimate but should work for your purposes.

    As long as you design (and use) the rig so as to create no more overturning moment than the maximum righting moment of the boat, it should work. You may want to consider helm balance (ie, the centre of the sails being only very slightly ahead of the centre of lateral resistance of the hulls, but not too far ahead).

    Skegs or long keels on the bottom of the pontoons strikes me as a better idea than a centreboard in this case.
     
  5. Chris Ostlind

    Chris Ostlind Previous Member

    What Matt said.

    Since most of these boats are restrcited by trailering beam limitations, be careful when you size the sail rig for this boat you wish to adapt. Do yourself a favor and do not look at equavalent sail rigs from other cats of the same length or you will be asking for trouble out on the water.

    Perhaps the biggest single determinant of safety/stability will be in how much a party barge this boat turns-out to be. A really fun and lubricated crowd, not paying much attention to the sailing issues, could easily move to the leeward side of the boat to interact with passing boat of friends, etc. and the skipper will suddenly find the boat beginning a very ugly roll which will get everyone in the water and an aluminum boat on top of them.

    Chris
     

  6. rwatson
    Joined: Aug 2007
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    Location: Tasmania,Australia

    rwatson Senior Member

    Hey - Kon Tiki made it across the pacific - a bunch of round logs (pontoons) with centrboards. The have been driving big balsa rafts up and down the coasts of south america for hundreds of years with similar setups, so why wouldnt it work ? - sail area problems nothwithstanding.
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2007
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