Sailing Dinghy Design

Funny that.. isn't that a rough description of a Int. B14? For those who don't know what a B14 is, it's a Julian Bethwaite design based around a scaled-down model of his B18 Mk1. It's sailed two up, hiking off wings (Int. Moth style) with 500 sq. ft of sail off the wind, it makes it quite a handful... don't know why it never took off in the US/Canada.

Back to the I-14 design then...

 

tspeer says: "That's what you need - a 14 ft, two-handed Moth.
"

Hmm.... Seems to me I've heard about something like that around here. ;-)

Steve

 

No, What I need is a 14 ft singlehanded moth. Very narrow on the waterline and plenty of grunt... no kite...

 

Brett - Two words - "International Canoe"

;->

Steve

 

The IC has too many class restrictions, even though it's a development class. I think Brett wants a wide open box rule with length and sail area as the only restrictions.

 

International Canoes don't interest me though I haven't had much to do with them since there are very few about. Something to do with planks that just don't do it for me. One could say that the contender also fits the bill but not. I like the look and idea of the tricked up skiff moths but they are probably a little small for me. Tom basically got the idea right with the box rule. Probably need to limit overall beam too.

It will probably never catch on any way... Brett

 

Hmmmm... this might catch your attention then... not quite the "grown up" moth concept (wings aren't big enough and it has a trapeze) but it's a 14 footer with about 125 ft^2 working area and a bigish (not as big as his original one... that was a monster masthead job) kite for off the wind.

Jim Buckland's "Bucko" is basically a singlehander based around his 8-10 year old i14 design (funny how these things end up being related); however his now one is a new design based around the same dimensions. I've also designed a hull to the restrictions, however it all seems as though the one-design boats from the same concept (ie. the single-handed assymetric skiffs) seem to have become flavour of the month, so who knows how popular a development skiff will be when there are at least 4 of these one-designers in europe... they seem strangely lacking over here though.

I've sent Jim an e-mail asking if he has set out any class rules and if he has intentions of founding a class association here, but I am still waiting for a reply.

Anyway, Brett, take a squiz at this: Buckskiff/"Bucko". It looks like a lot of fun.

 

here's one I prepared earlier



What do ya reckon?

 

The Bucko skiff page suggests the the builder used a self-tacking headsail... I'd personally prefer a jib myself, even single-handed. Could you just remind me what the difference between B14 and I14 (section rules etc.) and which class is the above hull. Then I'll give you some feedback on it.

Cheers,

Tim B.

 

The above hull is a bucko. The Bucko and i-14 comply to the same measurement point rules, but the bucko has a wider overall gunwale width rule, and the bowsprit rules are also completely different to the i-14. The spinnakers are unrestricted, but you may only carry one at any given time and the idea is that the boat has to be reasonable sailable, so a large masthead kite would have some issues with measuring. The problem with my above hull is that it would not be able to be put on a conventional trailer in Australia, as it would be too wide. That is why the buckos have wings that have two settings, one for trailing the boat, the other (wider) for when sailing. Similarly, the bucko rules don't prevent the use of foils to get the boat airborne, but there is one rule that says that all hulls must comply with the original intentions of the hull rules (that was for a high-performance planing dinghy, not a hydrofoiler). Apart from that, the bucko's quick but it needs some work to become more easy to control.

b14maniac

 

Folding the wings up perhaps. Equally possible on either design. Looks good, perhaps we could refine in rhino eventually.

Cheers,

Tim B.

 

Rhino etc.

Tim, yeah I'd love to re-do my designs in rhino at some stage, but a) I only have version 1 of rhino and b) I'm completely lacking in the skills required to remodel the complex curvature in some of my hulls. Do you know of anywhere that might have some advice as to how to do it? I do all my hulls in hullform which is a lot easier as it has a preset series of values that then gets modified into the desired hull shape and it also has the drag-curve prediction capability, so when the hulls are finished, they're balanced and optimised.

Folding racks are the way to go IMHO, these flares won't work and are probably heavier than some lightweight carbon tube racks.

cheers, b14

 

I'll have a play about with it sometime and see what I can come up with. Since I know the format for the Rhino Command Line, and the format for Hullform, it must be possible to go from one to the other.

Cheers,

Tim B.

 

On the subject of a larger singlehander, check out www.single-handedskiffs.com (if you haven't already seen it on the cover of WoodenBoat). WOW! A worthy successor to the Contender & Finn.

With Laurie Davidson living in Washington State and the likes of Bram Dally and Paul Bieker cropping up (not to mention Tom Speer) there seems to be a lot of design talent in the Pacific Northwest these days. The head sailmaker for Alinghi is from Oregon. Does Phil Kaiko live in the PNW?

Top Northwest sailor Jonathan McKee has taken to sailing a mini-transat (see www.j-mckee.com)...!

 

Here's an interesting singlehanded design brief being discussed by the guys up that way on Leo's Singlehanded Ocean Racing forum:

http://sor.fr.ee/viewtopic.php?t=212


Paul