beach catamaran hull plans

I got a lot to learn about proas ...... pacific proa, atlantic proa, tacking proa, shunting proa, the sail is on the main hull or sometimes the outrigger float. It's all a bit confusing but it does attract my interest! Can I sail such a weird craft? and what makes it different than a catamaran? all to be answered in this journey.

Chris White's plans were being built by a local company here called Lone Star Multihulls. They launched cats and a Hammerhead Tri. I wish I had the chance to meet Chris when he was here for those sea trials. oh well. I do know the builders though! but I don't think LoneStar Multihulls is still building boats ..... but maybe I can get some help from them? hummmm........ and they would have Chris White's contact info and could be a reference for me.

I'm still pretty committed , no not to the mental institution, to my cat idea. But the proa calls out to me ...... the next challenge? cause I think I got this cat in the bag!

 

It would have to complete a 40 mile road portage, last a couple of weeks with gear and handle all the conditions mother nature could throw at it. I'd also have to be able to sleep on board, and sail it while napping. Not your normal day sailor with the family and kids.

 

Good luck with Lone Star Multihulls. About a year ago I contacted a guy about a Chris White Discovery20. He seemed to be with them previously. The boat was not rigged and the impression I got was that the company was not longer existing. This was a boat that has not been finished for some years.

Whites tacking Proa was the Dragonfly15. Actually on the tacking Proa you sail it like any other boat, but with the ama to weather you don't have as much righting moment as when it is to leeward. This is a minimal boat 140# with 135 sq.ft. of sail, and 10' width. Of course anyone could add more. This is the same concept as Short Dragon sailed by Watarsa (SP?) one of the forumites here. edit - I just found a link to the advertising picture http://www.boat-links.com/images/proapix/Dragonfly.gif however the original ad copy said plans were $599, this link says $99. It might have changed over the years.

 

All the forgoing ideas are great food for thought, but I can't help thinking that you can go back to the future for elegant simplicity,(KISS).
For a 16ft fast day sailer---the Piver Frolic.
For the 16Ft cruiser the Jarcat.

 

The Ninja sails on one tack with the outrigger to lee, to windward on the other tack.

That makes it quite an unusual proa

I have sailed both "windward" (Pacific) proas and "leeward" (Atlantic) proas

In the former the weight of the outrigger acts as ballast and keeps the boat upright. In the latter the buoyancy keeps it upright, so it behaves like a two hulled trimaran

But (Ninja excepted) you cannot sail with the outrigger on the wrong side (not enough buoyancy in the one case, too little weight in the other)

So that means instead of tacking/gybing the proa as one does with conventional boats you have to "shunt" it. The bow becomes the stern and vice versa. This means two things. First, the hull has to be longitudinally symmetrical as it has to go equally fast in both directions. (However it can be transversely asymmetric). Similarly there has to be a rudder at each end (which may need lifting) and any leeway preventer must balance the C of E, which will probably move fore/aft as you shunt.

The traditional Pacific proas tended to be long distance voyagers with plenty of searoom. Or they were fishing boats and would go out to the fishing grounds in the morning, fish all day and back in the evening.

So traditionally the proa was not used for the sort of sailing we do.

Imagine sailing downwind down a channel or river in a conventional boat. The river bends so you gybe and sail on.

Now imagine doing that on a proa. You cannot gybe. What you have to do is luff up head to wind and reverse direction. That needs a lot of room (it's a bit like wearing ship)

Then you come to another bend and have to do it again.

So sailing a proa is not easy, nor is it terribly safe when in crowded sailing areas when no one knows what you are doing, nor how hard it is for you to alter course suddenly. Say when sailing downwind on port tack you met a starboard tacker - you cannot gybe to avoid it, you have to luff up and reverse course. So do a 270deg maneuver instead of 90 deg

If you read Tom Follet's book about Cheers (the first Atlantic proa) you'll see he says he thought the Solent was too small and crowded to safely sail a proa in. The Solent is about 30 miles long and 5 wide at its minimum.

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com

 

Thanks Richard! I picked the toughest place to sail in, a river such as the St. Mary's and Suwannee which is Stage 4 of the Ultimate Florida Challenge and I tried to imagine just how I'd go about trying this and you summed it up nicely and confirmed my vague idea. Yeah, looks like a really tough thing to do with a proa! I think that for the Texas 200 a proa might be ok, Skip Johnson likes to play with them there, and since that's my home waters I could learn and play with this concept. Still I think my folding cat is my best option. For the warmup before the UFC I plan on doing the EC and getting thru the Wilderness Water Way, Broad Creek and the nightmare, my folded up cat will be able to get thru there, I don't see a proa doing it, not sailing it anyway, and I plan on sail assisted rowing (or other propulsion method) when ever i can.

 

Back in the day I used to be the Canadian agent for Skip Johnsons non existant plans. I though he was dead. Do you mean he is still alive???:?:

 

This Skip Johnson does a lot of Texas Water Safari designs and is active on Duckworks.

 

The Malibu Outrigger is plain tacking proa, with ama alternating windward/l'ward, but one can build the ama of foam and add weights to suit...orig designed to handle surf launches from Malibu, CA beach, which it does extremely well.

Let's say it is Hawaiian styled Pacific proa. The ama can be altered to be port or s'tarboard, with more set-up time, when prevailing winds call for it, as might be case off Texas or Florida coasts.

Cats are very very cool; proas, seem to have a slight edge sailing when ama is l'ward and can be built with a "safety" ama - smaller ama opposite main ama, as one suggested on a similar thread.

But, with 10 to 12 feet of outboard ama, lots of leverage. Could not be simpler in design for home build, with but 3 frames, plus bow and stern, in main hull. All marine ply with epoxy/glass sheathing.

The hull and the ama, if you use foam and epoxy...can also employ lifting foils, if designed in.

Frankly, if the Ninja were avail in USA, I would likely buy, but it is not as stable because it has not the loa nor as wide as Malibu, and the MO is so easy to build and alter to one's taste.

Am sure one can arrange design to carry needed goodies and to doze for a time and camp over-night on the tramp, between the akas. I am planning to build one with open hull between the akas, with transom drain etc...

Proas seem neglected, when in fact, they are quite efficient in the cruising variety, though I would need a tacker in my inland water/harbor put-in cases.

Just an alternative but a 1950s design that has current merit. One can easily employ rotating mast and cat rig, instead of crab claw, which really does fit the boat's intended use best.

Plans are 50 $coots.

 

Heck, maybe one of the Hobie or other folding tri kayaks might be the best choice.

 

supernova trimaran

Hello
I'm frans from the Netherlands.
am in possession of a supernova trimaran. The trimaran is unfortunately not complete and there is no manual in. of the mast I miss the spreader and the boom has no mounting bracket for the mast. The trimaran is in super condition with new sails and discourses aging in the package. who can help me so we can go into the water.

Frans
fransvandenbroek01@gmail.com

 

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Any pictures of the boat? SA(sail area)? mast length? beam? weight? Depending on righting moment(RM) could you use beachcat hardware from a used rig with similar SA and RM?
found this easily: http://smalltrimarans.com/blog/?p=2515

 

Here is some detail photos of my supernova trimarans fittings. The spreader arm lengths are 220mm forward and 330mm sides. Also a shot of the trailer I constructed to carry my boat it makes it much easier to unload and setup than using the rooftop transport method.

 

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Corely how was the boat to sail? Did you have to get out to the windward hull to hold it down in a breeze? How did it compare speed wise,pointing wise
and tacking wise to a beach cat-like a H16 or?

 

In a light breeze one up the boat makes a hobie 16 look quite slow as the wind goes up the centreboard starts to drag quite a bit and the boat loses its edge a slot filler or gasket would help as would a properly shaped board rather than a flat sheet of metal. The boat also feels a bit underpowered in my view but I can see the reason they went that way to provide a boat that was manageable for a lightweight crew. Pointing ability is adequate and limited by the poorly shaped centreboard it is however much better than a Hobie 16 the boat would tack through about 100 degrees. It also generates enough apparent to make tacking downwind worthwhile when the wind picks up but in light conditions running deep seems just as fast.

A screecher on a prodder would transform the boat but make it more easy to capsize. By the way I have purposely capsized the boat to just see what it was like to right and it's very easy (much easier than the mosquito cat I owned) just stand on the float pull out the centreboard and lean on it and the boat comes straight up. I've never managed to capsize the boat while sailing and have pushed really hard even on 25-30knot days the float just buries a bit and comes up again when you ease the sheet or shift your butt out a bit further.

The floats are low volume but still provide a surprising amount of righting moment on the 12 foot wide platform (edit actually 10'6") I've never had to hike (heavy *******) I just sit on the edge of the cockpit with the float just kissing the waters surface.