everglades challenge sailboat

Illegal? This isn't a snooty monohull race, any craft is welcome, and there's been all kinds entered! Pretty much any craft that can carry the required gear list would fit the bill and be deemed safe by the inspection.

got a link to this boat?

 

Afraid I don't know what this is. Do you have a link or picture? Is there anything illegal?

 

EC article on front page of SA-scroll down to "full moon":

http://www.sailinganarchy.com/index_page1.php

 

If he and one other crew can drag it above the surf line on the beach and get it through an eight foot gap, it is definitely EC legal.

It would certainly be a Class 5 boat (a multihull) though.

 

You have to carry the required gear is about all the specs for the boat there is.

edit: oh, and you have to be able to reef, reef, reef, .....

 

I have been looking all over for a pic of the America's cup boat Dominion, but haven't had much luck. It's an interesting story. It's basically and extreme tunnel hulled scow that won the America's cup but was quickly banned. This boat is the origin of the "no concavity" in the hull shape rule.

It really is amazing how much these kinds of decisions have on the evolution of design. Boats today would look very different if such rules were never put into place.

 

----------------------
Not AC-Sewanaka(sp?) Cup-Have you seen this?

 

You are right Doug, thanks for pointing that out and for the reference. I look forward to reading it.


EDIT*
That PDF is a riot! The funny thing is it mirrors the conversations I have experienced at our local yacht club today...

 

attached are a few new model pics of my current cat design and my new crazy going off the deep end tangent. the cat is 16' the proa is 24' (?). the proa still needs lots of design requirements figured out. I am wondering if my folding system for the cat will fit on the proa? hummmm ........ is hiked out 10' enough? Can I go more? the nice thing about this folding system is I can fold only half of it if I need to. If I fold up half and get to 10' I can get thru the EC portion with is stage 1. for the upper reaches of the stage 4 I'd have to be fully folded.

 

Dominion

Here's what she looked like.

Cheers,

Earl

 

Hi Dennis - As cool as your folding cat design is, I'm worried that the center section isn't very strongly supported under any kind of load. If you plan to add mast compression to the weight of people, how will you keep it from breaking in half? Maybe the crossbars could interlock when fully open?
- Frank

 

Earl,

Thanks, I do remember this from long ago. Its not really a boat for heavy waves. As I remember reports said it pounded heavily and went much slower in those conditions. I believe this was a short stop on the way to modern catamarans. Why go back?

 

Oh, sure, I wasn't advocating the design, just showing people what it looked like. All scows have this problem; there are reports of Sonder boats pounding the caulk out of their seams in Marblehead harbor.

Cheers,

Earl

 

Frank,
it's a free standing biplane rig on the cat, and freestanding schooner rigged on the proa. That will take a lot of the forces and weight to the hulls. While the model not yet shows it, it kinda uses a splint to reinforce the pivoting center parts. If I can I'll also have the cross members interlock like you mention but that might just create alignment problems later?

Attached is the foldong proa idea. Presently it's the same beam as the cat at 10' but I can extend that to 12. It's all dependent on the length of the center platform which is a function of the useable space on the outrigger hull.

This is not meant to be a super quick folding system like on the hobie AI/TI or your boat, it will take some time to beef up the cross beams. i fully intend for this to be a rough water boat, it might be wet so the crew should be the weak link in all of this, not the boat.

Next I'll be modeling a better example of the folding system. I want to use aluminum box beam, if I can find it. I do have a ship breaking yard near me and they got plenty of tube/pipe but nothing square or rectangular. they do have some aluminum litters which would be perfect for tramps though! I'm going there tomorrow.

 

Dennis - Yes, a freestanding biplane rig would eliminate most of those concerns -- kind of like a pair of monohulls in harness. I do think the crossmembers could be made to interlock when open, which would be a solid solution. The challenge, of course, is doing that while you're actually on the boat.
I really do like your folding design. I think it has lots of potential. Box beams sound like a great way to go. I've never been able to warm up to proas, but I do like cats!
- Frank