Historical multihulls

Duster

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Sure looks like a boat hull.....

 

^^^

Thanks for your encouraging words, Doug. I think we'll be very lucky if there is any other trace left of this boat and where it came from, apart from this one moment when an exceptional photographer was at the right place.

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Redreuben! I've also wondered about small skiffs or yawls used in the area, in case Duster was built locally. My prejudice would be for them to have done the job right, and built an optimized one-off center hull just for the catamaran, but there certainly were small sailboats there which had hulls resembling Duster's.

These detail closeups below are from a couple (of many) photographs which William Letts Oliver took on Lake Merritt in Oakland.

It was a bucolic paradise then, compared to the cityscape it is today...lol


Who built these elegant little skiffs? Must have been someone in San Francisco or nearby?








The original photos from which I took these closeups are labeled 'Maritime 114' and 'Maritime 118' in the Oliver Family photograph collection overview on this page.

 

Two struts fore and aft halfway out between the main beams? Two, because you are including the (out of sight) port side? I've been puzzling over that area as well.

I'm looking at your last closeup of the photo, Gary, with the improved contrast.

What could it be? On the right it is attached to the front crossbeam, and on the left end does it go the rear crossbeam? If so, is it a feature related to the sheeting of the headsails? That might explain the line running from the middle of it toward the headsail lying in the bow. There are small blocks for those sheets attached to the shrouds, right? And then maybe you're right about a strut being needed to firm it up, if it's made of wood.

Or could that dark edge show the outboard side of a net between the crossbeams? A fine netting would be hard to see in this photo, but I don't suppose there is one, since nothing appears to be resting on any netting.

And what is that lightish-colored strip which lines are dangling under, extending from near the mast foot towards the base of the shrouds?

And by the way, we should remark on the long boom off the stern, to which the mainsheet is attached. I suppose it must also have a strut attached, though the area is too fuzzy to spot it?

 

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On Amaryllis there was similarly an aft sprit (what is the correct term for that item, I only recall otherwise maybe seeing it on one of the most overrigged Swiss lakeboats of the 90's, was it Full Pelt v2? But, no, I think that was instead an 'aft sprit' for their headsail sheeting).

Amaryllis had struts under the beams fore and aft, and lines which laterally supported the bowsprit. Are those features also here on Duster?

An Amaryllis-related patent illustration:

 

Gentlemen,

I have a copy of Dixon Kemp's Manual of Yact and Boat Sailing. 10th edition 1904.
One of the many boats described and pictured is John Gilpin. Apparently the figure is from Herreshoff's patent application.
I have uploaded the description and drawings here: https://picasaweb.google.com/114094506422911345287/JohnGilpin The description specifically talks about every labeled part on the boat.
Hopefully this is clarify the features of Duster, assuming it is a Herreshoff.
Sorry for the quality of the photos. I only had a point and shoot digital, and a piece of plexiglass.
This is a great book for those who treasure the older boats, not in as good of a shape as I would like. I have thought about separating the book to scan and publish, but don't want to destroy the book. A friend rebinds old books and said it would be at least $500 to put it back together and 3 months (he is an amateur who does this for books he wants to save). There are three photos of the drawing, hopefully you can see everything past the flare of the flash.

Edit: I just saw Blackburn's patent drawing of Amaryllis. There are some differences.

 

^^^

Excellent, Upchurch!

At first glance, it sure looks like Duster is a leap in design improvement over the John Gilpin/Herreshoff patent application drawings, huh?

 

My guess is that each succeeding boat evolved to be simpler, stronger, and more useful.
Its a pity the book didn't have the later more developed boat.

Perhaps the center line board might not have been an improvement.
On John Gilpin there is a rope/pully on the aft end of the bowsprit. Do you think this was to rotate the tack of the bowsprit side to side?

 

I'd never have been able to tell you, without reading your terrific book first!

lol


That rope/block (near the 'L', which is the symbol for the small deck there) represents the jibsheet, and it doesn't attach to the bowsprit, but to the end of the boom attached along the foot of the jib, which is drawn on top of the bowsprit. See the photo of John Gilpin below (and who the hell was Gilpin, anyway?).

The foot of the jib thus kept much better shape with this arrangement (without needing a winch!).

And if you look at the photo of Duster, there is a pole resting on the starboard rail of the center hull, which I suspect is the exact same kind of 'jib-boom'; Meaning that Dusters headsail actually extended out ahead of the front of its bowsprit!

Wow.

 

Obvious with this picture, guess I should read my own book in more detail

We need to get someone to build one of these and let me have a ride!
Nothing like getting some balance to the jib to reduce the sheet loads.

 

I've often wished that someone would build a copy of Amaryllis, but then doing it in carbon fiber etc. and fitting it with a wing.

But lately I'd instead prefer to see a modern replica of Duster. With the original style of rig.

 

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Must have copied the boom setup for the Code Zero on my model........! At least now I know it will work!

 

I'm fantasising tortured ply Tornado type hulls, Gougeon style crossbeam suspension, Iain Oughtred style pod with a sleeved carbon main Wharram Tiki style, or perhaps birds wing sliding Gunter all bright finished wooden blocks and all.
Would clean up every wooden boat show and race trophy on offer !

 

^^^

Redreuben has just redefined 'eclectic', and taken it to a new level.

 

Here is a more contrast image. That is a small tramp (canvas?) with the dangling sheets; or maybe it's a thin wood panel. By jove, Doug, could be pioneering DSS. Sorry, bad joke.
And you're correct, Blackburn; the headsail sheets go to the fore and aft beams between main beams.
Am wondering if the central long keel of the central pod is full length, meaning has the same depth from amidships under mast, and pod stern, skimming just above water) with the (large chord) board (maybe a dagger too) penetrating deeper. If so that could well take the mast compression loads.
Jim Young just gave me a battered copy of Dixon Kemp; I'll post some images later.