Full Rigged Catamaran

Hey guys,

I'm an author and am doing a little research. I was wondering how a fully rigged, steel, Catamaran would work. Its purpose would be to make voyages from Spain to India via the Horn of Africa. It would need to be able to carry cargo or troops. It would have two or three decks.

Have any of you ever heard of a fully rigged cat? I've never even heard of one that's square rigged, let alone fully rigged. It would be 100x50 feet. Three masts along the centerline, aft mast has a barque main sail and then square topsails, topgallant, and royals. Topsails and topgallants are split, fore and main mast have skysails.

Thanks to anyone who responds.

 

What do you mean by fully rigged boat?
Any boat that works is "fully" rigged by definition.

Sounds like something you should put a motor on.
Cats need to be light to have any benefits over monohulls, and Cats have less load carrying ability for a given size.

The description you give will have almost no ability to go into the wind, a lot like the old square rigged boats. That was what often killed them, they got caught offshore when the wind changed and they could not sail away.

 

Fully rigged: Three square rigged masts with at least topgallant. The story, its about a group of Americans that are sent back in time to 2500 BC. Three hundred fifty years later they are building a navy. They don't remember how to build internal combustion engines, their electricity is provided by steam power, but they can not bring any of that technology outside of their borders. So if they want to go to the Persian Gulf via ship they have to sail.

 

What do they burn for steam? If they have a steam engine, it would make sense to have steam powered propulsion. A ship, in the old sense, had a lot more carrying capacity than a catamaran. Since you are loading it heavily with troops, etc. it would be more efficient to use a monohull. The designs have been perfected and reached their apex by the late 1800's. You could use one of those types, their lines and rigging details are relatively easy to find.

 

Thanks gonzo,

They burn oil for steam. They cant bring the steam technology out of their borders.

I appreciate the response, it makes sense. I was originally planning a large frigate. 160' at the waterline by 45' at the beam. I think that's what the Atlanteans will go with. My dad mentioned the Catamaran and it was interesting enough to ask a few questions.

If anyone has anything to say I'll keep my eye on this post.

 

Tea clippers where the fastest and most sophisticated sailing ships.
http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/524/page/1
http://www.sailboatmodel.info/cutty_sark_clipper_1869/index.php?id=4

 

Thanks Gonzo,

I'll look them over. When you look at a modern battleship, with the sharp prow. Do you think that a sailing ship with a similar hull would handle well?

 

The Minoans of some 1500 BCE were remarkably advanced in sea faring expertise. They used mono hulls to do their extensive trading with other societies., Later the Hanseatic League merchant sailors used mono hulls. Before that the Vikings sailed far and wide in mono hulled vessels. They all carried cargo of one sort or another. Monos worked best for them and they also work best now for carrying significant cargo. There are no tankers, bulkers, or Roros that use multihulls. There are reasons for that.

For a fast light, emphasize the word light, multis are in some cases superior. A big, steel hulled, catamaran, troop carrier, or other burdensome vessel is not the appropriate plan form. The realities of established physics and hydrodynamics gets in the way.

 

Mithris, last year our students at UBC did a design exploration of a square rigged cat, (as a sail training ship for people with disabilities.)

Please send me a PM with your email, and I'll see if I can find their design report to forward to you.

Chris McKesson
Univ. of British Columbia

 

I don't know about the rigging, but I seem to recall a somewhat dramatic B&W picture of an experiment that mated two navy ships into a giant sailing catamaran from decades ago.

It was before Photoshop when I saw the picture, so it was probably real, but when I recently searched for the thing (unrelated to your thread) I couldn't find it.

Anyhoo, if you can find an image of the thing it may help you get an idea about the bridge deck structure needed.

 

This is the largest catamaran that I know of though it doesn't sail.
http://gcaptain.com/2015/10/07/deli...maran-allseas-pioneering-spirit/#.Vp_-V_krLIU
click:

 

This is a much smaller "full rigged"(to some extent) cat render done by a member here: http://www.runningtideyachts.com/dynarig/

 

The reference of termed "rigged" is pretty funny(to me) I actually work on a couple, but according to the vernacular of youth it could mean anything from pretty messed up to a catamaran adorned with fit young people.... depending on enunciation....

Jeff.

 

The traditional definition of a "full rigged ship", is a vessel of three or more masts, all of them with square sails.

 

Thanks guys for your replies, some of you gave me some good ideas. I think gonzo is right, a cat probably wouldn't make a good deep see cargo ship. Thanks Doug for the dynarig pic. I wonder how a large frigate would handle under a dynarig. I wonder if the masts could handle the load without stays.