Little Catamarans Vs. Little Trimarans for Beachcamping

[Skywoolf]

Looks nice but there is nowhere near enough info on the web site to make any real judgement.

 

[rayaldridge]

Frank, Jones wrote fairly extensively about Brine Shrimp in his book New Plywood Boats.

It was his take on the minimal ocean crossing cat.

 

[Manie B]

i agree

there is nowhere near enough info on the web site to make any real judgement.

not on any of the plans

 

[Skywoolf]

I didn't see any plans. Just one small picture of the hull on shore with no rigging and the sketch that uncookedlentil posted the link to. Maybe I missed something.

 

[uncookedlentil]

I've had to build boats from plans that weren't a whole lot more detailed than what I linked to, but, as we all know, designers can be a cold hearted lot

This design is going to take a little more trailer expense and engineering but there's no substitute for home storage and maintenance.

 

[uncookedlentil]

for those who simply must have a skinney monohull with training wheels this one looks excellent, and if I know the brown/marples design team, the plans will be exquisite as is the design.

http://smalltrimarans.com/blog/?p=3350

 

[Skywoolf]

I've had to build boats from plans that weren't a whole lot more detailed than what I linked to, but, as we all know, designers can be a cold hearted lot

This design is going to take a little more trailer expense and engineering but there's no substitute for home storage and maintenance.

Wow! I think I would need a lot more than a 5" sketch with no dimensions or construction details

I have a beach house and lot with a private pier and I am building a simple boat house. I won't know until August if the worst weather is too much to leave a boat moored in the deep water that is just a few yards off shore. Launching and preparing the boat needs to be simple as I can't see myself spending a couple of hours getting the boat ready for use then another couple of hours to retrieve it and put it away for one day sailing. I guess much of the work would be unnecessary if if is kept on shore by the water.

I wont need a road trailer but I will need to make something similar to launch and retrieve any boat I have there.

 

[rayaldridge]

Actually, the late Thomas Firth Jones did very good plans, and I know this because he published the complete plans for a couple of his multihulls in his books-- namely, Weekender, an 18 foot cat, and also, his biggest design, a trimaran. I would assume his widow still sells the plans. Apparently Jones was not a guy who had much use for online merchandising, thus the modest site.

But there's nothing wrong with his plans. My feeling is that Jones was _the_ major 20th century guru of small voyaging multihulls. He was greatly influenced by Wharram in his earlier years, but eventually developed boats that were far superior in performance and comfort.

 

[Skywoolf]

Thanks Ray, Its good to know that buying the plans would not be a mistake and its probably possible to find more details of the boats elsewhere on the internet.

P.S. I got the halyards. cleats, SS wire, pintals, etc for the Slider from Duckworks but I know a place here in Hong Kong where I can get all the SS blocks, shackles, straps, etc at a fraction of the US prices so I got them all here yesterday. I hope to return to the Philippines on the 16th and get started on the boat soon after.

 

[rayaldridge]

You can find some pictures of a Brine Shrimp on the Yahoo discussion forum multihull_boatbuilding

They're in the file section, though I think you might have to join the group to get access.

 

[uncookedlentil]

THANX Ray she builds out as pretty as imagined, as small and efficient as a summer pocket cruiser as I could want.

I thought about gutting and converting an old Stilleto, but really, I want to see wood on the interior.

great testimonial and links, thanx again

 

[rayaldridge]

Jones has a lot more about Brine Shrimp in his book New Plywood Boats.

He called it the smallest multi that two people could cross an ocean in. I don't know if I'd be that brave, but it's hard to argue with a guy who crossed oceans a number of times in small multis without any serious trouble. He and his wife survived a hurricane at sea in a modified Wharram Hinemoa-- 19 feet on the waterline.

Stilletos are great cats, but I think the Brine Shrimp might be a lot more comfortable, if a bit slower.

 

[rayaldridge]

I have a beach house and lot with a private pier and I am building a simple boat house. I won't know until August if the worst weather is too much to leave a boat moored in the deep water that is just a few yards off shore. Launching and preparing the boat needs to be simple as I can't see myself spending a couple of hours getting the boat ready for use then another couple of hours to retrieve it and put it away for one day sailing. I guess much of the work would be unnecessary if if is kept on shore by the water..

Frank, a couple of long skids ought to do it for Slider. Her trailer bunks are just 2X12 boards with Astroturf to make her slide a little easier, and my cheap trailer winch can crank her up with no trouble. You could set a post in the water with a pulley to haul her off the beach, and that way, you'd be ready to go sailing a couple minutes after you got to the beach.

 

[Skywoolf]

Hi Ray,

Years ago I had a lot of boats in Hong Kong. I used to get a couple of old small car wheels with stub axles. Weld the axles onto the ends of a piece of 2" steel angle and make a wood frame on top of the steel angle to fit the bottom of the boat. Then I would use galvanized steel pipe welded to the steel angle to make a simple U shaped handle with the ends of the U welded to the steel angle and the curve just in front of the boat. A piece of wide flat fire hose across the U just under the bow supported the front of the boat.

This was OK for two people using a slipway to launch or retrieve ski boats up to about 16 feet with 70hp engines.

I am thinking of something similar for the slider with the wheels between the hulls.

I have attached a couple of pictures that show the path to the water. One picture taken from the beach house shows how close the water is to the beach house and the other shows the concrete foundations where we are building the boathouse across the path from the beach house. The path from the beach has been widened to about ten feet wide since the pictures were taken.

Do you think a couple of guys could pull a slider up from the water to the boat house using the trolly I described?

I can't easily get the car to the beach so I am considering making some sort of winch to retrieve bigger boats. A line can be taken out to the end of the pier if the boats need to be pulled down to the water.

 

[rayaldridge]

Frank, your trolley sounds like a simple solution to the problem. Dean Pacetti has a trailer for his Slider that uses two 4X4s for bunks, bolted crosswise onto the trailer frame. He doesn't even use a winch-- just grabs the forestay bridle and yanks the boat up onto the 4X4s.