DynaRig MotorSailer, ala Maltese Falcon

"Sail, the historic implement of world exploration, has within itself many new horizons that beckon for pursuit, but you have to be willing to venture past charted waters." - Gary Hoyt

This quote from Gary Hoyt has never been more illuminating than today, when I introduce a new motorsailing design that sports 'another unusual sailing rig'. An inventive and resourceful gentleman, Tom Perkins, has 'ventured past charted waters' to bring us a modern version of the old square-rigger, the DynaRig. He has done it in a big way with a real-life 'proof-of-concept' aboard his innovative and fabulous new 290' superyacht, Maltese Falcon.

My prior 'mast-aft ketch' had elicited notable resistance among members of the conservative sailing community, but I retain that discussion here on the website for those who can't grasp the newest concept of a free-standing, square-rigger. The DynaRig's application to a multihulled vessel is addressed under the new section, DynaRig MotorSailer. The selling this new design and rig should be quite a bit easier following the prototyping provided by Maltese Falcon.

 

Gosh, you could haul it aft a bit, and add control sheets to the spars. Oh, wait a minute, then it would be a junk rig. Well, since we went that far, why not put unstayed masts in each hull, and have a bi-plane junk rig. That would have many advantages from an engineering and sailing point of view.

 

Brian, wrong thread but like to reply and share okay?
OldYachtie; sort of like team phillips or what i drew up below
with me wondering about aperant wind in lateral sails
i now see Tom Speer's study's on riggid twin wings, wow
http://www.tspeer.com/landyachts/twin/Concept.html

 

Re the last four thumbnails: Plus, you couldn't see it on radar, I bet. Looks just like a stealth plane or navy ship. Great for 21st century pirates, ar ar! Swash me buckles, matey!

 

Brian,
I really do like your new design of a motorsailer cat with the DynaRig, and find it appealing to cruising people (I don't know about big game fishers. Maybe those are another kind of guys). To my taste it's a much more 'sellable' concept than your previous aftmast one (this said without discredit of this one). I also like the Rim-Driven diesel-electric propulsion you suggest. A nice modern concept of a motorsailer. Congratulations. I wish you the best of lucks with this new project.
Cheers.

 

Pics Worth a Thousand Words

Does she sail....and beautifully

 

that’s sure looking good and no bad words from me on the airorig but I see more innovation in a folding aft bipod with its clean leading edge sail

a quik search learned solid wings deliver almost twice the effort with less drag vs soft sails that again perform better downwind

than a platonic fictional vision of a “beetle rig” came to my mind.
it wasn’t the booz and girlfrend dont wanna hear so pardon me telling / asking you sailing anargists again

when a ladybird wants to fly she opens her hard shelled wings and than from under there another pair of soft membrane wings.
made me somehow think of raising solid wing masts and fwd sails on a boat; time to see a shrink bout my boat syndrome?

confusing hypothetics and when thinking of the science I wonder if it isn’t better to exit to patching up my canvas, spring is here

ah well, i'll enter, said stranger things before i figger so here a spotted ladybird

 

I've posted a new post at the New Propulsion Systems for Ships thread, which is also in relation with Brian's big game fishing catamaran concept:

http://boatdesign.net/forums/showpost.php?p=130326&postcount=285

Cheers.

 

SkySail Motoryacht

Now that is rather innovative, and very interesting

 

as Brian sayd
i like that motorsailer and thanks for the link
think its even in relation with beetle above

 

Kite Motorsailer

Where can I get more info on this Kite powered motorsailor rig? thanks

 

Kite Motorsailer Rig

Did you follow those links posted above, and did you visit the Skysail website??

I plan to draw up an adaptation of the SkySail rig to my 62-65 motorsailing catamaran real soon. And then a bit later include a tri-hull arrangement in that same size range, as contrasted to the Humphrey's 132 footer

 

Simplfying Falcon's Dynarig

I recently wrote with regards to an inquiry about a 40-ish version:

Unlike my 'single-masted ketch' design that I feel is not necessarily appropriate for a vessel of less than 45 feet, the DynaRig is appropriate for this smaller size vessel. In fact a ‘3-panel’ dynarig might be considered rather than the 4 panels of my new 63 foot DynaRig cat design, or the 5 panels of Falcon. However, I would still favor the 4 panel configuration, as it offers more variation in reef-able sail areas. And with my simplified sail furling mechanisms, it doesn’t add that much weight or complication to the overall rig.

Falcon’s dynarig was complicated by requiring the sails to be furled up inside the mast thru a hollow slot on one side;
1) the mast itself needed a slot in itself all the way down one side of the already weaker side of an elliptical cross-section. This necessitated an internal structure be built into the carbon mast section to reinforce it at the slot area

2) the furling mechanism then needed to be built inside the mast section, and a complicated track mechanism was required to guide the edges of the sails out onto the bridges to the yardarms & the yardarms themselves



I am proposing a much simpler furling and track mechanism for this modern square-rigger concept:
1) The mast will not have internal stowage of the sails, so no slot is required, nor internal support structure. It will be a simple elliptical section that will taper at either end to a smaller section at the top and a circular section at the bottom….not that much more complicated than an ordinary carbon mast for a sloop rigged vessel with a mainsail attached. It might also be a ‘sealed unit’ for ultimate flotation purposes.

2) Each rectangular sail will furl around a ‘wire’ (PBO, Kevlar, Spectra, carbon, etc) sewn across its mid-girth, and having eyes at both ends that clevis pin into ‘continuous line furling drums’ as you might find on ‘Code’ type reaching sails. The sails are constructed of low-tech, light-weight ordinary Dacron, and are of such relatively small dimensions that when furled around a very small diameter ‘wire’, they present a very small diameter package to the elements when ‘stowed away’. Each individual sail panel can be quickly and easily replaced, and inexpensively as well.

3) The furling drums are incorporated into the leading edges of the yardarms/bridges so as to present less windage, and they are’ stacked’ up vertically end to end in a line such that they ‘share’ bearings at either end. One small electric motor drives each panel for furling. For each panel of sail there are two (top & bottom) additional motors to unfurl the sail.

4) The yardarm ‘bridges’ can be shorter in length than Falcon’s with many inherent advantages including the more readily usable ‘forestay arrangement’ with or without a ‘code’ type reaching sail. Shorter lever arms requires less power to rotate the rig as a whole.

5) Three of the yardarms are of equal length thus less production cost…in fact probably these three would be only slightly more expensive than the elaborate furling/stowing booms now found on many ‘ordinary’, modern, short-handed sloop rigs.

6) The low-tech, Dacron sails of this rig should present some considerable savings over those modern sails for Bermudan rigs, and help offset the other initial extra cost of the Dynarig.

7) The sealed mast and yardarms could offer the flotation for the ultimate non-capsizing protection.

These proposed changes to the original Falcon’s interpretation of the DynaRig concept should result in a less expensive version, which is just as viable in sailing characteristics as the Maltese Falcon is proving to be.

 

Brian,

I wrote elsewhere that I like your concept for the smaller square rigger. Your ideas for simplifying the rigging make sense; I don't know if there will be any performance improvements; on the other hand, I can't see anything to detract from performance.

You're on the right track (sorry, couldn't help that), particularly since clients like Tom Perkins don't come around too often. You're working on innovative toys for the "average" wealthy guy. Hopefully, you'll sell a bunch.

 

Each rectangular sail will furl around a ‘wire’ (PBO, Kevlar, Spectra, carbon, etc) sewn across its mid-girth, and having eyes at both ends that clevis pin into ‘continuous line furling drums’ as you might find on ‘Code’ type reaching sails.

Rope doesn't resist torque well , the sails might reef as poorly as the old setups with sewn in wire .

A simple solution (from the 1800's) is to use a chain under tension when rolling up.

The chain resists torque well with minimum tension , although sail attachment may need hand sewing.The chain sails can be bagged , SS wired cant.

FF