Information needed on Kraken 25 or other Kraken

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by LucD, Oct 19, 2009.

  1. LucD
    Joined: Sep 2009
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    LucD Junior Member

    Hello!

    From what I gather up to now, the Kraken series is the racer trimaran.
    I'm trying to find information on the Kraken 25 or any trimaran of that series.
    Photo, video, plans, construction documentation well any information.

    Thank you to all.
     
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  2. catsketcher
    Joined: Mar 2006
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    catsketcher Senior Member

    Go Modern

    Gday LucD

    Sorry to kill the party but you aren't going to find a super cheap tri just because they are old designs. The Kraken 25 was a day sailer tri. They were a little like a C class cat style trimaran.

    I had the pleasure of meeting Lock Crowther a few times and I am sure he would not be telling you to build a really old design - especially one with no cabin unless you were into multihull history.

    A Seaclipper 28 is probably the best thing you can do - sheet ply and simple - nice interior and you can probably get John Marples to make the beams fold like the CC 26 he designed.

    Get out for a sail - the internet is not the way to find out a boat you will love to sail on
     
  3. LucD
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    LucD Junior Member

    I don't want to build that boat, it's only for knowledge.
    Like what were the differences between the Buccaneer 24 and the Kraken 25.
    Why were they called racing tri, were they faster that the Buccaneer series and if so why.
    So it's only for knowledge, not many peoples seems to know about those boats.
     
  4. catsketcher
    Joined: Mar 2006
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    catsketcher Senior Member

    I didn't sail on a Kraken or even see one in the flesh. The photos I have are of a cold moulded day sailer with no cabin, two crew with one on trapeze. Lock also designed a smaller version - the Wombat - I think. Freeboard would have been about 1 ft and it was made to race for a few hours around the buoys. I knew someone who had one and he said it was very fast. The floats were very small and short in todays terms.

    These first tris by Lock were incredibly thin by todays standards - the hulls were super fine. Bandersnatch was Lock's first offshore tri at 33ft. She took line honours in the only multi Sydney to Hobart in 1966. Arthur Piver was out here on a Stiletto. Bandersnatch broke up on the return trip with the loss of about 4 of the crew including Lock's brother.

    The Kraken 33 we know today was designed as a partnership between Lock and John Hitch (who had owned Bandersnatch). It was much more voluminous and was a great boat straight off the drawing board. She won the 1970 or 1971 Gladstone race. A 40ft version was drawn by Lock which won the cyclone affected 1972 race. Other 40s were built in New Zealand in the US. Lock sailed Ringo to a win in the Bermuda race (I think)

    The Krakens were double diagonal cold moulded boats. The Buccaneer series were designed for ply and had chines. The 24 and 33 were chined boats but the larger Bucc 36 and 40 were not and sometimes made in foam or in cold moulded timber. They were later designs than the Krakens and had more room. A Bucc 40 is a much bigger boat inside than the Kraken 40. The Bucc 40 also had lovely wing shaped crossbeams whereas the Krakens had straight beams and then alloy struts to join the floats.

    The Krakens and the Buccs are nice boats that were very important in multi hull history and development.
     
  5. jamez
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    jamez Senior Member

    The orange boat in the pics is a Kraken 33. Prior to the large cabin being put on top of it this boat was flush decked with what seemed a small cockpit. It had no cabin pod. Restored to original configuration with an updated rig this boat would be a honey. I looked at it a few years ago for 15k but it seemed too much work at the time. Now with the benefit of a little boatbuilding experience I wonder. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

    The white boat is a Buccaneer 33 built round bilge out of foam and glass with alloy beams.. It is a nice looking boat.

    The other is a somewhat neglected looking Bucc 40.
     

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  6. Gary Baigent
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    Gary Baigent Senior Member

    The Kraken awakes.

    I raced against three Krakens, Skipjack (33) (later hit rocks and was destroyed) Manu Puru (33) and Krisis (40) (later turned into a cruiser) and two Buccaneer 33's, Legato.and Rumble of the Guns. Legato was a good looking Buccaneer but had been built too heavy, nevertheless, was still a fast boat. Skipjack and Krisis were light Krakens and great boats. Krisis used to be top multihull here in Auckland until the open wing deck Bamboo Bomber and Great Barrier Express cats arrived. The Kraken masthead rigs were not great but they still went well and Krisis was superbly sailed by the Stuart brothers, Duncan and Andy. They and the boat are still going strong, last I heard.
    In one Coastal Classic we were leading the fleet and saw 58 knots wiind off Sail Rock and the Hen with the "superb yellow trimaran" Krisis along side - we were in Newick 36 Mokihi, reefed way down but still feathering high through the gusts to stay upright; Krisis split her main and then bore away, something I thought would be a dance of death but I guess the destroyed main saved them. I could hardly look as she went beam on to the wind and seas, anyway I was too busy steering to look at them for long.but noticed that they were completely enveloped in spray, a wild momentary image.
    A Kraken 33 or 40 could be discreetly modernised (it's not that they are unique and rare classic one offs) with a rotating, three quarter rig and full batten sails to be an excellent and fast multihull.
    The jpeg is of Krisis 10 minutes before they set their spinnaker, got hit by a savage gust coming off the city, dug lthe leeward float bow in, crew couldn't hang on and fell away from cleated kite sheet .... and slowly she went end over. One of the few times the Stuarts screwed up, metaphorically and figuratively speaking. The other is of a raft up at Kawau with Richard Pilkington walking on Skipjack's after beasm. Third is Bamboo Bomber.
     

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  7. Corley
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    Corley epoxy coated

    Hi, I'm currently rebuilding the only Kraken 25 trimaran that I know of in existence it was one of Lock's very early designs 1962 I think. It's a very basic racing machine very much in the spirit of c class catamarans of that time it has very low freeboard and a quite elegant sheer on the hull it has harnesses for twin trapeze and conforms to c class rules in sail area and dimensions being 25 x 14 beam. It has a pinhead style main and a 3/4 overlap genoa, sail area I believe is approximately 300 sqft. Design displacement is approximately 680lb. It has a standard daggerboard arrangement just abaft of the mast and roller reefing on the Genoa. The mast is 9metres tall and is able to rotate a small amount.

    The boat that I have (the original constructed by Lock Crowther and his family) has no main hull but is otherwise complete, my current project is to rebuild that hull, I've set up the mould stations to prepare for the cold moulding and have put together a few laminates in Kiri to confirm the fairness of the mould and am currently working on the stem and keelson laminations. It is a fairly tedious method of building versus vertical foam but quite an interesting process. I think also the lightness and strength that can be obtained by lighter modern materials will mean its design displacement will be quite easily met.

    Owen McKenzie
     
  8. Corley
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    Corley epoxy coated

  9. redreuben
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    redreuben redreuben

    This thread just gets better and better, I'm completely gobsmacked!
     
  10. catsketcher
    Joined: Mar 2006
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    catsketcher Senior Member

    You gotta be kidding

    This is an amazing update!

    It would be fabulous to see a Kraken 25 sail. I think strip plank Kiri will be a fine method to build it in. I am guessing that you will use a quite light laminate - 200gm uni across grain.

    An offer and then some questions

    If you need some help or advice I would be happy to oblige.

    Could you post photos or drawings of what you have? It would be great if we could follow the build.

    Where are you building the boat?

    cheers

    Phil Thompson
     
  11. Corley
    Joined: Oct 2009
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    Corley epoxy coated

    I have a photocopy of the original hand drawn plans from Lock. Rather than strip plank I'm actually looking at doing an original build with veneers probably a triple diagonal of 2mm Kiri veneer in 150mm wide sections it's readily available through a local supplier and quite reasonably priced too. The stem and keelson laminations at this stage are bring built in Western Red Cedar. I've restored and am going to reuse the original daggerboard and rudder foils

    Unfortunately I don't really have any pictures of the rest of the boat at this stage as I have it in undercover storage offsite but I'll see if I can rustle up a digital camera and get some photo's taken. I had the strongback setup in my factory in Cheltenham in Victoria but I've taken it down temporarily as I'm not satisfied with the strength and squareness of it and am getting a steel girder base fabricated to hold the mould frames will take photos as soon as thats organised. I've attached a pic of a page from the plans and a photo of the boat in her early sailing days.
     

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  12. catsketcher
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    catsketcher Senior Member

    Best of luck

    I am in Newcastle so I won't be down to bug you. Thanks for the post of the images. The photo looks like Lock sailing in the Gippsland Lakes if I had to guess. That is where he came from. It looks awfully sexy - Like a super thin FD with amas.

    I agree with your attempts to get the strongback square. I don't like wooden strongbacks because they can warp in different conditions. I tend to use top hat extrusions glued to a concrete floor but a steel frame would be nice to get the whole thing up to a nice working height. It sounds like you know what you are doing.
     
  13. catsketcher
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    catsketcher Senior Member

    I had a fee talks with Lock and I think in one of them he talked about how the C class cat people tried to get him disqualified. They said that the overall length of all hulls should be no more than 50ft - twice 25ft. The Kraken was over that. It seems like prejudice against different forms other than your own was always there.

    Lock did design C class and B class cats - Helios was a wing masted C he designed.

    Okay - Here is my last story courtesy of my grandfather. He was Lock's boss when Lock started his design career part time. Lock was working as an electrical engineer for the state electricity commission. He had some time off and raced Ringo in the Bermuda Race. There were lots of calms and Ringo was a lot heavier because it had had its crossbeams cut apart and then reglued together. The way my grandfather said it he got a telex saying

    "Conditions calm - boat delayed - request extra leave"

    My grandfather said he okayed the leave.
     
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  14. Corley
    Joined: Oct 2009
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    Corley epoxy coated

    I'm a member of Multihull Yacht Club of Victoria and it's my hope to get the boat sailable within two years the plan is get the boat restored and entered in the inshore races of the Lock Crowther Memorial Regatta in Pittwater as somewhat of a fitting tribute to one of the pioneers in the field. Maybe if your interested of course you might like to pop over and have a look at the boat and maybe come out for a sail?

    The handicap guys at the club are already scratching their heads and trying to work out an appropriate handicap for a lightweight off the beach c class trimaran with trapezes, I'm saying to them I think I need to get the boat reconstructed and back on the water before you worry about that!
     
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  15. masalai
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    masalai masalai

    Bloody Fantastic bit of multihull history, Thanks very much...
     
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