Newbie building questions

Hello thanks for taking the time to look at this. My wife and I are considering building a multi hull for extended cruising and possible ocean crossing. Our 1st choice would be a catamaran, second choice would be a trimaran, in the neighborhood of 35-40 feet. The primary concern on length is that its a comfortable liveaboard & that its not too big to be sailed solo in a pinch. The design we choose needs to have a covered cockpit or a removable cover.
However we are landlocked and the building would be done in central Indiana. We would need to transfer the completed boat at least to Lake Michigan for it to reach the ocean (appx 250 miles). It doesn't necessarily need to be a folding trailerable design if the design could be 2 pcs which were fairly easily connected at a boatyard. Does anyone know if this is possible or of any designs that meet this criteria?
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

 

Absolutely possible.......Wharram or Richard Woods catamarans...

 

You might find this blog of interest. One of my 34ft Romany builders, vaguely in your area, and so with similar transport/logistical problems that he has now solved

http://zambonidriver.com/category/boat-building-updates/

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Richard, I am unable to work on the boat anywhere other than home so I will have to be able to at least get it on one or two semi trailers. I could join the two halves at a boatyard, if that were possible on a boat like your Flicka (which I have been looking at for a while now) but I wouldn't want to spend more than a week or two doing so. Thanks.
Scott

 

If you've looked at my website I guess you've seen the photo attached. Just to show anything is possible, even down narrow Cornish lanes with high stone walls and even houses on each side

We recently had our 14ft wide Skoota delivered 40 miles in Wa from boatbuilding shed to marina without an escort or wide load permit

You could, for example, build a Romany and instead of having fixed beams and fixed cuddy you could use demountable beams and bolt the cuddy and cockpit in place.

But the beam boxes will take time to make, are heavy and take up interior room. So you have to weigh up the extra costs and time involved building in pieces at home versus taking an extra week finishing in a boatyard

The 30ft Sagitta that sailed to the Azores last year was built in three pieces and joined in a boatyard

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com

 

For a couple I think the trimaran is a good option you can build quite large trimarans that are demountable. Tim Clissold drew me a 40' trimaran concept that is I believe a fantastic boat for a couple and could be built in parts and assembled near the water. I never took it through to plans as I took a different direction and settled on a racing boat with few creature comforts as the wife's decided she isn't interested in cruising.

http://trimaranproject.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/tim-clissold-tc1221-40-trimaran-concept.html

You could also take a look at Kurt Hughes catamaran and trimaran designs as quite a few of them are demountable to quite large sizes and I've found him quite receptive to taking into consideration your building location and requirements.

http://www.multihulldesigns.com/index.htm

 

Corley, the trimaran is an option but I've never been on one. I've always wondered, do you get a lot of jarring if one of the pontoons comes off the water and then slaps back down? The wife has issues with motion sickness at times and for that reason I'm looking for the most stable design possible for a given size. Thanks.

 

Ed Horstman's Tri-Star 31 CM might suit you. It is demountable, and being a classic cruising trimaran it keeps all three hulls in the water. Keep in mind that comparing displacement is the most accurate way to judge the actual size of boats.

http://www.edhorstmanmultihulldesigns.com/triplans/tri31cm.php

 

This is determined by the shape of the ama/float. A wide semicircular ama definitely is a rougher ride. For cruising more of a rounded V shape will give a softer ride. Take a look at Marples Seaclipper tris, easy build and assemble. With any wind most trimarans have the windward ama out of the water and it just slices the occasional wave top. The motion feels more floaty than a cat.

For shoal draft monos Reuel Parker has his maxi trailerable series. The 45 schooner has been to the Bahamas and across the Gulf Stream.

 

Cruising trimarans generally have moved to a more elliptical and parabolic shape for the float section (foil assist racing trimarans too out of interest). The reason as noted above is the rough ride and slamming from a true semicircular section. The elliptical and parabolic type sections give a better ride and a more gradual uptake of buoyancy and a less harsh ride. Some designers like Dick Newick for example believe the trimaran ride to be better others not. I'm not sure but would describe them as "different" it would be great if you could get some first hand experience to help with your judgement. While sailing there is probably a slightly higher level of initial heel perhaps somewhere in the 10-15 degree range.

The biggest difference I can see is at anchor where if you had a trimaran design with lots of dihedral under certain conditions you may have to do something to stop the flop. With some designs with a lot of dihedral owners tie their RIB under one of the floats and on others all that's required is to swing the boom out to one side. Kurt Hughes for example addresses the issue by having both floats positioned so they lightly rest on the surface of the water at rest near the centre of the float.

 

Many cruising tri designs have the amas immersed slightly to avoid the flops. 5- 10 degrees heel is more average when cruising.

 

In the PNW we knew Kurt's boats tend to squat we just didn't know he was doing it on purpose! If those amas are out of the water forward of the sterns those full sections will slap with the waves at anchor....

 

Sorry about that must have had too much coffee they are immersed in the centre rocker of the float not the transom while at rest.

 

Newick fans are still paying Kurt back for his blogging ....I'll try to find one of the pictures of his old boats. The wide transom sterns will be more noisy and harder riding though.

 

I'm not convinced that a narrow transom on a float is necessarily a good idea. Older Aussie tri designs like the Grainger Spoon Bay with narrow float transoms tended to immerse the rear of the float badly and squat at the rear while going upwind a more full transom would help to prevent that.