rescue a Volksboat

Discussion in 'Boat Design' started by Johnny123, Dec 4, 2014.

  1. Johnny123
    Joined: Dec 2014
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    Location: Germany

    Johnny123 Junior Member

    Dear boat design friends

    I am writing from Europe to ask you for some advice.
    There is a boat in Germany which is called Varianta, about 4000 were sold and ended up to be the most popular boats in Germany. It is a trailer sailor with just enough room to think about doing a little cruise once in a while with 3-4 people. It's not a beauty but turned out to be practical afterall. Now the boat is 40 years old and we are wondering if we can design a new Volksboat (similar to Volkswagen) so our kids can continue sailing on a similar boat.

    There is a scene that likes racing with them on lakes others do coastal sailing with it. Unfortunately the boat isn't fast nor is it very seaworthy, but it had a sliptrailer and had a displacement of only 900 kg.

    so now we would like to start designing something popular and not to expensive to become the new volksboot of Germany. I was actually thinking of a seaworthy little boat, so I changed the ratio of the allegra24 and I was quite satisfied, so for the coast we wanted a long keel similar to flicka ... or maybe spray 22, something you could go on the road with but would also withstand coastal heavy weather....another possibibilty would be to go the mini transat way which has the same length and add some living area, but I doubt that would be the right approach to end up with a safe sailboat for family members. The company Dehler that sold the boat obviously are not building any new ones but of course is trying to develope new boats usually ending up as flop and in the time of crowd sourcing I thought maybe the new Volksboot could be crowd sourced some day.

    If you have any ideas for this project we would be very thankful.

    http://www.sailingtheweb.com/sailboats/Varianta 65/Dehler/


    sincerly John D.
     
  2. Neonhelm
    Joined: Nov 2012
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    Location: Neandertal

    Neonhelm Junior Member

    Uhhh, I know, I'm going to spoil, but I don't think there will be a Volksboot in the nearer future.

    a) tons of cheap little boats around
    b) no girl I know of is the buckit 'n chuckit type

    So, I think todays Volksboat is the AWB of a certain size that you charter for your holiday.

    Btw: There's that Bente 24 Project. We'll see how that works.

    Sorry for not bringing up proper new ideas, but I think that's the situation at the moment.
     
  3. gonzo
    Joined: Aug 2002
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    Location: Milwaukee, WI

    gonzo Senior Member

    There are thousands of designs in the 22-25 foot range. Unless you are looking at something completely revolutionary, the existing choices cover just about anything you may want. I think that you need to define what you believe is a reasonable safety factor for family members. Does that mean you are talking of little children?
     
  4. Johnny123
    Joined: Dec 2014
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    Location: Germany

    Johnny123 Junior Member

    seaworthy trailer sailor with long keel

    a long keeled trailersailor might be a new combination or is it not, as you say there are many yachts out there but most of them are quite expensive
     
  5. gonzo
    Joined: Aug 2002
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    Location: Milwaukee, WI

    gonzo Senior Member

    The problem with fixed keeled boats is that launching them is really hard. Many ramps are not deep enough to do it, so it restricts their use.
     
  6. Johnny123
    Joined: Dec 2014
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    Location: Germany

    Johnny123 Junior Member


  7. PAR
    Joined: Nov 2003
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    Location: Eustis, FL

    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    3' of draft is difficult to trailer launch at most ramps. A centerboard, swing or drop keel design, will be best suited for trailer borne launching. If you can comprehend the realities of these launching and recovery operations in regard to draft minimums, you'd be best advised to simply find a suitable design in this general size range and refurbish it.

    That Atkins design costs a lot to build.
     
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