Would that catamaran ever sail?

I said.. "if you want.." then do it. It makes more sense that he would be offended by all the rich people that used to build their expensive yacht than someone asking if he would do it for free to something so simple. I didnt say do it, I asked if he wanted to do it.

 

And I guess if he wants the design for free, and avoid paying the designer he also wants the materials for free (climbing over the wire fence at night to steal them?)

And watch out in the dinghy park - at least the moderator knows who he is and can advise the police when sails and rigs go missing

Richard Woods

 

That is a really nice boat troy, nice job.

 

People have been building rafts forever, traveling down rivers in america, shanty boats of all type and shapes have been sailed. There is one big raft that crossed the atlantic twice, I was reading about it today.

All those offensive words because I want to build a rectangular boat. I am thinking that people that first built ferrocement boats got the same reaction in France 50 years ago?

Sailing rafts exist. I only like a rectangular sailing boat and you all said it will sail, right?
You all agree it will sail. That is it.

 

Ok, so if you want it simple to build and you don't care if it looks like crap and sails like crap, why bother with the triangular bow? All that extra complication for nothing, right? Why aren't you just going with a basic rectangular box? Seventy million rafts can't be wrong.

 

Ferrocement was popular for some time because of low cost. The limitation is that it is difficult to inspect the condition. Therefore the resale value is very low for most ferro hulls. Combined with the overall costs of everything related to boating increasing, the popularity of ferro hulls has decreased substantially. When a list of pros and cons is enumerated, the long-term value isn't as great as first anticipated.

I wouldn't recommend this as having the most value. Ultimately it's your decision. I wouldn't stop someone from welding together four bathtubs and using a section of flag pole to go sailing on a small lake. Build it. Wear a life jacket. Start close to shore and only go out as far as you can swim back. Have at least one other seaworthy boat shadowing you in case anything goes wrong. Then evaluate whether you are satisfied or want something more thoroughly engineered.

 

Brillhant! I will model that in 3D with only an alteration.

Perfect response, I like your attitude. You should be a professor. Of course many others in this thread said nice things too but your response was what I most liked so far. Thank you.

 

No, actually it isn't brilliant. It's a really bad idea. However, since you've made it obvious that you only want responses that reinforce your preconceptions, and that any other responses will be condemned as totalitarian oppression of unrecognised genius, I thought I may as well play along just for fun.

Go ahead and build it but, if I may temproarily indulge in heresy of the worst kind, try it at model size first. This wll enable you to also try some of the other suggestions with very little work or expense. By doing this, you will be able to get a good idea of how difficult the different options really are to construct, and the differences in performance that result.

 

I understand that a boat is an object that cuts through a medium and that is water. That is why it need a smaller area in front to cut through it ,so the big part goes by it easily. That is what hydrodynamic tries to do.

If not only 1 rectangles is used but a sucession of smaller rectangles in the bow.
Think of the smaller rectangle possible, then go increasing in size, starting at the bow until it reaches the main rectangle.

 

Yeah sure, that would be really easy to build. You could use millions of smaller and smaller rectangles. Or, you could use common sense.

 

Observe.

 

Ok, this is obviously about ego rather than about boats. Go for it.

 

if you do not care about performance why build a catamaran? build a barge or scow, one hull, less wood, less materials, more room, easier to build, cheaper to build.

Go get some plans for the Puddle Duck, they are free. cheap and easy to build and many have found them enjoyable to sail. they are slow, but pleasant to sail.

Adding a triangular bow on a rectgular hull as you propose, by bolting it together is not a good idea. The forces are quite large, will likely leak, and be costly to do. why don't you just bend the sides inward to form a bow. keep the bottom flat the sides vertical. It will be stronger and lighter than a bolted on triangle, and perform better too.

anything that floats can be made into a boat. put a bit of fabric on a pole and you have a sail boat. If you do not care about performance or appearance, just build a big box like a Puddle Duck.

good luck.

 

OK, now I'm seriously considering the possibility that Johnny boy is just a troll, seeing what kind of a rise he can get out of people....

 

Either that or a teenager with too much time on his hands.... there is a generation who now get quite anxious when real life problems can't be solved on the net on a computer in 5 seconds or less.

By the way Troy, thanks for putting up your build pictures again, I remember seeing them ages ago and thinking what a simple but effective design it was. That really is as close as you can get to having something for nothing. Inexpensive materials, a few days of work, and bingo you have a nice boat. Perfect!