Thread: Solo "Expedition" Sailboat

Getting closer.

A progress drawing.

The light dotted line is the mainsail moved back relative to the mast. The person is 5ft 10" and the cockpit goes back to the transom.

It will not be a true self drainer - they always take water over the stern when overloaded. Rather a boat with a transom that will almost completely self bail after recovery from capsize.

The crew is 5ft 10" and the cockpit goes through to the transom (so there is room to put your legs AJ).

If you are a true masochist you can go to the flickr site and flick back and forward between this version and the previous by clicking on the thumbnails on the right
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boatmik...n/photostream/

Looks like I might have saved a sheet of ply by reducing the beam by 35mm. Not a bad trade-off (if I have really succeeded).

But now I have a really nasty geometric problem to resolve with the two rear buoyancy tank faces. After all ... I want it to be easy to build.

Thanks MIk.

Did the hull shape stay as per PDR, that is a box shape with vertical hull sides, or did she move at all towards Goat shape? Shear looking very nice.

Is the small dodger a curve now, and the deck slightly crowned?

Brian.

Dodger is not set in ceeeement yet. It will be optional anyhow.

The hull is a box, but the chine and sheer line depart a little up at the bow to give a touch of rake to the stem.

Still fiddling .... Almost worked out the side tank faces .. a very productive day today.

Could the dodger be a folding canvas spray dodger. Perhaps forming the front section of a cockpit tent if it had a zip on its back edge? Brian

Originally Posted by Boatmik

Getting closer.

A progress drawing.

looking -really- good Michael.
Did I read correctly earlier that you have re-used the PDR foils ?
If so, I might make a start once Teal is off the operating table.
cheers
AJ

The new dodger looks much more practical - you can pull the daggerboard up for a start! I think the basic shape would work just about equally well in bent ply or fabric. If it were mine (and it shall be mine! Bwaahahaha!) I would probably go for fabric. As you say, a cockpit tent could be simply attached to the back. Perhaps it could just be clipped to an eye placed at a reachable height on the mizzen?

Mik, when you talk about the 'side tanks' will they just be in the quarters or do they run all the way under the side decks? My humble preference would be for small tanks in the quarters otherwise wouldn't they just fight against the water ballast and make the boat float too high on its side after a knockdown?

Chris

Howdy,

A CANVAS Dodger. I hadn't even considered it! OK ... Why not ... I did imagine how a light ply varnished one would look. Think it could add a real point of interest in an architectural sort of way. Sort of like the low cabin trunk on a Dragon.

(I hadn't made that particular connection before)



They don't normally have that window. (oops that was a different pic)

But imagine ... the boat would be nothing special if it was a normal open cockpit.

The big concern is that it will make the base of the mast a bit harder to get at. Why you would need to get there, I don't know. And it was one of the reasons for reducing the size.

MIK

Originally Posted by b.o.a.t.

[/left]

looking -really- good Michael.
Did I read correctly earlier that you have re-used the PDR foils ?
If so, I might make a start once Teal is off the operating table.
cheers
AJ

Yes ... exactly!

Originally Posted by Clarkey

Mik, when you talk about the 'side tanks' will they just be in the quarters or do they run all the way under the side decks? My humble preference would be for small tanks in the quarters otherwise wouldn't they just fight against the water ballast and make the boat float too high on its side after a knockdown?

Chris

One of the great things working here is you guys are so d**n knowledgeable!!!!

Exactly Chris!!! That is how it will be and why.

MIK

Hi MIK,

agree completely with your concept of a ply dodger. It does make it different.

The old larger dodger appeared more angular. The new one immediately looked to me as if it was a curved shape, ( confirmed by the Dragon pic ), which with the shallow dome of the deck looks really nice.

Brian

I know what you both mean, a fabric dodger would be practical but a clear finished wooden one would set the boat off a treat. It is as if to say "yes, I know the boat is square but it is that way for a good reason, not because we can't make curved stuff!".

I am a bit amazed by this boat really, from all the hundreds of small boat designs around, this is EXACTLY what I want. It is, I feel, a modern take on 'Yakaboo' - obviously very different in many respects but designed to do the same job. That is, moderately adventurous singlehanded sailing that demands a satisfying amount of skill without descending into masochistic misery.

Chris

Hey Clarkey,

You going to leave the rudder off like Yakaboo!? hehe

(I am joking)

MIK

AJ,

The mast will be the PDRacer square hollow mast too. It will be a bit shorter than the one in the plan.

MIK

Here's a link to the story of Yakaboo, great inspiration for RAID41 trips

http://ambergriscaye.com/pages/mayan..._contents.html

Quite a nice challenge to sail RAID41 without a rudder! One of the older sailors at Keyhaven told me how he once sailed his Kestrel dinghy ( an Ian Proctor design like the Wayfarer) without a rudder as a challenge. He sailed it out of a side cut into the Solent, along and back into the main river entrance, down the river and back to his start. That's about 30 minutes sailing on a complete 360 degree course.

As an ex-windsurfer I know it's perfectly possible to sail without a rudder, will just have to try it!

On the subject of ply shaped dodgers. If you have back issues of Water Craft, look at the cover of W49, Jan / Feb 2005. A lovely sharpie with a nice curved very low dodger. Tiny picture here if you scroll down to W49.

http://www.watercraft.co.uk/backs.htm

In the article on page 53, the designer Mark Fitzgerald says,

... as the hull speed increases so does the dynamic stability...it has the same excitement as windsurfing or sailing a multihull, I have had the hull completely planing in 20 knots of apparent wind....

not bad for a 19'10 x 5'8" sharpie.

Cannot wait to get out sailing RAID41, as you say Chris, what a prospect, a self rescueing, light weight, low cost, good looking, single handed "sail and oar" boat that planes.

Bring it on !!!!!

Brian

Brian