dstgean

Beautiful! Good judgement waiting to launch until the details were addressed. Will plans ever be offered? A simplified 4-5 panel boat like this might be just the thing for the small trimaran enthusiasm going on right now. Richard Woods has three small tris in his stable, Jim Brown/John Marples have several new designs, the W17 by Michael Waters, the Mark Gumprecht has several tris, etc. Now Alan pops out of the shadows with the B&B F18 meets adventure trimaran. I'm looking for something that I'm calling solo+, which is a solo boat with the capacity of handling two for a daysail or a bunch of supplies for an EC like expedition. Thoughts? The hobies and Windriders and Weta are sorta close, but not really on the money. Dan

Kevin mentioned them as well for a guy building a tri. What'cha building? Dan

You could try one of the sharpie rudder deisgns that is semi-ballanced and add an endplate for a bit more bite. Try looking at Chapelle's New Haven sharpie or Parker's redrawing of the same craft. Looking foreward to hanging out with you again at the T200! Dan

Well the warming part anyhoo. I used the school's microwave and this stuff was chunky! Now it's crystal clear and good to go. I did warm it up in a plastic paint bucket because the huge container wouldn't fit anyways. As it turned out the thinner goo found a leak in the old container and I transferred it to a gallon water jug. should be used up today anyways, so the durability of the jug is not such a big deal. All my pics are on Brian's camera as I keep forgetting to grab mine. The bulkheads are cut, the side panels are ready for epoxy, and then on to assembly. I am wondering though, should I glass the outside of the 4mm panels for abrasion resistance or both outside and inside? I am going to dry sail this thing after all. I was going to epoxy seal the inside and glass the outside. Thoughts? I also threw up a wiki page you can check out--but no pics there of the cutting yet either, just the design. Dan

Charlie, Thanks for the tip I read of yours somewhere about microwaving the part A epoxy that had crystalized. It reconstituted perfectly! That saved about 3 liters of epoxy. Dan

I've gotta get a ride this year! Last year I was needing to get a move out on Saturday to allow a reasonable return time. This next year, I think Brian and I will stop for a lunch at the restaurant prior to turning and running for Magnolia Beach. I so wanted to catch Graham though...a common thought, I'm sure. Not gonna happen off the wind w/o a chute though--even on a Hobie 18. Dan

That's great to hear. My time aboard Pilgrim listening to you, Graham, and Westcoaster was a highlight from last year's trip. Dan

You could also check with Richard Woods or Bernd Kohler--both of whom have dory shaped hulls. They tend to have a higher performance potential than the Wharrams...however, remember the wharram is designed for safety not speed. You could also check out Ray Alridge's little cat--dory shapes there too. Most of the dory bottoms are substantially narrower than you might suspect. If the plans weren't so spendy, I'd be building a Woods Wizard as an open cat rather than the cabin/nacelle boat. Cats make for great little cruisers; I'm sure you'll do well. Dan

I'm not sailing with a B&B designs, but I really enjoyed the company of Graham, Travis, Pete, etc. Anyone else planning on attending? Dan

So your windsurfer mast is INSIDE the aluminum tubing? I was thinking of butting the 2.25" aluminum tubing up to the bottom of the windsurfing mast and using a INTERNAL fitting from a smaller aluminum tube to replicate the way it is normally used. I like the idea of what you guys did and it might work for me since I'll be using either laced sails or some sort of mast hoop. Would those hang up on an external fit if your sail was reefed up and down rather than around the mast? It seems like they might. Dan

Alan, How did you use the aluminum tubes on the RAF tri to extend the fiberglass windsurfing mast? Did you use 2.25" tubing with an insert that would act like a regular windsurfing extension base? I'm thinking of making a mast for the Ulua I have that uses some tubing for the bottom of the mast and uses the 15'2" windsurfing mast as the upper. Overall I need about 22.5' of mast including 14" of bury in the hull. I can get up to 8' lengths fo any diameter and thickness really easily. Dan

Boy you got that right. If Carter had tailwinds of less than 5 knots, he might have set more than a class 2 record. That's what I find so intresting about this race...you run what ya brung...but the conditions need to favor your horse or you won't contend no matter what you do. It's also interesting that different venues favor different boats as well-- as evidenced by the types that win the Raid in the Pacific NW and the various Euro raids. I certainly hope Graham decides to produce plan sets for the EC22 as it's the coolest performance camp cruiser I've yet seen. I really need to get a ride on a core sound to compare.... Matt's performance is truly shocking. Does that guy even need sleep? Dan

So the multi competitors this year weren't interested in competing??? Or the G-cat last year didn't want to beat Graham? In a sense, yes. Looking at the EC22, about the only thing hotter in a monohull is the 18' skiff with guys on the wire. Comparing a downwind sled like that to an Adventure Island, a Windrider 17, and a couple of proas isn't much of a comparison. The G-cat from the previous year is a valid comparison. Looking back their lead in the race was cut short by a decision to stay on the beach since they had no reefing provision sounds an awful lot like the similarly correct decision Graham made to anchor rather than try to beat the trailing Norseboat through the bay in darkness. So yes, I eagerly look foreword to someone showing up with a EC 22 version of a purpose designed multi vs. the EC 22 purpose designed mono. You'd have to find a crack crew to match Graham, but that's what I really hope to see. Comparing the EC 22 to just about anything else in the field is like comparing Carter on a surfski to anyone else on a regular kayak. Is Graham's performance amazing? Absolutely! I loved following it. But saying that it is conclusive proof that the multis weren't racing is not my point. It is just simply that you need a multi that is designed for the race--not a Hobie 16 or even the G-cat. So I was keenly disappointed when the Adventure tri didn't make the starting line, but eagerly looking foreward to Graham's dominating performance. Dan

Not too big a change on the size of the boats since Sea Pearls have been in the race since its inception. They are 600# empty. The extra foot over the pearl is not too much as it is still probably lighter than the Sea Pearl--the big difference is the beam and sail area. Dan

:oops: make that planing Dan