Beach Cruiser - Reloaded

The Beach Cruiser sketch from last March has progressed into a 3D model - my first 3D project in a long while - a good vehicle for relearning the ropes. To recap, Beach Cruiser is intended to be a multihull version of the popular "open boat" style of camping cruiser. Over the years, small cats have become somewhat the victims of their own success - evolving into pure race boats. It's a bit of a shame really, considering their roots come from the ocean crossing voyaging canoes of the Polynesians. Why not a beach cat "voyaging canoe"? A small trailer boat that maintains (much) of the performance of its race bred cousins, but with considerably more storage, comfort and seaworthiness. A boat for really going places... quickly!

A multihull designed to live on a trailer immediately comes up against the beam issue. 8'-6" is fine for a racing cat designed to fly a hull at every opportunity, but what about a cruiser? Chris Ostlind has tackled the stability issue with his Neo 21 camp cruiser catamaran by using a clever sliding-beam design that extends the boat out to a rock solid 11' of BOA on the water - increasing the stability to match the powerful sail plan. With Beach Cruiser I'm taking the other approach, accepting the 8'-6" trailerable beam limit (which gives me the considerable benefits of a simplified structure and speedy set-up on the ramp) and reducing the power of the rig.

Beach Cruiser

LOA: 20'
LWL: 19'-2"
BOA: 8'-6"
Hull beam: 1'-6"
Draft: 11"
Sail Area: 220 sq. ft.
Mast height: 20'
Mast height including gaff: 26'-2"

The Sliding Gunter Rig

The rig is a 220 sq. ft. modern sliding gunter sloop (first proposed on the 23' Manu Kai) and the most innovative aspect of the design. The gunter rig has several advantages for a small cruising catamaran:

• Easily rigged from a trailer - The rotating mast is only 20' long, which makes trailering a lot easier than with your typical unwieldy beach cat mast. The mast is the same length as the boat, creating a nice trailering package, and it is also 28% lighter than a 28' beach cat mast. A cut-down Hobie mast would be perfect. The mast also clears low bridges more easily.
• Aerodynamically efficient - The carbon reinforced wood gaff makes an excellent aerodynamic shape, smaller in diameter than the mast.
• Easily reefed - The gaff saves weight aloft (the best place to save it) and even more important, the gaff is easily reefed, a feature almost unavailable in traditional beach cat rigs.
• Automatic de-powering - The gaff will bend off in gusts, automatically de-powering the rig, almost in the manner of free-standing rigs. This is a feature highly desirable in a narrow beam cruising catamaran - and the one that can tame the high strung beach cat into a manageable cruiser.

The only downside I can see to the rig is that the height of the asymmetric chute is reduced, but since this IS a cruiser, probably a good thing. The blade jib is self-tacking.

The hull shape is a slender curved V. It needs no boards to sail to windward, and is a robust shape that takes beaching well, delivers a great ride, and looks good doing it. Construction method is tortured plywood (mildly tortured, really just tickling) and the hull shape is symmetrical in order to help the builder keep things all lined up and true. Also good for mass production, since only one hull mold is required.

The solid bridge deck with raised seating goes a long way toward keeping the crew comfortable and dry. The bridgedeck is 16" above the water, providing excellent wave clearance and contributing further to a smooth and dry ride. The solid cockpit floor measures 6'-8" x 5' - just enough for a large double air mattress, and by raising the boom, a boom tent can turn the cockpit into a cozy camp site. A canvas dodger can be fitted just aft of the mast to further protect the crew in colder climates.

Still to be added are the "wing" seats, which allow the crew to shift their weight out to windward by a significant percentage.

As mentioned in the earlier article about Beach Cruiser, the boat was inspired by the solid bridge deck cats of C/S/K - the prototype "beach cruisers" of the '60's. Like Aloha shirts and Vans, the style is a perennial favorite. I hope you enjoy the modern interpretation.

Comments

• Michael,

  I love it!  Great interpretation of a classic motief with the C/S/K look.  Looks good for a bit of camp cruising, and the quick launch of the narrow beam boat with a short rig is amazing.  I think the advantages of a cat go way beyond the “hair on fire” F18 set.  I’ve gone with the double Tamanu for my own interpretation of this, but I love the concept!

  I think a boat like this would be really slick with an integrated outboard pod, making a nice cruiser even more versatile.

  Any plans for production or plan sales?

  Dan

  Posted by  on  10/05  at  07:36 AM

• Inspired tweakage, Michael. So nice, in fact, that I’d love to have a Beach Cruiser AND a Neo 21 for the different boating interests I have.

  That’s the trouble, isn’t it; The business of wanting a fun and stylish day sailing buggy, while still being able to flash on out to Catalina or Baja for a long weekend with a whole lot of chutzpah?

  You’ve just made my life infinitely more complicated… as always, thanks for the lovely anguish, ;-)

  Chris

  Posted by Chris Ostlind  on  10/06  at  10:21 AM

• Dan - I know you’ve been working on a small “voyaging canoe” for a long time, the double Tamanu is a great idea. It’s hard to beat cats for load carrying capacity, and that’s important when you want to build or keep your vessel in the garage. The outboard pod would be nice, but I’m struggling with the fact that it will compromise the cockpit camping space to the point where a double “berth” will no longer fit. So I was just going to hang the 2-3 hp outboard off the aft crossbeam, darn it. I’m still musing about plans and/or production.

  Chris - thanks for stopping by.

  That’s the trouble, isn’t it; The business of wanting a fun and stylish day sailing buggy, while still being able to flash on out to Catalina or Baja for a long weekend with a whole lot of chutzpah?

  I think that is really well put. We want the ease of living with a trailerable beach cat (and the fun), but we want a little more capability (stability). Not such an easy nut to crack. A full-on Atlantic proa has the stability (think of it as 2/3 of a trimaran, which gives it a “functional” beam of 12’) but the proa comes with a host of its own problems!

  Posted by  on  10/06  at  06:46 PM

• Michael,
  Bravo!! You’ve really nailed the C/S/K/Bartolone aesthetic. I love your continued interest in the sliding gunter rig. For several years now I have been looking up all I can about this rig and some of the modern interpretations (Paul Bieker’s PT15).
  That said, I have two Tornado masts sitting around waiting for a nice little beach cat to step on…

  So, are there building plans in process?

  Best,
  Frank

  Posted by  on  10/07  at  08:32 AM

• Superb model (as usual), Michael.
  When looking back at the original drawing, I noted you have changed the stylish rudders.  Was this with production (KISS) in mind or did you figure they just wouldn’t work?

  That was a good question/observation of Chris O’s.

  Posted by  on  10/07  at  07:50 PM

• ooh, really nice again, I still like it, and I hope someone builds it :)

  Posted by  on  10/10  at  08:19 PM

• Thanks for the comments all, much appreciated. No plans for plans, Beach Cruiser is simply a portfolio piece.

  James: I adopted the beach cat style kick up rudder because:

  1. the high aspect ratio rudder gives superior helm response.

  2. The parts are readily available given the ubiquitous beach cats that sit decaying in back yards the world over.

  Posted by  on  10/11  at  08:50 PM

• “I’m still musing about plans and/or production.”

  Keep musing!  Or better yet, go with a plan set!  Ray A. has a few boats being built to Slider’s plans, and I think your trailerable cat has appeal in spades.  I’m sure it’s a limited audience, but I could see leaving one in Sanibel for camping trips or daytrips both as a sailboat or party barge sans rigging!

  Dan

  Posted by  on  10/16  at  06:12 AM

• Very pretty. Having owned/sailed a 20’ mondo-sail area, gunter rigged boat I have two cents about that, but I do like how your gaff spar is short.  Can you give me/us an idea of the displacement as drawn, rough payload, and pound per inch immersion?
  Scot

  Posted by  on  10/16  at  07:38 AM

• Hi Michael,

  nice to see that you’ve gone forward with this sweet looking boat with a cool rig. I’ve been trying to find plans/specifications for such a rig for my own boat. But I can’t find any. I’ve asked Bernd Koeler, who has a quite similar rig on his KD650, but he is unable to dispend the time to draw a new one at this time.
  Good luck,
  Peter

  Posted by peter mirow  on  10/21  at  01:52 PM

• Michael, what will it take $$$$ to get plans for this boat? I’ve been waiting for a long time for a design like this and would be a serious builder if I could get started soon.

  Posted by  on  10/28  at  05:23 AM