Hello All!  Sorry, but this is going to be long.

My name is Galen.  I was actually the fortunate soul who inherited Michael’s Rozinante proa.  What a kind person he was for that gift.

With the help of Russell and Paul Bieker I designed a new rig and rudder system for her. I had purchased new sails, had a wonderful carbon mast with a new track system for it, and twin roller furlings for jibs on each end.  And I was building some new daggerboard rudders for her.  But then things got in the way and I moved to Arizona.  The boat sat for a few years in Port Townsend, and I realized I had to sell her instead of letting her go to hell. So I did, recouping about half the amount I put into the sails and rig.  It has been many years and unfortunately I have no idea if the new owner ever got her on the water. Maybe it is just not in the cards for that boat?

Now some years later I am thinking about building a new boat, and need some advice.

First, a little about me.  Although currently in Tucson, AZ, I grew up in Port Townsend, WA. One of my first sailing experiences was a thrilling week cruising the San Juan Islands in a little Tremolino trimaran of a friends, with a T-bird monohull along side as a sailing companion.  What a taste of freedom and excitement that was for a young fool. Sailing home at night, through Point Hudson, with the current kicking, solid fog, and a tug boat comes out of nowhere. We nearly tacked behind it, just about not realizing it was pulling a barge. That was nearly the end of my sailing carrier. What fun!

But I had the trimaran bug.  I started reading all I could.  Chris White’s book became my bible. I can remember getting a slice of pizza downtown, and talking to this guy about building a trimaran, and the benefits of plywood. He loved plywood. That was Russell Brown. I ended up designing and building a 22’ trimaran, using 18’ beach cat outer hulls and rig.  I built the mainhull in tortured plywood, glassed in and out. And it had T6 aluminum tubes bent into some complex shapes for cross beams, and a huge daggerboard. What a horrible job I made of it all, with an ugly box of a cabin.  I allowed my metal worker father to craft a stainless steel contraption with a big spring in it, for a kick-up rudder.  The only problem was it would kick-up when we hit about 15 knots sailing downwind.  Terrifying!  But otherwise it sailed great.  During the wooden boat festival we would literally sail around the big monohulls during the races, taking pictures from all angles.  My girl friend and now wife and I sailed that little toy up the inside passage for many weeks, in camping style.  I sold it many years ago.

Before that trimaran, and since then, I have owned a number of 25’ sized monohulls, including a beautiful little T-Bird that I sailed up into the south end of Alaska.

If there is one thing I learned about small boat sailing in the Puget Sound and up the inside passage is that it is cold, wet and kind of miserable a lot of the time, with finicky winds.  I did a lot of motoring.

And since my profession now is snorkeling in warm tropical waters (http://www.tropicalsnorkeling.com), I just can’t face that misery anymore. Call me a wimp, it’s true.

So, we plan on either visiting more or moving back to Port Townsend in the future.  And I want to build a boat down here in Tucson for that time.

Hopefully you all won’t shun me, but my plan is an outrigger cabin cruising motor boat, with a toasty warm helm, and windshield wipers. No sails.  OK, maybe a sailing dingy for having fun at anchor. I really do love to sail.

I will post my ideas in the design section soon.  But basically I want a very light, lean boat, that is super efficient.  A bigger version of that little motor proa Russell built.

And I am going to need help figuring out the design.  Because for some reason I can’t want anything that already exists.  It’s like a curse.

So thanks in advance for help and great ideas on this forum!

P.S.  Yes, Russell said he will help with the idea. But I don’t want to bug him more until I get further along in the process and am sure I will build it. 

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Below are a few really bad scans of old slides of the trimaran, and one of my buddy in the T-Bird.

Hi Galen, welcome to the forum! Long time… I wonder whatever did happen to old Roz.

Gotta run, but I look forward to examining your power proa and helping out in any way I can. I’m a big fan of the concept, and I know others are too, so please don’t hesitate to share about it.

Cheers,
Mike

Well now, Galin, as much as you hate the cold NorthWest, I hate the tropics more. I thought I’d love it, but being covered in stinky sweat all day, every day, is not my thing. After the stink, the bugs, and the whole “mañaya” attitude,  give me the cold, gray North any day. As is said, “It is easier to heat the cold than to cool the heat.”

Plus, working with epoxy in 100% humidity on 100 degree days is a nightmare. It is no wonder that the hotter zones of the world are universally zones of low productivity.

That said, don’t think I am unsympathetic to the pain of the cold and the wet. I’m just saying that in the long run, it’s easier to handle than HOT and wet. I would never have believed that until I experienced both.