John D. emailed this to me yesterday and since there are a few people interested in power proas I thought it was interesting enough to share, so with John’s permission… -Editor

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“Taino” is a double-outrigger powerboat that came in here in December. 60-70 feet long I think, single 50 HP outboard power, and it moves right along. What strikes me is the sheer cold-blooded logic of the thing. It’s really just a long thin Bolger Box - I think the bottom is just 4 x 8 ply sheets, 4’ beam, with a large cabin built on top of the Box’s sheer, and two small Boxes as amas. Drop-dead simple - and there’s really no reason for a more complex hull since the hard chine/flat bottom will give you back more in the semi-planing range than it will take away at low speeds, and the bow is too narrow to pound to any extent.

It’s clear the builder moved the anchor winch and the chain locker well aft of the bow, which is good. In some of the photos you can see the water catchment system and the solar panels on the cabin top. The main cabin opens up on both sides to decks between the akas, and the owners enjoy that space a lot.

I haven’t been aboard, but the main cabin appears to be clear space all the way through. Underneath this has got to be world-class storage (and/or possibly a couple berths). I suspect there are a couple berths and the head forwards, and an owner’s cabin aft.

There’s several problems with the amateur design, the biggest being the height of the cabin versus the overall beam. Nigel Irens says that on power tris you have to keep the heads of the crew/passengers below
a triangle apex you create by drawing two lines at 25 degrees up from the WL of the amas. It’s clear this is wildly violated here. That makes the boat unsuitable for open waters, but I doubt very much that any use outside of rivers, bays and the ICW was ever intended. Visually, the fore and aft halves of the boat don’t really complement
each other. I also think there is too much immersion of the amas, though it’s hard to tell.

But, what the hell? There’s a 36’ Marine Trader trawler here that’s for sale for $35,000. I think you might build Taino for that, and it would take less time than fixing up the 30+ year old trawler. Plus you would really get a better boat burning a lot less GPH while running at higher speeds. You couldn’t economically keep this beastie in a slip, but you could anchor out or take a mooring buoy and there’s plenty of space to carry a decent-sized dinghy or two.

There’s room for development of the concept. Drop off one ama but keep the BOA, have yourself a boat suitable at least for coastal cruising and getting out to the Bahamas (or up the Canadian coast in your area). Replace the outboard with an inboard electric drive swinging a correct-sized prop; power the motor with two gas or diesel gensets (so you can turn off one when running at “economy cruising speed”). When reliable fuel-cell gensets come on the market with efficiencies in the 60% range, replace the old gensets with fuel cells and get yourself ~20 MPG at maybe 7-8 knots; even if fuel goes to $10/gal you’ll still only be paying 50 cents per nautical mile to go anywhere. You could (probably should) lower the main cabin quite a bit as I think there’s plenty of  clearance above WL under the sole. Pay a bit more attention to heavy weather survival without getting too complex on the build, cross the Atlantic on 160 gallons of fuel…

Taino has made me think more than any other boat I’ve seen lately.

Three more pics.

Thanks for sharing. The freeboard on this is a little crazy. I bet it’s a bear coming to dock with any wind.  I do like the split transom idea though. More work building it, but some benefits I think.

I for one am still planning a power single outrigger, so this is interesting to see. And now that I live in Port Townsend again I am always looking out at the water, and not a day goes by that I don’t imagine cruising in a warm efficient cabin cruiser. But to tide me over until that gets built I bought a folding Tremolino T-Gull 23 trimaran, the opposite of warm.

Hmmmmm, . . . .  now let see -  slice off the pilothouse, double-end it and , um, . . . combine the beams and amas and put on one side . . . .

I think this (as is) would put a broad smile on Phillip’s face. I like John’s description of “the sheer cold-blooded logic of the thing”. THere’s a lot in that.

I finally managed to meet and speak with Sean, the designer-builder of Taino, so can add a few details and correct a couple things. Corrections: the boat is actually 63 feet long, though it was originally planned to be 48 feet. The engine is 60 HP, not 50. Draft is 16”. Forwards there is a small stateroom which is accessed Wharram-style from the deck, though there is an emergency crawl-way and hatch to allow movement into the cabin inside the boat; aft of the stateroom is a head, accessed via companionway ladder from the main cabin. In the stern there is a large owner’s cabin. Galley is in the main cabin aft.

Sean is a retired professional boatbuilder. The boat is in fact a giant Bolger Box, though not a Bolger design, and Sean’s reasons for that are pretty typical of Bolgerista thinking: the trade-offs between size, building time and sophistication of form pretty obviously came down on the side of large but simple. The boat “just grew” during the building process as it was so easy to add length to the rectangular main body of the hull, and the added waterline would sharply improve performance. He says the boat cruises at 6 knots on about 1 gallon per hour, and maximum speed is about 11 knots. I don’t think Sean is too concerned with exact numbers. 😊

The odd-looking stern came about when Sean decided to lengthen the boat; in his shed there was a beam (supporting an office) across the end of the building area, so the aft deck was curved down to clear the beam. He said it took as much time to craft the curved parts as to build the entire rest of the boat.

It is definitely an “inside” boat and Sean has no intentions of taking it offshore.