Whaleback Proa
Your Whaleback Proa looks very stable and capable. A really nice microcruiser with shallow draught and a big platform to use for fishing, getting a tan, exploring beautiful lakes, or whatever you feel like doing. I imagine it can be quite fast under sail since you don’t have any ballast but still more righting moment than a normal monohull sharpie.
I hope we get to see her sail soon.
Cheers,
Johannes
yea, thats what it should be, as you load the vaka, it levels a bit.
and as the wind presses on the canvas the ama starts lifting and you feel at home….....
I too want my bridge deck sloping down towards the ama. and I too will just try’n guess it.
i’m still far, so will see. even thinking about leaving’em long, and cutting them on the beach after testing…...........
Seems like a very nice first trip.
I hope we get to see your tacker sail soon.Engines are nice and efficient, but the true magic starts when the wind fills your sail. I think your long hard chines and your chinerunners are to blame for making it hard to turn. They will probably be very efficient when tacking upwind to.
How does it behave when you move around? Is it sensitive to balance?
Cheers,
Johannes
It is extremely stable when I move around. I notice the ama will sink deeper in the water when I sit on that side of the cockpit platform, but there seems to be plenty of flotation. I have not tried walking around while the boat is underway, the river is too narrow for me to leave the tiller alone for long. It is directionally stable while underway, I did not need to adjust the tiller very often.
I anchored out in the small river and found that the boat seemed to sit broadside to the wind. There may have been some current opposing the wind so perhaps no conclusion can be drawn from this.
It is still early for me to be making any evaluation of the boat. I am just getting familiar with it and have not tested it under full power or under sail. There was some wind but I was in protected areas. After this first test run, I would say that it is safe to take the boat out on to open water on a calm day for further tests.
It seems like most people who have not tested hard chines and chinerunners underestimate the effect they have on the directional stability and tracking of a hull. They are very powerful devices on the right hullshape.
I rather have a hull that is hard to turn then a hull that reacts to every little change of balance and wind direction. 99% of the time sailing/motoring is straight forward.
Cheers,
Johannes
I took the boat out onto open water last night. At full power with the 2.3 hp Honda, it will go about 6 mph. Not stellar but considering it is a 16 foot, fat sharpie hull, not unexpected. There was no wind to test sailing, although I did raise the sail. The sail is undersized at 48 sf, I plan to build a bigger sail over the winter, probably the Goat Island lugsail type.
I am still taking small steps with the boat to make sure I don’t get some gear failure at the wrong time. My area has a lot of steel seawall and a lot of docked boats in a narrow river, until you get out to Lake Michigan, where you usually have lots of wind and big waves. I’m not sure the boat can handle big waves yet so I am choosing my weather very carefully before exiting the harbor.
My next important goal is to be able to control motor throttle from the cockpit rather than running back to the transom every time. I will add a pvc pipe to extend the outboard tiller and throttle to the cockpit area. That will make things a lot easier when maneuvering. It will also keep the motor straight.
I’m not really happy with the rudder but it works.
It may be worthwhile to have a look at the match of your propeller to the boat. Most factory propellers are a bad compromise, since the manufacturer has no idea of the boat it will be used on, it’s displacement, hull form and drag. Often changing props can be enhance performance and fuel consumption more than adding more horsepower. Dave Gerr has written a book on this topic that may be worth reading.
Multihulls often link the motor turn to the rudder, making them work in concert and not conflicting with each other. It may be worthwhile as well to explore the possibility of optimizing this.
—
Bill in Ottawa
At full power with the 2.3 hp Honda, it will go about 6 mph. Not stellar but considering it is a 16 foot, fat sharpie hull, not unexpected.
I think that is rather impressive considering that “it is a 16 foot, fat sharpie hull” and not some skinny canoe. I would consider that a success.
I am still taking small steps with the boat to make sure I don’t get some gear failure at the wrong time.
I think that is a very sound approach.
Nice video!
Cheers,
Johannes
The 16 foot sharpie proa goes about as fast as my 28 monohull fin keel. With a very small, lightweight outboard motor. Also, it will be buoyant even if filled with water, and it draws 2 feet with the rudder and outboard down, 6 to 12 inches with the rudder and outboard up.
The 16 foot sharpie proa goes about as fast as my 28 monohull fin keel. With a very small, lightweight outboard motor
Is that with the same engine?
(This might be a stupid question)
Cheers,
Johannes
No, with a 6hp Tohatsu four stroke on the 28 foot Tanzer. And I generally run it at 4 to 5 mph.
Great Job!
Thanks
I have been working on it, the led lights are all working now (knock on wood), so I have cabin lights, nav lights and anchor light, 100% legal to run at night.
I also have an outboard tiller extension from a 1-1/4” pvc pipe, with slots cut in the end, and a slip ring to put around it to tension it over the outboard tiller. It seems to work but I have not had it out on the water yet.
Sorting some other stuff out, every day the boat gets better and more the way I want it.
I am wishing I had time to take it down the Mississippi before it freezes up here, but I will be responsible and stay another winter on the Great Lakes.