Kalapuna
GALLERY | Click images to enlarge
Othmar Karschulin of Multihulls.de has recently launched Kalapuna, an 8m proa of his own design. The new boat is a Pacific proa with crab claw sail, flat bottom hull, and two retractable rudders similar to Russell Brown’s Jzero. Designed for coastal sailing in warm Aegean waters, the boat was built in Othmar’s garden in a small fishing village in Southern Turkey. Construction is plywood, fiberglass and epoxy, with home made spars of carbon fiber.
I designed the proa P5 about ten years ago, in the meantime 4-5 boats are now sailing - see video here. Five years ago I moved from Germany to the South of Turkey, and live now in a small fishing village on the Aegean Sea. Here I started in autumn 2009 to build a bigger proa for coastal cruising. My “boatyard” in the garden was very small and always in the “open air”. Hence I designed a boat for quick and simple construction out of plywood and GRP. Nevertheless it took about a year to finish it. I also built a 7m mast from GRP and two 7m spars from carbon. I can report more details about the process, if requested.
P8 Specifications
Length vaka: 8,0 m
Beam vaka: 0,6 m
Weight: ca. 130 kg
Length ama: 5,0 m
Beam ama: 0,3 m
Weight: ca. 50 kg
BOA: 3,8 m
Sail area: 20 sqm
Displacement: ca. 400 kg (with 2 crew)
Construction Details
Both hulls are built from 6 mm plywood with 20x30 mm stringers. Hulls completely covered with one layer of 200 gr fiberglass, and reinforced on keels with one layer of 300 gr fiberglass. Beams are also made from plywood covered with 3 layers of 650 gr uni-directional glass.
Mast made of three GRP kernels, each 3 layers of 300 gr glass and covered with 3 layers of 650 gr UD glass. Weight ca. 10 kg. Spars made three GRP kernels of two layers of 300 gr glass and covered with 3-4 layers of 150 gr UD carbon. Weight each 3.5 kg. Rudder system like Russ Brown used on Jzero with two retractable rudders.
First sail trials shows, that the boat is well balanced, and the rudders are working properly. Shunting the “big” sail was a little problematic, and there I think about a rail guided yard for next season. Also a small outboard motor will be added for returning to port if no wind (paddling is possible, but very laborious).
Thanks for the excellent report, Othmar.
