The Life Pneumatic
GALLERY | Click images to enlarge
I have a longstanding interest in pneumatic (pressurized) engineering structures. Blame it on Jacques Cousteau and his Zodiacs making a strong impression at an early age. For boats, inflatable hulls make all kinds of sense, being unusually light, strong, tough, and repairable. I even made a concept sketch of an inflatable hulled proa.
Here is Kurt Heiligenmann’s design for an inflatable beach cat - the Smartkat. Hate the name (I always hated the Smart Car because it implied that whoever purchased it was also “smart” and conversely, those of us who didn’t were less so), but this boat really IS brilliant. A 14’, 93 lb. rocket that fits into two canvas bags - store your beach cat in the closet, under the bed, or take it on your next flight to Ibiza.
Smartkat breaks a lot of conventional catamaran design rules, so I like that too. It has a central rudder and daggerboard, the hulls are fatter than optimum, the structure is too flexible. But look at that thing haul ass! To me, the lesson is that when it comes to performance under sail, lightness trumps everything else.
Length: 4,3m/14’
Beam: 2,2m/7’-2”
Total Height: 6,05m/19’-9”
sail area: 9,9m2/106 sq. ft.
weight (ready for sail): ca. 42kg/93lb.
