After a seven year build, Peter Mirow has launched ARPEX, his self designed and built 30’ tacking outrigger in Rio de Janiero. We’ve followed his progress over the years on his blog, and we’re nearly as happy as he is to see the great day finally arrive. Cheers, and congratulations!
Great day! What else can a man want, then to design, and build a boat, and see it floating on its lines? Hahahaha!
See more pics of the launch here.
Way back around the turn of the century, there was a lot of excitement about the potential of the native Pacific island canoe rig, often called the “crab claw” sail, so called because the plan form resembles the claw of a crab. The rig has some serious advantages, see here, but also some serious limitations, the primary one being that it is not as weatherly as a modern sloop.…
The Water Bug is an experimental catamaran motorboat designed and built by Russell Brown of Port Townsend Watercraft. It uses a pair of Tornado catamaran hulls as the base, and is extremely efficient, getting 20mpg at 11 knots, while loaded AND pulling a dinghy. Russell uses it like a water-born SUV - hauling stuff and going camping. The “car” is plywood/epoxy construction, it was drawn on the back of an envelope so there are no…
Congratulations are in order for Larry Haff who won Best in Show - Contemporary Class at the Mid-Atlantic Small Boat Festival in St. Michaels, Maryland. He entered his cedar strip-planked Ulua outrigger canoe, a design of New Zealand based Gary Dierking. Via Gary’s blog: Outrigger Sailing Canoes.
When sheer efficiency is required, it’s hard to beat a multihull. The trimaran configuration is gaining traction in open ocean rowing events and according to proponents, the tri has some considerable advantages over monohulls. Here are a few that have crossed the desk recently.
Samson is a two-position rowing machine designed to make the 3800 mile (6,116 km) Atlantic crossing from New York to Paris. The brainchild of…
James Wharram Designs has a new boat on the drawing board, a 24’ trailerable catamaran that slots nicely between the venerable Tiki 21 and 26. The Mana 24 features some new wrinkles in the Wharram design evolution spiral, most noticeably a chined hull. The new design also features a cat ketch rig, which is well known on trailerable monohulls, and it is interesting to see it employed on a cat. No jibs means no head stay tension, giving…
The Richard Newick designed Tremolino is one of our favorite designs: employing the hulls, rig and connective tubing from a Hobie 16 to create a small cruising trimaran - genius! This one is said to be a fiberglass factory trimaran by Tremolino Co., but using the larger and more powerful Hobie 18 hulls and rig. This example includes synthetic shrouds, asymmetric, bowsprit, outboard and trailer, and comes in the best color possible for…
We’ve become very interested in lightweight, fuel-efficient power multihulls. Slightly Dangerous is a 26’ plywood commuter cat for the San Juan Islands, from Bieker Boats, built by the owners, Gordy and Judy Cole.
Slightly Dangerous is not a kit boat really, but all the plywood and foam parts were NC cut for easy assembly. The hulls are 9 and 6mm Okoume ply, finished off at the bow with a foam crash-box. The deck is 3” blue foam with…
One topic on everyone’s lips at the PT Wooden Boat Festival this year is the Race to Alaska, a sail/row/paddle race from PT to Ketchikan, AK sponsored by the Northwest Maritime Center, and promoted by our friends at Smallcraft Advisor. It’s a 750 mile “Aquatic Iditarod” with no rules except no engines allowed but muscle and wind. First prize is $10,000, and there is no second.
The start is set for June 4, 2015, which is a notoriously…
Seeing a Stiletto catamaran in 2014 always causes a “what the hell happened?” moment. The Stiletto was launched in 1975, the first (and possibly the last) production boat moulded in an autoclave of prepreg epoxy fiberglass/kevlar over a Nomex honeycomb core. This was aerospace tech for the middle class, and the multihull future looked bright indeed back in the 70’s. The styling was pure aerospace as well, and the boat stoked my teenage…
