If I took the stock traveler from my Blade and had it curved, how long would it be tip to tip? You can tell my math is non-existent.
It would still be the same length.
True. I guess I'm looking for the width of the arc.
Thanks.
But why?
I'm considering modifying my Blade into a small tri.
Pete, dragging me underneath the boat does not make it a tri!
Sacrilege!
Isn't there an old (non competitive) A class or a hobie 18 or something that could die for the cause?
I curved the traveller on my old A Class, when you curve the traveller bar it's shorter accross the boat but none of the A classes travellers go right to the edge anyway. There is a good advantage to be had from curving it on just the right arc as you don't need as much sheet to let out down wind, disadvantage is clutter on the deck getting in and out over the track and if your arc is wrong the traveller won't flow out smoothly without letting of sheet. It's very hard to curve annodised track yourself with a smooth curve as it has holes in the track which create week points so be carefull (don't ask me how I know). The length from tip to tip will depend on the arc you want below your boom, with your mast as far forward as you will ever use it mark where your boom is over your decks then bring your traveller a bit inside that so your blocks are always pushing the boom toward the mast not trying to pull it away.
Go Pete, all for a Tri as we get a little older, looking foward to dicing Bitsa up and fitting a 20ft Main hull in a couple of years when trapezing and the likes all starts to get not as enjoyable.
The alternative is to join the Flying 15 squad at the club and I'm really really not sure about that just yet.
There's a thread on here somewhere which shows my old broken Tornado's good hull became the main hull of a Tri between Hobie Tiger hulls, was built so that he could sail it as a F18 or booze cruise with the mates on the Tri just by bolting on the beams of the day. No reason you cant have your F16 and Tri. Longer beams, centre hull the size you want, couple of tramps and your away, a long crossbar and you even have trendy ama rudders. Get Dcarls to help you with lifting foils and your good to go.
Great minds think alike.
My old Light weight sharpie is the perfect boat for the sit in hull on a tri with 16ft ama's
Sharpies are great boats.
I'm not so fond of them which is why I sold that one for $300, 3 people trying to balance a canoe with a spinnaker, but for what you want to do that narrow hull would be a fast relatively dry boozer cruiser tri ****
Any home build plans out there?
There are some, have a look on Boat Design where this subject has been discussed at long length at various times, there was a really good thread on a 20 foot racing tri using an A class or F18 hulls as the donor. I think it was a topic by Corey, perhaps search under his user name.
General consenus is that the early beachcat hulls are not good donors being too heavy and too little bouyancy foward of the front beam ( remember a tri has its bouyancy a long way foward to prevent the diagonal pitch poling which is the way most tris go over ). My guess is that the Blade will be better but you may need to step the hull foward further than a dedicated AMA.
Sadly I had decided that the need for a cuddy of some kind and some over nighting would be planned that I gave up on the idea of a Weta on steroids and was probably not what I needed. Went the whole way and have now bought a set of F85SR plans, hope to get started in the new year but then I have been saying that for a long time <img src="<>/cool.gif" alt="cool" title="cool" height="15" width="15" />
F85SR awesome I did a long race last year which included a Farrier 31 with square top and it was magnificent to look at moored or full steam, I've been haunting the Farrier forums ever since. PGP a 20yr old fibreglass light weight sharpie hull is not too heavy to use and would only cost a few hundred dollars at most.
These guys build them in glass but would probably have some plans for timber if you are desperate to get sawdust in your hair
http:/
Pete, why not just sell the Blade and get a Weta?
Eventually but not yet. It's like dropping a girl friend that hasn't done anything wrong.
A tri with Blade ama's and 18 or 20ft whatever middle hull with F16 rig would be drier and out perform a Weta by an enormous margin
No doubt. But it would also require more work to rig and sail and require more space for storage.
In addition to being easy to set up ( it uses what is basically a wind surfer mast, weighs 9 lbs.)the Weta tacks more quickly than cats so the tactics of playing shifts is relatively more important. The Weta is fun and easy, far less demanding than a cat. I turned 64 last May, fun and easy is beginning to trump performance.
You could always just build wings for your Blade.
That's a thought but they aren't class legal.
I thought you were talking about fun sailing not racing since a home made tri is not exactly class legal.
I'm thinking about two or three different things and they all get mixed together at time. Sorry.