eXploder 23, mini-trans tri..

that exploder 20, looks pretty sharp

way cool tri.

I'm in.

Question one, what kind of serious hydraulics or pulley system are installed to lift the middle hull out of the water by pulling the outer hulls together?

Question two, what is holding the mast up when doing this manoeuvre???

The boat looks cool and the re-righting concept is certainly something to think about, but in its current form, totally unfeasible.

Hey someone said going to the moon was impossible!

It can't be done!

I didn't say it couldn't be done.

Infact I said it was something to think about, and now that I have thought about it some more I have more to add...

The basic concept is to reduce the stability of the boat when capsized. This makes it easier to right. To reduce the stability significantly, the outer hulls need to be brought close to the centreline of the vessel. There are a couple of ways this can be achieved; by sliding them sideways (along the beams for example), by folding the beams about vertical hinges (outer hulls go fore or aft), by folding the beams about longitudinal hinges (outer hulls go up or down).

Once you've reduced the stability you have another problem to solve of applying a righting lever to get the boat upright. The easiest option is a weight of some description. The main hull may be best for this purpose.

I haven't figured out the problem of keeping the rig up without stays yet; except for having a freestanding rig, which I don't like.

Robi, it indeed features some sharp edges... 😉

pic from Texel 2006

curved carbon beams and nice marstroem mast...

THere was a demonstration of a Farrier tri doing an ama fold up while capsized to achieve self-righting. THe mast on the farrier has temporary

baby

stays that connect to the middle hull to hold the mast while the wings are folded. I guess you need to set these in place prior to self-righting. Should be tricky while inverted.

The Exploder doesn't seem to have a cantilever fold mechanism like the farrier...so it requires hydralic assistance. From the photos on the site , I can't tell how this works.

Mike.

maybe the folded amas can be used to cradle the mast? probably would scratch up the hulls really good and put a lot of load on the mast at that resting point.

- The concept is fine.
- Keeping the mast up is doable, if all stays are attached to the mainhull.
- Strong and clever hardware is required in the beam-hull connection in order to keep the beams from folding up when sailing.

So far, so good. Now for the tough ones:

-Very strong hydraulics are required to fold the beams up and lift the boat out of the water to self right.
-Beam restraining hardware must self release when upside down.
-Activation of the hydraulics should also be authomatic.
-The last two items require six relay systems, causing dependence on electricity.

Conclusion: good concept on paper. Needs a lot of R&D to come to life.

Instead of hydraulics, use 4 separate worm gears.

Would you hand crank or use drive motors? With sealed gel cells you wouldn't have to worry about leaks in the inverted position and they should still work. Or could you use a linear actuator (if you can get a strong enough one) to move the amas?

Just a thought.

Clayton

Well despite all those who think it`s a nice theory, they seem to have built one, photographed it for us to see it`s real, and even found a sponsor to foot the bill. I`d like to believe they`ve even tested their theory and the folding mechanism actually does work, instead of being something that

needs a lot of R&D

...

http://www.exploder.info/images/stories/yacht/chrzest/IMG_8641.jpg

Having said that I`m sure it won`t be fun trying to right it in 7m swell and howling wind in the middle of the Atlantic in the night. But at least it allows the possibility of not having to be rescued when it all goes wrong. That is, if it works as they say it does <img src=

alt=

/>

Aha...the stays have multi-purchase systems on them for canting the rig but I bet, if long enough, that they could also be enabled to lift the amas and support the mast...although that's not what they have in the drawing and they talk about hydraulics (probably manually activated hydraulics).

HAWT!

I want one.

Notice the 'sit-out' seats <img src=

alt=

/>

How cool would it be if they managed to get a mini-multihull transat going..

I missed those...neat concept - looks like they swing outboard too.

In the picture on their web site it shows some guys out on traps too. Nice, now when can we get them here in the US for less than a Corsair 750?

Am I the only one that wonders about the word

explode

being in the boat name? <img src=

alt=

/>

Another point that seems a little lost in the boat description...the ama's have what seem to be lifting foils forward of the front beam....kinda like the Catri concept...the boat also has a dagger board in the main hull. Rudders hang off the ama's (unlike farrier & catri designs).

Mike.

I suppose lifting foils are becoming 'standard' on racing tris, as opposed to the self-righting mechanism. The geek factor here is very high, so no wonder the focus went there.

It would be surprising if this boat was designed to be sailed on two hulls, like the F-boats. Hence the rudders on the amas. Central daggerboard as a safety aspect I guess. Technology looks pretty much like a scaled down ORMA60.

Those come standard with seat belts!? Wooo-hooo!

It's a very wide boat, do you want to be strapped to the seat when the [noodle] hits the fan? <img src=

alt=

/>

No kidding. Did you see the video? Look at how seldom the bows ever go in! Seems to be

on plane

most of the time.
catamaran video

alternate low quality you tube version in case the real one won't work for you

The strikerless design with curved crossbars gives a nice hollow underbelly.

GARY

I would like to believe it as well, but unfortunately the photo does not indicate that we can.

If they somehow tested the self righting system, it is reasonable to supose that the photos would be posted in the website, so we can reasonably assume that they haven't.

Unless there are engines hidden inside the beam locking system, I see no means to fold the amas and self right.

The giant pins locking the beams in place seem quite difficult to remove. I can't see how they would self-release in the event of a capsize.

Until the engineering problems are solved and the boat is capable to self-right, we can only believe in what we see: a nice folding tri that requires lots of R&D to become a self-righting vessel.

yes, but the lack of bows is what has me turned off from the design. Eventually, they WILL go under <img src=

alt=

/>

Pehaps the lifting foils will counteract this tendency - looking at the photos the boat has enough volume in the amas to support the whole boat without the lifting foils. Having seen some footage of tri`s with these slanted lifting foils, all I have to ask is

why ain`t I got those on my boat ?

I watched some promotional video footage of the Seacart 30, and when flying two hulls the boat pitches quite a lot in gusts, even in flat water - I`d think that they missed the opportunity to counteract this using lifting foils, and would hate to see how much pitching happens in a lumpy sea.
Anyone have any ideas as to why it would be a bad idea to implement these type of foils on a small beach catamaran design, I`m listening...

Hmmm. Call me stupid, but in the photos I can`t make out slots in the hulls for these

lifting foils

, and they don`t seem to be a built-in component of the hull either. - did they not make it to the production phase, I wonder ?

Steve,

I was talking about the bows on the exploder 20 cat that was pictured on their site.