Very close to Launch

pic 2

Very nice!

pic 3

her home

Thanks Pete.

I hate to be the one to break this to you, but I feel the need to inform you that you put your hulls on upside down 😛

A-Cat porn . . .

I get that a lot

So you managed to resist the urge to cover her in chintz.....

VERY pretty as she is, I think

Bill:

That is a sweet looking boat.

Is this from the mold that is the "pass around"?
What are you using for a rig?
Have you figured out the total final costs?
When is the first race?

Later,
Dan

SWEEEEEETTT....That thang got a Hemi!?

Nice!

Me too! Now, when I see a Tornado, P19 or H20, I say it to them first!

Beautiful job, Bill! I just love the look!

Dan

This boat is made from a mold that Steve Clark and Dirk Kramers own. Its a Dirk Kramers design revision #17, so its a DK17. They were looking for a "big and tall" person's A cat and decided to design something with more volume. Even though the bows look like an A2 its got more volume in the bottom of the hulls for those of us who need more volume.
http://www.alinghi.com/en/alinghi/team/design/kramers/index.html

The molds are in RI at Steve's shop.
http://www.intcanoe.us/component/option,com_zoom/Itemid,26/catid,13/

I got a Hall mast, made to my weight and the bend charactoristics described by my sailmaker. Hall also specified the spread rake, and sweep and prebend.

The Bristol guys race every Tuesday, so if I dont have any major issues this weekend, I'll try to show up next Tuesday in Bristol.

Materials cost around $11k. Its hard to calculate the exact cost since I have a half a roll of carbon left and epoxy left over and other misc stuff.

The more important question is - whats it weigh?

Bill

I knew that from the pictures you probably did not know that yet. Thank you for all the info about it. Hope to hear about the Tues night race.

Later,
Dan

My spreadsheet says 68kg. My scale only goes up to 40kg, so I can't weigh everything together. I need to re-weigh all the parts and double check, but I'm pretty sure I'm 5kg under at least.

That is quite a testiment to your building ability! Congratulations!

Dan

Excellent job!
Congratulations!
Now I am really persuaded that the Balance A is an European built DK17!

Forgive me, but why it is valued so much to be THAT far underweight. All I can think if is that you've made a design error. Because those 5 kg of lead you'll have to hang of the platform will do a whole lot less for performance and feel of the boat then including those kg's in extra platform stiffness, stiffer beams, impact resistance, stiffer daggerboards, stiffer rudder setup, reinforced keel line or even heavier and cheaper components in the way of blocks and lines.

I never understood why some sailor pay top dollar to get special lightweight lines and blocks only to add a few kg of lead before racing.

Wouter

Because, Wouter, if you build the boat as light as possible, with everything as strong as it needs to be for the use that it is likely to get, any weight saved can be added as correctors in the middle of the boat. This way it is kept out of the ends and where it will have least adverse influence on performance.

If you decide to put in extra beefy main beam trays, or reinforced the bows, the CG of the boat would move forward of the ideal position and weight in the ends is an undesirable. Build light and trim the boat as you wish.

When we built our T back in 1982, it came out around 8Kgs under. As the maximum allowable correctors were something like 5Kgs, we put extra-heavy re-inforced centreplates in her and at measurement we had to carry 4.5Kg of lead under the main beam (right under the mast). That was a lovely T in a seaway, compared to other Ts, as she pitched very little.

First of all, its not 100% finished. If I'm under I can "spend" some of the weight on a second coat of paint, or add some carbon to the beams or reinforce any number of things. I got lots of places to add reinforcement before I strap on the lead.

Second, I havent gotten around to a final weigh in. My scale only goes to 40kg, so I cant weight all at once, so I'm still not 100% sure of my total weight. My spreadsheet is a rough idea of the weight, I'm sure the actuals will be greater and that the misc nuts and bolts will add up. Rounding errors could add up. The goal is to be under not over and correct up. So from a design and build perpective, I'm right on target.

I'll be happy if it doesnt sink or fail dramatically on the first time out.

Bill

Shes a beauty! good luck.

Post images of her maiden voyage

I understand now. Those things really do add up.

Wouter

John,

The beam trays are in the middle of the boat as well ? And because of the symmetry the centre of gravity of these reinforcements will be just halve way between the hulls too, just like that piece of lead. Moreso, all the places where reinforces are most effective are also to be found around the mean beam and daggerboard. Ergo very close to the lead under the mean beam anyway. No mods are made at the extreme ends of the platform, simply because they are not at all effective there.

Wouter

It's beautiful.

Were you in Key Largo Feb 05? Something Ben Hall said has proved to be very true "The crossbeams are the wrong place to save weight. If you have a few hundread grams, the front crossbeam can always use it.

Thanks Carl

I wasnt in Key Largo in O5

My plan is to add to the front xbeam to get within a kg of final weight and use lead for now. I'm thinking I will keep a kg in reserve in case some crazy curved daggers become the norm.

Bill

Hi Bill

gratulations!
The boat is looking awsome!
I can't wait to here, how she performs on the water.
It's good you are underweight and you still have the possiblities to reinforce and change things.

Cool Project

Andi

Last Sunday was the launch. I neglected to take pics, but here's my first impressions from the launch.

Rigging
From the time you start getting the boat off the trailer to the time you have the mast up and are ready to put on your wetsuit is no more than 15mins. Raising the mast is simple and uneventful, almost a one handed job. Compared to past boats the rigging and mast raising is a dream. This is huge. I love the simplicity. I feel like I've forgotten something. Ok time to change into the wetsuit.

Once I'm changed and ready to go I roll the boat down the ramp. Now it gets a little interesting. Its harder to raise the sail standing waist deep in water when you have to hold the boat and push up the sail without a halyard. Next time I'll get the sail up on the beach or the ramp, rather than in the water.

Sailing
The wind is 10-12kts with slightly higher justs. Small chop, less than 2 ft in the harbor. The boat is amazing upwind. It points very high and once I get my weight forward the bows slice thru the water. It feels fast upwind, very fast. Everything is working well, the rudders feel light, the daggers feel good, nothing if fighting me and everything feels aligned and quiet. During a puff the boat accelerates and its very sensitive. This feeling of acceleration is amplified and unlike any other boat I've sailed. Its very cool.

The midboom sheeting cleats and uncleats just right and I'm shocked that its in the right place. I spend some time going upwind on the wire. I easily pass a F31 and outpoint him by a ton.

Ok, now time for a tack. I'm used to the endboom sheeting and the midboom sheeting confuses me for a minute. My tack sucks and I get tangled in the midboom sheeting. I'll have to figure out how to get under the boom without getting the sheet caught on my pfd....

A couple more tacks and its time to do downwind. Travelor out, main in, heat it up. Wow, the wild thing - hull flying downwind, this feels just like a spin....here's a puff, bear away, keep the hull up, head up, bear away. Now its working, hull up, very quiet.. Thats cool. I'm not missing the spin, the feeling is the same. The boat acts just like it would with a spin. The angles to get the hull up seem higher initialy, but once a puff hits, you head almost dead downwind. I've instantly forgotten my plans for a spin on this boat.

Ok, time for a gybe. The boat suddenly feels too light. I'm hesitant. Will the travelor rip out when the sail comes over. Ok, here it comes. Very sloppy. Not happy with the gybe. At least the travelor didnt tear off. Ok, back to the wild thing.

Returning to shore.
I get the rudders up and uncleat the rudders,I hop off and work on getting main unshackled. The boat doesnt want to stay head to wind. Next time, I'll unshackle the main before I get off. I ask Mr Jetski to hold a line which I've tied around the forestay. I jog up and grab the wheels.

Overall, I'm very happy with the boat. It feels great upwind and downwind is awesome. Rigging is simple and unrigging is even easier. Moving the boat around on land is easy. No heavy lifting. Launching and returning to shore require some advance planning , but I'm looking forward to figuring all that out. I'm also looking forward to working on my tacks and gybes.

Bill

I'm gonna buy a plastic tent peg, attach a small lanyard and keep it in the tramp pouch. Just stomp the ped in with my foot to

anchor

the boat while fetching the wheels, in case jet-ski man is awol. Or, you can buy one from West Marine for @$30.

Building your own boat must give you a wonderful sense of accomplishment. Congratulations!