[quote=petefromtn]Golfdad,
Hey man I gotta wholeheartedly disagree with you. I have only sailed this boat a couple five times now but I have watched my wife and kids sit up on the front of the hulls like they were riding a rocking horse dragging their feet in the water as we sailed across the lake. My wife is tall and around 145 lbs and my two daughters are like nine and four years old. I noticed NO real difference in the way the boat was riding other than the drag of their feet in the water slowing the boat down. Now I agree that if the wind is really kicking and you are flying a hull I might not want them up there simply due to safely reasons. I do not however agree that there is not enough flotation up there. I mean usually when you look at videos of the nacra 5.2 the back end of the boat is lower down in the water than the front is. I also looked at that G-cat in a video and it did not appear to ride any lower in the front. Again I also want to re-iterate that this front tramp is solely for my kids and my gear to ride on. My wife and I will be back on the regular tramp doing the sailing thing....
It is not whether I am gonna do this or not, it will get done as time permits. MY only questions are as to the best ways to arrive at a working safe setup. Right now My best idea is to machine two plates to mate to the hulls just north of the non-skid area on top of the hulls. For The crossbar I intend to use some 80/20 or larger extruded aluminum bar. This will allow different attatchments for rigging of lines as well as other things and as I said before it has a slot for a bolt to slide in that I will attempt to use to capture the front end of the tramp in the same manner that a mainsail attatches to the mast. The rear of the tramp I am still working on. It will most likely be a few carefully drilled holes in the main beam with some standoffs that will hold a solid stainless rod that I can make the tramp shock chords around to tension it up. I would think four or five 3/8 inch holes would be more than enough across the span of the main tube to accept the rod. I might just use some stainless eyelets and put a stainless rod in there and tack them in place and then remove the assembly and bring it back into the shop to weld it up right. I am thinking that some pieces of stainless round stock lathe turned and then cut into pie slices and then drilled and tapped to make nuts for the eyelets inside the main tube should work but it would be a pain to get the nuts in place. I am still working on that.
Damon, I like the idea of the re-using another beam from another boat but honestly I have seen so few of these boats around here that finding one would be a major undertaking and the 80/20 is readily available and VERY rigid and lightweight for it's size.
That G-cat seems to be a very similar boat to the nacra altho it has hulls shaped more like a hobie 16... They were able to make that work it appears, I wonder how many of those boats are out there like that...
This is what I am after really....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKuMokmDWKM
It seems that the Hobie getaway is 16' 7" long very similar to my nacra altho it is made of plastic I guess. The way that the kids were riding up front like that while the older folks were out back looks like a perfect setup for a fun day out on the lake. When I want to really rip, the kids will not be on the boat anyways until they are a little older. Most of the sailing we will be doing will be like in this video.... I honestly think that this is totally doable and even practical..
I was sincerely hoping someone else had tried this on their boat or any boat other than the Hobie Getaway because it just seems like such a simple and easy modification and it would make the boat so much more usable. Everything has it's drawbacks such as if I do manage to pitchpole the boat sometime the extra tramp will act as another sail trying to keep the boat upside down. It also makes for more of a sail to kinda force the boat upward when flying a hull so you would probably be more likely to flip it over. The upside is obviously more room and a more usable boat and IMHO I think if properly done the extra beam would make for a more rigid setup on the hulls and perhaps aid in the stress on the hulls in rougher waters due to them being held together more rigidly. I am NO engineer but I have built all sorts of things over the years and this is just my opinion. Worst case scenario, it is a total dismal failure and I must remove it and patch some holes up front in a boat that already has several patched holes in it. Thanks for all of your concern and ideas and if anyone has a good suggestion about the best way to secure these plates to the front hulls in the most secure way I would love to hear about it... peace
Pete<!-- editby --><em>Edited by petefromtn on Aug 03, 2011 - 08:38 AM.</em><!-- end editby --> [/quote]
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