GENERAL SIZE

  The proa form makes this type of math difficult.

  For a trimaran it's quite easy:  roughly 30' LOA is the smallest size that's going to sleep four with a galley and some sort of head, plus still fit into the 8'-6" width that allows you to trailer without a permit.  Then there's another bump up around 35' to 40' with a 12' width limit for wide-load trailering without a lead or trailing vehicle.

  Thus: the many trimarans around 30', plus a few around 35' to 40'.  This also fits into what people might be willing to pay for a portable boat -- around $100k to $150k for the smaller size, and $200k to $250k for the larger, though Quorning is pushing the upper cost limits with its larger Dragonfly boats.  Once you get past that price range, most folks are going to balk because they could get a condomaran with four cabins and a dance hall for the same price.

  So somewhere around $30' and $100k to $150k for the tri.

  For a proa, though, 30' LOA isn't going to be long enough to carry accommodations for four adults because the long, slender lw hull.  Some would say "darn, that's very little space for the overall length", while I'd say "sweet, that's a lot of waterline for the given weight!"

  The Ex40 is probably as close as we're going to get to the equivalent of an F31.  Of course, it's going to cost less, be more seaworthy, sail faster, be simpler to use, and offer two separate doubles, and so forth.  But there's no escaping the extra length needed to carry the weight and still be fast and efficient.


TRAILERING

  I get why you'd want something Corsair-ish that trailers without breaking it down. 

  You could do that by eliminating the second bunk/sofa/table, putting the galley there instead, and sliding the cockpit over the ww hull section.  That would cut out enough space to just fold the boat and trailer under non-permit width, and you could upgrade that sofa/table/bunk to a queen size.  An added benefit would be the ability to put the galley either aft or to leeward, providing access to open up the full height in the hull for a shower and composting toilet.

  LOA would still probably need to push past 30' in order not to slow things down, but at least trailerability would be there.

  That might be a tough sell when the equivalent 30' Farrier is going to have standing headroom and berths for four, but it would be fast, seaworthy, and trailerable, with a basic galley and head.

  The 30' length is a  tough spacial problem given the proa shape, and the solution is probably less attractive to most than a trimaran, no matter who the designer is.


TRANSPORTING

  However, if you're not going to be launching from a trailer for each sail, the Ex40 is about as solid a compromise as can be found.  Any smaller and you won't have room for two doubles.  Any bigger and it's not going to fit into a trailer.  And yet the boat is going to completely outlcass any close-to-equivalent trimaran.

  When it comes time to build, I'm going to shoot for a slightly-plumped Ex40.  Another foot in the galley, queens instead of doubles, and the equivalent additional length in those fold-up lee hull ends.  If it can be made wider, that would be cool, but my guess is that the boat is at its max beam-wise in terms of fitting in a shipping container.

  Since I don't mind a wide-load permit for launching in the spring and hauling in the fall, this boat is just about ideal.

  I'm not sure what I'd do if I wanted to truly trailer the boat each time.


THE IDEAL SIZE

  I'm convinced there is no ideal size or set of sizes for the proas.

  Again, the trimarans make this easy with a combination of trailering width, accommodations, and cost all zeroing in around 30'.

  But for the proas, any length is going to be the wrong length for most of us.  No matter what size comes out, it's going to be too big, too small, not beamy enough, not enough headroom, whatever, all compounded by the proa having a longer waterline for a given weight capacity.  I'll want it to be faster than my Stiletto, Gardiner will want it to carry as much as his MaineCat, someone else will want it to fit into a tiny slip, and a fourth is going to want to carry eight people.  There's almost no magic set of criteria around which to settle.

  The 40' to 60' cruisers seem to be just right for their purposes, as does BL and the woodenboat design, and the Solitarry is beautiful.  Ex40 is amazing for something that can fit into a shipping container.  That might be the closest thing to a solution to a fixed set of external criteria: the biggest/fastest cruiser that will fit into a container and fold while on the water.

  Below 40', though, it's a tough sell.  Because of the proa's form, that pushes the boat into camp-cruising territory.  That's something that might be worth to build and use (I loved reading about Doug's adventures with sidecar), but in terms of marketing, a sub-40' proa might not have a home. 

  It won't have enough accommodations for people who might want to get a used F27, but it won't be inexpensive enough for people who'd be looking at Hobies.

  I'd say that size would be similar to the Dakota 30, Seawind 32, Stiletto 30, and Radical Bay 30 catamarans -- not small and lightweight enough for beach-cat like fun, but not enough accommodations in terms of double beds and saloon tables to justify the expense. 

  Randy Reynolds has found a bit of a home by putting a huge mast on his R33 cat and going just for the performance segment, but that's a small market.

  Or maybe not.  Solitarry and BL with a bigger ww hull would both outclass the R33 in terms of speed, seaworthiness, and accommodations, and either proa could probably be build for half the price of the Reynolds boat.

  But they're still both over 40'.  That 30' barrier is a tough one.


        - Mike

 

one of the things you have to consider is the competitive class you make yourself into
whereas, is there any intrinsic advantage to 30ft LOA?
or is it a size you find yourself to be most congenial for some other reason?

if I were Rob, and Im not
Id be looking for a suitable homebuilt, that befitted trailoring so that the cost of mooring or harbouring could be eliminated entirely, in much the same way that makes off the beach cats so popular and trailerable. Just what that position is Im not sure I could say. What fits easily on a trailer?

next to this, he needs a cruising solution in the minimal ilk, aka most of us
this would be something in the order of 45ft LOA, with a 30ft windward hull. For herein lay the answer to a faster build than a comparable cat, that is safer and cheaper than a catamaran on the same needs. It is my interpretation that half the catamarans vast accommodation is wasted anyway, and in its smaller sizes the cat is absurdly less safe. less comfortable and less accommodating.

I think that, nailing down vessel sizes has been one of Denney's problems, so that he may finally make his deserved mark and achieve the notoriety befitting as a designer. Where to begin first, and where to reach for second, may make priorities a somewhat sordid affair of following the money :)

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