| Flat bottoms are much easier to build and repair. After fairing, fitting and installing floor bulkheads is the most soul destroying boat building job.

Honestly, the composite tech is one of the most attractive part of design, to me. I'll say it every time, avoiding epoxy exposure is a BFD.

| 2 (or three) piece sleeved masts for trailering are no problem, and not much harder to build than one piece (the joining sleeve is a cut off piece of one section slit and glued into the adjacent one. The important part of the build is that everything is straight, which is as easy/difficult for short bits as long.
| My telescoping round mast was probably more work than it was worth (I don't go under bridges or have to tow my boat, which changes the pros and cons), but telescoping wings have some potential.

If Mike had to pull the trigger TODAY, what would you recommend, telescoping round, or sleeved? Or maybe you could hit on the pros and cons of each?
I guess it matters if it is trailered every weekend a summer, once a month, or once a year.
Probably, you will say telescoping wing mast. ;)
You got almost enough time to have it all figured out before he builds it, right?

How does this experimental system plan to handle the dual wing mast, in a marina, dancing during a storm, scenario? Which will be the thing everyone thinks of immediately?

| A couple of weeks ago a client was here and we played with attaching sails to masts with hoops, which make telescoping rigs more viable. The results were promising, he will use them on his 18m/60' mono. More exciting is the work Steinar (he is visiting, the ideas are flowing thick and fast) and I have been doing on a telescoping wing mast (60% of the chord) for his boat. Ordered the sail yesterday for a short length of 1/4 scale model. If it works, it has low sheet loads, little or no twist (ie no vertical sheet loads) and no boom.
| Results and pics next week, maybe.

Sounds like a junk rig! Cheap sails for everyone! Tell Steinar we say hi! Looking forward to the sail updates.

| Reefed sails rarely set as well as unreefed (the sail luff is cut for different mast bend characteristics ) and the drag of the top mast is slow. As Mike says, a bigger issue on a stayed mast than an unstayed one.

Right, but, if the breeze is stiff enough to reef, does it matter you are sailing reefed or the top mast is slow? You are in a 'too fast' condition anyway?

Or are you saying don't reef and rely on the other features like mast give and dumping sail?

Or is this a 'most sailors are stayed mast sailors' so they have a host of reasonable reasons to avoid sailing reefed, so have an allergic reaction to sailing reefed, while it is no big deal at all in a HP?

| A 30' cat will weigh near enough the same as a 40' proa for the same accommodation. The 18m/60' of cat hulls are shorter than the 20m/70' of proa hulls, but the proa hulls are lower and narrower. Therefore the sail area can be the same, although the proa will have much more righting moment.

Does not 'much more righting moment' literally mean one can run a larger sail? So why wouldn't the proa run a bigger sail?

Is there a problem with larger sails that makes one want to run smaller sails? Am I missing something fundamental? Is it sail cost?

Given you hold the righting moment to sail area(?) ratio the same (to give them relatively similar reserve safety) between a cat and a HP, how much bigger is the sail on the HP?

Why should the HP not have that large sail size?

I imagine you can do the same thing with the tri comparison.

I think with an understanding of that sail ratio helps us put the wetted area discussion in a different context.

Follow up. Assuming a 30' bridge deck cat, do you still hold that a 40' HP can match its accommodations/interior space?

| The proa accommodation will be more usable. The proa will be quicker to build (easier hull shapes, only 2 appendages, no unnecessary curves, one simple mould usable for both hulls/decks), faster, safer and more comfortable as it is longer and both sails can be seen without having to turn around. It will also cost more in a marina, but it will have a tender big enough that you can anchor off, motor in and avoid paying altogether.

So, also cheaper to cruise.

| New Ex 40 drawings are finished, will be on the web page when Steinar stops doodling telescoping wings. ;-). First one is being built in Barcelona.
|
| We have also designed the latest "best ever" rudder mount after 2 weeks of discussion, sketches and finger drawings on the beach. Simpler, lighter and easily mounted on the inside or the outside of the hull. First part of the laminate for an El test version is curing as I type. It works for bidirectional or one way rudder sections (NACA0012).

What are the odds that 'best ever' is 'old hat' before its mounted? ;)
Keep pushing the envelope.

| We spent today working on rudder build methods. I drew every one I had tried or heard of in the sand (about 30m of sketches) and we picked them apart. Came up with something simple and quick.
|
| Had a sail on Kitetik (15m Solitarry, weighs about 500 kgs/1,100 lbs, plus 3 crew) yesterday. 25 sqm/260 sq' (20 sq m projected, which is less than a Tornado cat) leading edge inflatable kite, dirty bottom, 10-15 knots of breeze, 30C air temp, a beautiful day. Top speed 8 knots, pretty poor up wind. For the first time, all the systems worked, so we can now move on to boat improvements and bigger kites, starting with a converted 28 sq m (28 sq m projected) paraglider. .

Neat. Do you see cruisers using sails one day? Is the pointing a boat issue, or a sail issue?