I figure some pictures of my boat might help me explain details and my reasons.  My objective is to use this boat single handed mostly in protected waters but also to handle coastal conditions with ability to beach relatively easily.

The basic concept is a long slender 3-panel hull with variable flare.  The cockpit is like a second hull but wider with an open section that I sit in. There is a tilt-up top on the aft portion that has room for a nice size bunk 700mm wide.  The BWL is 0.3m and LWL is 8m.  The hull is very easily driven.  I can pedal it at a sustained speed around 3.5kts.  It runs to 8kts with a 2kg battery pulling 700W at 46V.  The permanent battery is 52V and should give maximum speed over 9kts pulling 1000W.  

The stabilisers fold backwards and inward to reduce overall beam to 1.5m on the trailer.   There are very easy to fold and undold on the trailer of on the water.  

It is intended to be foil stabilised and I have already progressed from straight canted foils to L-foils.  I plan to go to folding canted T-foils as seen on the catamaran Vampire.  I have found the extra drag from the L-foils, needed to give roll control, is significantly more than the drag from using the aft of the stabilisers on the surface.  Hence the desire to easily fold up the foils. The original canted foils could be canted right out of the water but the L-foils are fixed.  The existing stabilisers are repurposed hulls made of ply.  The permanent stabilisers will be glass on foam, deeper section and a tad longer plus pitched nose up/stern down to reduce the static list to almost zero like I have with the other pedal boats.

The foils and rudder have nylon shear pins to avoid damage in collision.  The pedal and electric prop shafts both have folding props and compliant struts so ride up on beaching if I have not already raised them.  The nose of the hull has a slight rake aft and there is rocker that places the foot of the stem just under the surface.  The nose has 1200gsm of triaxial cloth and the bottom 800gsm.  The first 1m of the hull and foredeck are watertight relative to the rest of the hull.  I would be wary of a soft portion at the foot of the stem because it might shear in a heavy beaching. The foils are set up to lift the nose around 8kts so hopefully I will land on whatever I hit if moving above 8kts.  

The sail is high aspect but only 9sq.m.  I have not sailed it much  but it gets to 6kts in a whisper of wind.  The rudder visible on the trailer is not large enough to give good control when sailing in winds above a whisper so I have made a larger one.

Some images follow.

Rick

 

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