Frank Jackson has built a couple unique trimaran sailing canoes for use at Rocky Mountain Safari. These little tris were made to take guests on camp-cruising adventures.
What do you think?
Frank gave me permission to post these pics (they are all taken from his website; be sure to click on images to enlarge them). And we certainly thank him for that, as well as the added information. He shared the following in an email exchange with me …
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My trimarans do not attempt to be cartoppable … and they ended up being heavier than I’d like. But, we can sail in the worst possible conditions; we just reef way down and hang on and watch the kayaks porpoising thru the waves.
They all perform to windward real well (they do sometimes like help with a qtr sweep of the paddle to help tack). And, they can still be paddled, comfortably, all day if need be. Not gonna make 4mi in an hour though!
We built them for paddling, robust sailing, and comfort. Add the hammocks and canopies for on-board sleeping and we are ready for week long expeditions.
Click here for pics of our Lake Powell trips.
The below comes from this pdf page at Rocky Mountain Safari’s website …
Canoe Sailers of Rocky Mountain Safari
“Our sailboats are standard recreational canoes, rigged with sails and kayak outriggers in ways that preserve the paddling experience.
They all have leeboards, rudders/tillers and spray skirting on the whole canoe. The bow skirting fully closes around a paddler.
The trimarans are traditionally rigged for sailing — one gaff, one Bermuda,
The canoe sailers have a 5’ stub mast to hold a fixed wing sail from a wind surf rig (mast/boom/sail).
The kayaks are used for stability and gear stowage. Each kayak has augmented pillars, 4 float bags, and non-stretch Cordura covers, which seal very strong and tight to endure wave crashing and running submerged.
Although the kayaks could hold a paddler, the seat/walk rails preclude using a double-bladed paddle stroke, and it turns out folks would rather paddle or ride elsewhere on the boat”
Be sure to visit the Rocky Mountain Safari website for more information about all their outdoor/kayaking/sailing adventures!
The PDF is worth checking out as it has the specs for five separate 14′-19′ multihull boats based on this concept, that show that these guys have really given this some thought.
Using kayaks and other existing hulls as amas a really neat idea, and one I’ve considered a lot- according to historians the Polynesians would disassemble and reconfigure various larger hulls and amas into other smaller craft upon arriving at some destination, and we’ve all seen the various trimarans built using donor beach catamaran amas…but I don’t recall ever seeing a demountable small trimaran where the amas were designed to be regularly used as individual boats or combined to create a catamaran.
For a small camp cruising boat that is easily beached, you could make camp with all manner of tents and awnings and the like that take time to set up/strike, but still be able to go offshore to fish or visit anchored boats or explore places where the larger boat is unsuitable, using the amas as tenders, either as a catamaran capable of carrying two people or individually as kayaks…
they also have one shot of an expedition where they replaced a kayak ama with a windsurfer board on a canoe based proa, and report good results aside from increased noise (which is not that difficult to mitigate if you orient the board more on edge instead of dead flat to give that flat surface more deadrise…lowers wetted surface too).
So that’s another possibility for extravehicular activities using the amas as smaller vessels. You’re already carrying those amas around, seems like a waste to have them just laying there when you are parked on the beach, and even if you are anchored out if you just remove one ama and shift weight to compensate the mothership should be able to float safely while paddling the ama around.
Even in non-cruising situations the ability to just toss the amas together and go out or take one and use it as a kayak without having to deal with the entire trimaran seems like a real benefit to users and a good way to attract more of them, if that was a goal.
But back to these boats- it’s also worth noting that the kayaks in use here are more of a white water design than the easier paddling ocean kayaks derived from native boats used offshore…both are very capable in heavy water, but the smaller fatter river boats aren’t really intended to go long distances under paddle alone and no doubt using something sleeker and more suited to efficient use of available power could kick the speed up significantly without losing any of the benefits of the hybrid design.
Yes, Frank (from RMS) has really given this stuff a lot of thought. Really thinks outside the conventional box too. Kudos to him for trying something different in order to create a smaller trimarans with specific purposes.
One of the proafile (yahoo) people, “Jerry” I think, once proposed that a kayak could be used on a large single-outrigger or proa as a “safety ama” and, once at an anchorage, could be de-rigged for use as a kayak. This seemed to be a unique solution for both knock-down safety and carrying an auxiliary boat 9as long as the kayak were rugged enough to take the stress of supporting against a knock-down).
In the case of a shunting proa, if you could find one of a suitable length a river kayak might end up being the better choice for a donor boat, as some of them have symmetrical ends and are for all practical purposes reversible.
A canoe would be another option if it were decked or otherwise made resistant to swamping, and there are some pretty neat rowing shells and shell/kayak hybrids that have built in flotation and cockpit/foot well drains, that are double enders.
The other thing I like about the shells for a multihull is that a) they are extremely lightweight and b) they already have a strong point and some type of structure to carry the loads of the oars, which are nothing to sneeze at. You’d no doubt need to do more reinforcement and engineering than just bolting a pipe to the oarlock outriggers to make it all safe and seakindly, but all of the various donor boat possibilities the single person shell seems like the one most naturally suited to stress loading from a big arm hooked to it…
and it could be made into a proa or tri itself when taken off the larger boat, even if the ama was just some foam or a spare surfboard, which in turn could help balance two major drawbacks of a dedicated rowing shell, its lack of inherent roll stability independent of the oars, and poor cargo capacity.
A couple of examples-
http://rowalden.com/live/index.php/products/boats/alden-16-quest
http://www.littlerivermarine.com/sprint-recreational-rowing-shell/
the shell-turned-trimaran concept is already used for training boats…the amas here are kept up and out of the water to force the rower to learn balance, but their volume and location could be easily designed/adjusted to maximize initial stability –
http://www.edon.biz/id17.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICNw4JlnaqA
Finally here’s a neat little craft that exemplifies the pair of amas turned catamaran concept…the stand up part makes little sense for a tender but since the boat is optimized for adaptability you could just ignore that and fit it with oars, and it even comes optional with an electric motor drive-
http://www.easyriderkayaks.com/waterwalker_overview.htm
“Exclusive outrigger-feature…
Furthermore, each WaterWalker hull can be used as a super-buoyant outrigger. Attach it to an Easy Rider kayak or canoe and you have an extra-stable platform for scuba-diving, swimming, snorkeling, diving, etc.
NOTE: The hulls of a WaterWalker can be purchased separately for use as outriggers.”