Tri-style in order for more stable sailing, marital bliss

David Eblen, Tucson, Arizona

I’ll admit to my  fair share of dumb moves in my life. My son goaded me into showing him my fast ball even though I hadn’t thrown one in forty years. The results of that episode was painful rotator cuff damage. More recently my wife followed me onto a beach through surf that I knew was too rough but I did it anyway.  We ended up outside the skin kayaks we normally paddle ( I build them for fun and profit ) skinned and bruised and thoroughly thumped. She was not amused.

She Who Must Be Obeyed blurted a few choice obscenities including the specs for a new boat that would not be so easy to roll over when I did dumb stuff and she was obligated to follow along in order to maintain domestic tranquility.

“And no more skin boats!”. That was a shocker, but I was in no position to argue. She has never been fond of skin boats and she has never been comfortable with the enclosed feeling of a Greenland style kayak. “More of a sit on top,” she said “and I want to be able to stand up in it without tipping it over”. An eight foot wide dinghy might do it but I have no idea how she is going to paddle that or even row it. But I did have an idea.

Borrowing ideas is my forte and this time the Polynesians came to the rescue. Some sort of a central hull with outriggers would work and if I was clever I could probably make the thing sail. The sketches shown with the article give you an idea of my first draft. Things change, but the basic concept remains intact.

Since this was a prototype, I built cheap. The hull is 1/8”mahogany door skin with a 6 oz fiberglass skin over that. Sheer clamps, chine logs and all other wood structural pieces are redwood or spruce. The interior is coated with epoxy.

The boat is flat  bottomed, 16 feet long, 2 feet beam, 18” beam at the waterline.  There are water tight compartments fore and aft and under the cockpit. It will not sink even flooded. There are two baggage compartments, one forward accessible via a deck hatch and one aft of the cockpit accessible via a hatch behind the seat. The deck aft of the cockpit is reinforced to carry external loads. I spent too much time with the overly clever recessed tie down fittings along the topsides. Getting back in the boat would never call for dragging yourself over exposed ones, but they do look cool.