New Strike 18 Trimaran Sailing in Texas
There is a new Strike 18 trimaran sailing in Texas. Even though this is the first sailboat the owner has built himself, it turned out great!
Just see for yourself :-)
Neal J sent me the following info a week or so ago. His new Strike 18 — a Richard Woods design — utilizes beach cat floats (for amas) and sail rig, which makes it an exceptionally economical design to build.
The photos posted here are Neal’s and are used with his permission. To see all of the photos he has taken of this new sailboat, be sure to visit his flickr page. And thanks for sharing the following with us Neal!
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New Strike 18 Trimaran Sailing in Texas
I finished my first boat build a few months ago, a Strike 18 by Richard Woods.
It took me 10 months to build working about 4-5 hrs a week, mostly at night when the kids went to bed. I used a Prindle 16 for the ama’s and rig.
The maiden sail was Sept 1st, on Lake Ray Roberts in the North Texas area. It performed well even though my main halyard was snagged.
Since then we’ve taken it out on every good weekend. So far, we’ve sailed Lake Lavon, Ray Roberts, Texoma and most recently Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma for the SailOK boat festival.
Richard Woods was also in attendance as a speaker so we had a chance to meet and sail with him and another of his builders as well. It was an honor to have him aboard and pick his brain on the build so shortly after I finished.
This pic of Neal and his new Strike 18 says it all
Some pics of the trip and earlier photos of the build can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/strikepics/
We look forward to many sailing adventures in the future. It’s a fun boat to sail and has plenty of room for us and even friends as well.
We haven’t slept aboard yet but plan to soon. The main reason I choose the Strike was it’s load capacity, performance and storage footprint. I’m able to store it in a standard garage, which saves time and money.
I’ll post additional pics to the above link from time to time as well.
– Neal J
As you’ll see in the 2nd short video clip (below) a special guest got to test out the boat during a recent visit to Texas …
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October 17th, 2012 at 4:35 pm
Very well done Neal, especially for a first build.
This design is really growing on me…it’s not that elegant in the classic pretty sailboat sense (ditto the Prindle cat) but the functional nature of it all gives it the kind of functional more industrially oriented beauty of things like motorsailers and smartly designed powerboats like trawlers and tugs.
I happen to love that kind of thing and hope that neither the owner or the designer take this the wrong way- it’s just a very unconventional design that takes some getting used to if you tend to favor sleek and swoopy lines and boats that hide their quick built DIY nature at all costs.
The cabin has a very retro look that reminds me a lot of 50′s-60′s runabouts and the whole DIY vibe of that era, when kit and DIY boats were a huge business and everyone seemed to have something going together in their garage. Again, I say this with nothing but respect and admiration.
It’s also very similar to the design of the smaller Cross boats with trunk cabins, which is another plus…it’s just a good basic design solution that can take a beating. The proportions here make it look more like a pilothouse than the Cross boats, but I think that’s very cool…
I *really* like the cuddy/pilothouse setup after seeing the interior shots in the video, and can imagine using this basic design as a starting point to build a very nice pocket motorsailer that could have the covered cockpit/interior space and amenities expanded even further but would still be easily driven both under sail and/or power.
With purpose built planing amas and maybe an added strake or two on the main hull and some real power this design could become a bona fide power launch, sail capable or not…
It might not be the best choice for SoCal or Florida daysailing but in places with cold/sketchy weather a boat like that could make for a fairly comfortable and economical ride that allowed for some degree of extended travel, and has potential as well for fishing (both private and commercial), diving, salvage, light duty towing, water taxi and similar operations where trimaran stability and speed/fuel economy under power can be naturally advantageous.
Speaking of power- I had never seen a propane outboard before of that configuration…I’m going to go google it but would appreciate hearing any comments the owner has on actual use.
October 18th, 2012 at 1:42 am
Hi Ian,
Thanks for all your comments and observations! None were taken the wrong way. I appreciate the feedback. Personally I picked the design for it’s functional nature but also really like the looks as well…I guess i’m a bit biased at this point though! For one it reminds me of the new Littoral Naval ships being built as well as an F15 Eagle from the front. I’ve always liked fighter jets so the shape was appealing.
For some reason I’ve always thought multihulls looked great on the water…besides tall ships they have always been my favorite, especially the large 90 ft ocean going Tris.
As for adding a cabin, the designer (Richard Woods) has already drawn one. It attaches similar to what you describe, I haven’t built it yet though. I’m not sure about using the boat under power only though as it was designed very light for sailing, the recommended engine is no more than 2.5-3hp. btw- I do plan to fish and dive off it eventually as well, just for sport though.
The Propane motor is the new Lehr 2.5 they also have a 5hp as well and plan on making a large 175 soon. I’ve run it less than 10hrs so far but really like it. It performs just as well as any gas motor but without the heavy fumes, need for gas, ethanol issues and winterizing as regular outboards have. It weighs 38lbs and can go one hour at full throttle on a 1lb canister of propane (I’ve confirmed that). I paid about a $200 premium for the technology but find it’s worth it. There is a way to refuel the 1lb canisters from a 5lb tank that makes the cost about $1/bottle.
October 18th, 2012 at 3:41 pm
Hi Neal,
Thanks for the reply…I too have always liked the less organic looking forms of things like those littoral ships and fighter planes and high performance powerboats and tugs that are purpose built, with classic looks being far down the list of priorities.
If you look at the path of advances in powerboat design from atlantic paddle steamers to foilers and three point hydros and other planing hulls, you see that for decades after power was available designs were still stuck in shapes optimized for sail power, and square sail power at that. The classic fantail/plumb bow motor yachts are gorgeous and have their advantages, but they are hardly the epitome of what is possible.
Personally I think tri design is in an equal place today, in large part due to old traditionalist sailor baggage against multihulls *and* powerboats, which tris can often match in speed *without* the smell and noise.
Once that’s gone, “ugly” is really all you have left to use against them, and that’s always subjective and totally irrelevant to actual performance. When you are talking potential speeds in the range of powerboats, it makes perfect sense to consider *all* the available design solutions and not just the ones that look like what belongs on a sailboat or don’t offend purists too much.
On further review I did see that there are a number of cabin options, and the whole convertible aspect of it is a huge boon to anyone who might want to create a specialized boat- not just easier to modify and design for, but it keeps the resale value up by being easily re-converted back to a more stock design. It’s kind of in the same vein as a camper shell on a pickup truck, and many of the same types of options could be implemented on this type of boat. It’s just smart design and that utilitarian aspect is what really has me looking closer and imagining all kinds of possibilities.
The specs on the propane motors are pretty amazing, and these would seem to be perfect candidates for a displacement power cruiser or motorsailer based on this design, maybe with some prop tweaking and clever positioning…the test speeds and especially the fuel economy at cruise they got on their 12′ Sears aluminum skiff are almost unheard of (over 24 mpg at close to 5 kts), and could only get better with a well matched, more easily driven hull form, and I imagine with purpose built amas and a couple of minor tweaks you could easily apply far more power than what is spec’d to an 18′ boat without any danger at all- two 5 hp models would allow some pretty high top speeds and still give you range and cruise speeds comparable to a 30-40′ traditional trawler, if those figures are to be believed, and ten HP is do-abale on far smaller and less stable boats than this.
Anyway, hats off to you and the designer and hopefully others will pick up on this idea of more convertible designs that allow more possibilities than having *just* a daysailer or *just* a cruiser or *just* a fishing boat, or worse, try to do them all at once.
From a commercial standpoint, I think that working towards more adaptable designs is the only thing that will ever rebuild what’s left of the pleasure boating industry as we know it and that a strong aftermarket in options could be built around designs like this one the same way that a huge aftermarket exists for Jeep and pickup accessories that can convert them for a very divergent range of uses.
Oddly enough, both Jeeps and pickups are wildly popular all over the world but are also top contenders for “least sexy/pretty” of what’s out there…Boston Whaler and Zodiac have done well with the adaptable boat concept and are all over the place, but when it comes to sailboats the idea hasn’t gotten much traction at all and specialization and one-offs seem to be the rule.
October 19th, 2012 at 2:07 pm
I only wish there were some way to avoid some of those triangles, aesthetically speaking. I guess though that would add a lot of additional hours and even weight.
October 19th, 2012 at 2:52 pm
You could add styrofoam blocks to the foward facing triangles and form them into a more rounded shape. After glassing they should hold up and wouldn’t add much weight at all, nor effect performance.
October 19th, 2012 at 8:00 pm
My concern there is more practical- having that section more horizontal and like an extension of the deck plane there would be far better when you are moving quickly and can use all the solid, flat places to put your feet as you can get.
This is also an issue in many radically reverse sheered boats and boats with bubble-ish cabins…powerboats that don’t normally require a lot of deck work can get away with more of this stuff and even some very nice boats don’t give a lot of consideration to getting around…
This boat is *very* aesthetically pleasing and the polar opposite as far as fair lines, but still presents a very tricky foredeck to get to and work on in a wet seaway-
http://smalltrimarans.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/somersault26-d.jpg
Of course the idea there is that you never have to leave the cockpit…OK, sure…
Not a deal breaker for me, but I’d personally want to address crew movement in that area better…tramps will help but some kind of solid place to land when you come over that cabin in a hurry to fend something off or grab a sail about to go overboard would be nice.
I can’t seem to find a good example pic, but I’ve seen junks and sampans that do this, where the deck is so highly crowned in all directions that it becomes an elevated turtle backed cabin top of sorts and impossible to walk over easily to get forward, so the lack of deck space is addressed with external decks made of planks on stubby frames that cantilever out from the hull at the sheer line…on a tri you could easily integrate this with the existing crossarms and I’m surprised you don’t see more of this being done to get more interior space and still have a place to walk without needing a completely solid deck or bouncy tramps…
This is the best example I could find- a very crude version using lashed bamboo for the catwalk, but it should explain the concept and how it allows moving around otherwise impossibly wide/tall cabin structures -
http://i40.servimg.com/u/f40/17/30/72/03/cimg2811.jpg
January 4th, 2013 at 3:44 am
Neal,
The build looks great, but I most like your enthusiasm.
I seem to be relatively close to you. I am in Ft. Worth.
Would it be possible to see your boat some time? I have daydreamed about a tri for 20 years.
Marc
817-263-4039