Boat designer Bernd Kohler sent me the link to the following YouTube video. In it, one of Bernd’s customers (Mike) shows off his recently completed Little Tri. (Now will be the best part … he’ll gets to ENJOY the boat :-)
Mike decided to put a split junk rig on his small trimaran and plans to sail the boat in the Texas 200. Congrats to him on his build … and the best to him in the race.
The next video we are going to be waiting to see from Mike is one (or two or three) of the boat sailing. We’re hoping for those to come very soon.
Until then, here is a peek at Mike’s new small tri…
Neat boat. As for the short mast, why not just build a wooden extension to be struck in the mast partner? Should take less than 1 hour…
Looking forward to see videos of it sailing ( best compliments for keeping the camera steady and making a worth-seeing video)
Great job! Loved FL120 videos.
Where did you get the sail plan from (how many sq metres).The tri was doing some low level flying in one of the videos.
Any issues you found with the rig.Sorry to hit with so many question but I am very interested in this tri.
Thanks
Michael
I really should check in more. :)
The sail plan was taken from the designer of the split junk rig, Mr. Slieve Gallaird who wrote a very good guide to the theory and application of the split junk rig (http://www.junkrigassociation.org/slieve). The sail plan itself comes directly from his drawings, resized to get the correct CE to the boat, and shortened by three panels for a smaller sail area. The result is a somewhat low aspect ratio sail that still works well and keeps the boat balanced.
The total sail area (minus the split) is 130 sq feet. Each reef removes 28 sq ft (it has three reefs). Yeah, that is a lot of area for a small 15.5′ boat, but the little tri handled it well.
Any issues with the rig are totally self inflicted. The panel layout was sloppy which resulted in unequal panels with wrinkles. Also contributing was a poor yard attachment point (too close to the mast) and lack of a yard hauling parrel which made it near impossible to set the yard angle needed to make the sail hang correctly at 10 degrees batten angle. If the yard was set at the right angle, the entire sail would have hung straight without any tension transferred to the panels themselves.
Overall though, it was the first sail I have ever made or sewn. The lessons learned will be used in a new sail in the coming months. :)
Thanks Mike for the reference and information!
Happy sailor Mike. I am fixing to start my Little tri project and ,I am interesting in the sail you made for yours. The plans called for a Sunfish sail on a windsurf mast. I was told the sunfish only has about 85 sq feet of sail and your Junk rig about 130 sq foot. That is a lot of difference. Is it being a different design why , or will the boat just hold a bigger sail? There are lots of questions I would like to ask you, if I knew how to get in touch with you if you are willing.I have an email genegillis AT hotmail.com if you would consider. I have looked at all your videos on youtube. but don’t know how to contact you. Thanks if you would.good sailing!
Has this boat been sailed ?
What was the verdict ?