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Building the Tridarka Raider
Chief builds hull #1 for the Everglades Challenge 2007 |
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It's been a few weeks since the Everglades Challenge fiasco and I've had time to nurse my ego back from the brink. I really blew it and have only myself to blame.
Basically stupid rigging mistakes caused my DNF. Here is a list:
- I broke the rudder downhaul twice. It broke because I used plastic half-loop connectors instead of steel. What was I thinking????
- The main sheet got itself so twisted that it became virtually impossible to adjust the sail.
- Due to number 2 (I think) the sheet was jumping out of the cleat at inappropriate times.
- The main sail set perfectly for running and reaching, but I could not get it to set properly for beating.
- The screecher worked well for running and very broad reaching, but did not work well as the wind moved forward. I really needed a jib for beating into the wind. By the second day if was all head winds.
- I didn't like the reefing setup. It worked, but I guess I've been spoiled by more user friendly systems.
- I didn't like setting and striking the screecher. It was a pain in the a-- and kind of dangerous for a single hander. Again, I'm just spoiled.
- The cockpit drain holes let in more water than they let out.
So what worked right?
I was very happy with the overall design of the hulls. The vaka (center hull) and the amas (outboard hulls) exceeded my expectations. She surfed well on all wave sizes I encountered. She was very easy to control and had good balance. There was no tendancy to bury the bow when surfing. Of course I didn't have any huge waves on this trip, but I think she would handle them just fine.
On the first day I got off the beach well after most of the fleet. Don't get me wrong. I didn't have any trouble what so ever launching, I just wanted to wait until most kayaks and canoes were out of the way. Also DaveOnCudjoe launched right in front of me and I had to wait until he got out of the way (no problem -- I wasn't in a hurry). Anyway, by the time I got going the fleet was well ahead by varying amounts. Most of the class 4 boats had about twice my sail area up. Even so I began to catch up and passed several boats. My skinny hulls were so easy to push that my speed was better than most. Of course, Lumpy and Bumpy along with FrontalLobotomy were much faster and I never saw them.
My overall speed on the first leg was really good. Even with my late start I got down to Placida by about 8PM. I didn't get into CP1 until the next day at 11:00 AM, but that is another story. My passage to CP2 was also pretty fast considering I left CP1 about 2:30 PM (the long delay in leaving is yet anther story). But I had passed many in the fleet when I arrived at CP2. The second leg was mostly beating so even with the issues I had by that time she was doing pretty good.
She was easy to steer and the simple Tiller Tamer I was using was able to hold her on course for long periods of time.
The amas had plenty of floatation which meant I did not have to reef when the wind came up. With my Dreamcatcher and BOSS or any monohull I would have had to reef in some of the conditions I encountered. In fact, I did reef her for a bit but then realized that I didn't need to and took it out.
She was very comfortable the whole trip. Especially after I figured out a nice backrest. It was like being in a recliner the whole trip.
Another thing I did was redesigned the entire aka (cross beam) system. The original system looked great and worked but it took too long to setup. Also, changing the configuration for CP1 would have been very difficult for one person. So the I spent the last week before the race working with Brian and Eli at JSI building a new one using sliding aluminum tubing. It far exceeded all expectations and worked great. Getting in and out of CP1 was very easy and the time to get the boat off the trailer and into the water is now much reduced. For a last minute change (literally) I couldn't have asked for a better result.
So what are the lessons learned?
- Use stainless steel half-loops instead of plastic for anything taking a load.
- Don't use swivel blocks for routing the main sheet.
- Use a flapper valve on the outside of the cockpit drain holes, and carry stopper plugs for each side.
- Consider changing the main sail.
- Add a roller furling head sail.
- Build in a nice backrest on both sides.
- If I was building hull number 2, I would build in the side benches right from the start. The new aluminum cross beams allow the side benches to be permanant.
- Use the new aluminum cross beams.
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After being sick for about 3 weeks and too busy to have any fun prior to that, I finally got out for a sail yesterday. It was a beautiful day in Florida with barely a cloud in the sky, not too hot, not too cold -- and not much wind either. The weather report claimed 5-10 mph, but it seemed about 5 or less most of the time with an occasional puff up to 10.
The modifications I added to the trailer made solo launching possible. Even so it took about an hour to rig the boat at the ramp. This is fine if I was really a "coastal vagabond" but a bit long for a day sailor. At the Fort Desoto ramp there is a dock at the very end that almost nobody wants to use so I was able to rig the boat without being in anyone's way.
Launching from the dock was a tiny bit tricky because I had an onshore wind. I used my Greenland storm paddle to good effect to paddle away from the dock for enough room to raise the sail and get going. This was fine for the light winds I had, but probably would not have worked for 15 mph winds. I'm going to have to really think about alternate propulsion.
Once I cleared the dock the boat took off directly for Bunces Pass. She moved nicely in the light winds. The new yard made from oak made all the difference. The sail set properly and provided good drive. It would have been a really good day for the screacher, but I left it at home.
The new yard allows the sail to set properly.
Also, I added a very simple leeboard tie down. The lanyard is roughly 2 feet long and jams into a cleat on the leeboard rail. This cleat is one of those special break away cleats you can get at Duckworks. I also added some padding on the edge and the bottom of the rail. I was worried that the cleat was too close to the leeboard to be effective, but it worked really well. I don't know if it would work going 20 knots, but someday I hope to find out. This system does not provide any brake if the leeboard gets knock so I may need to add still more in this area. The padding on the underside of the leeboard guard should help.
You know it's a light wind day when a small bag of chips from your picnic lunch just sits there without being blown away.
A nice day on the water. I spent most of the day running at about 3-4 knots. I had occasional spurts a bit past 6 knots and a couple of times when I was only going about 2 knots. A kayak would have beaten me for sure on this day, but I'd make up for it when the wind came up.
A solo sailor needs to have at least some minimal self steering. This shows my quick setup which isn't really self steering, but I can let go of the tiller from time to time for cockpit chores and such. The standard Tiller Tamer line wasn't long enough to rig properly on my boat. The vaka hull is too narrow and the other tie in points were too wide. Even so it worked very well and held the boat on course for several minutes at a time. I'll have it properly rigged before the next trip.
I have some short video clips which I will try to add to YouTube in the next day or two. |
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I won't call this a maiden voyage because we only had her out for a short trip at the Fort Desoto boat ramp. But at least we know she floats! Check it out ----  She looks good on the water. Conditions were light to fluky in the bay between the Fort Desoto boat ramp and Bunces Pass. The tide had just started going out when we launched and was flowing pretty good when we had to beat back to the docks with very light winds. Gusting to 5 knots might be too optimistic.  Heading out toward the pass with virtually no heel.  The hiking benches are mounted on top of the akas in a temporary manner. I wanted to get out on the water a couple of times before deciding exactly how I wanted to mount them. There is lots of excess line coiled and not coile laying around. Again, I wanted to sail the boat before cutting lines to the proper length.  Here is one reason I want to test a bit before final rigging. Notice the yard is out of shape and the upper one third of the sail isn't really helping - maybe even robbing power from the bottom two thirds. This is because the yard I made is too wimpy and flexes too much. Also, perhaps I tied it too tight to the top of the sail. The loose line you see hanging from the top of the mast is the headsail halyard that does double duty as a lazy jack when the headsail is not being used. With such light winds we could really have used the head sail, but I left it home to keep the first trip simple and work out all the rigging details for everything else first. The shorter lines between the jaws are for tying the sail to the mast. I didn't actually use them for two reasons: I forgot all about them and the wind was so light it wasn't necessary. They look kind of messy, but they will be fine when I trim the and tie them properly.  Why am I always chasing the kayaks?  Tim the Carpenter is telling me to try to keep the speed down - just kidding.  This was taken out the back window of the van and the way home. It was a good first sail even though she didn't get to show off yet. |
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Finally I am in the final stages of rigging the boat. With any luck at all I will be in the water by Sunday, August 19, 2007. It's taken much longer than I had hoped but still pretty fast considering the complexities of a trimaran - let's hope those complexities turn into sea worthiness, speed, and comfort!   On August 1 I closed out my shop and trailered the boat home. I really enjoyed having this shop and the people in the other shops around me were really great and provided lots of help and advice. Many thanks to Eric the German, Eric the Pole, and Tim the Carpenter for all the help and assistance they provided - and for the beers we shared. Of course final rigging is also taking longer than I had hoped. The sail arrived months ago, but I am just now getting around to rigging it for the boat. Each of the three battens requires a set of jaws. These jaws were made from 1/8" by 1" 6061T6 aluminum. This aluminum has to be covered with something to protect the sail cloth and the mast. I purchased some nylon tubing and cut it and burned holes in it as shown below.  The tubing slides over the aluminum strap as follows:  Six of these are required for the 3 battens. The two holes at the top require holes burned into the sails and holes drilled through the battens to connect one side to the other.  Taking a hot soldering gun to an expensive sail isn't a fun way to spend the evening! But it worked out OK and all holes were burned without incident. The soldering gun has a story behind it. Take heed if you need a soldering gun any time soon. I had a soldering gun for something like three decades, but it recently died after accidental exposure to a few rain storms. I went to Home Depot and bought their "heavy duty" model to replace it, but it would not get hot enough to melt nylon and dacron line like I was used to with my old gun. I took it back and the guy at Home Depot whispered to me that Sears had a 450 watt model. I went to Sears and they did have a model that went to 450 during heatup and then cut back to 150 watts after the tip reached "operating temp of 900 degrees." I didn't like the sound of that, but they had another "heavy duty" gun that was a 250/150 watt model. Pull the trigger all the way back and you get 250 watts steady. This sounded like it might do the trick with a tip temp of 1100 degrees. The gun you see me abusing the sail with is the 250/150 model from Sears for $32 and it worked great for all burning and melting purposes. The plan is to finish rigging the sail and the hiking benches on Saturday and then first launch on Sunday weather permitting. |
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I finished the mast by installing the lightning rod and masthead fittings. I made another jig so I could sand down one side of the masthead fitting.  Then I installed the long lightning rod.  This lightning rod runs the length of the mast and ends at the base plug.  It also doubles as a defensive weapon against whales  This shows everything complete with the bail installed for the headsail block. The lightning rod is held at the top by the pin and a bolt for the bail. The rod runs thru some pipe insulation so it won't slap against the mast. Note that the lower bolt is being cut off flat at the nut. Then it was on to the hiking benches.  Here they are having some of the underside supports bonded on.  And this shows the tiller mock up being laminated at the same time. This tiller is just a quick version to get the tiller rise the way I want it. After the correct height has been determined, I'll make a nice laminated tiller. This one will work in the mean time but it will look a bit funny. |
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No, it's not what you think. The boat did not get in the water just yet. But I had to take the trailer to Magic Tilt to see what was needed to customize it for the Tridarka Raider. Then I took it over to JSI for some rigging input.  Slowly she pokes her head out of the shop.  And gets hooked to the van for a ride to the shop. This happened a couple weeks ago, but I have been "busy" with other matters lately. |
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