Depron Foam Mini40 Wing Sail Catamaran

mij

User
I'm calling this cat a Mini40, but actually it is only 1m in length (yes Chris, I finally built something a bit bigger, I failed to get a 65M to foil).

The hulls and wing are made of Depron foam and tape, which makes the whole boat quite light (1.55 kg). Perhaps the real beauty of this boat is the build time - from conception to testing was 2 weeks, overall a couple of days on the weekend and a few evenings. With the design worked out I think that I could make the boat in a day. The video below is of the maiden voyage. 2 hours sailing and no leaks. More to follow, hopefully with more wind.

Jim.

 
Hi Jim,

nice size! ;-)

In these drifting conditions it's really a challenge to keep the boat moving.
And with a wing it might be not easier. I even saw light wind tacks with your cat.

It sits nice on the water! What size is the depron for the hulls and is the depron sealed or doesn't it take any water?

Can't wait to see some high wind action with your boat, sooo keep your vids coming please!!
 

mij

User
Hi Jim,

nice size! ;-)

In these drifting conditions it's really a challenge to keep the boat moving.
And with a wing it might be not easier. I even saw light wind tacks with your cat.

It sits nice on the water! What size is the depron for the hulls and is the depron sealed or doesn't it take any water?

Can't wait to see some high wind action with your boat, sooo keep your vids coming please!!

Thanks Wolfgang. The boat was designed as a platform to try some foiling ideas, so it wasn't really designed for light winds.

My source of Depron only supplies it in 1 m lengths, otherwise I would have built to 1.2 m. The Depron doesn't let water through, so only the edges are sealed with tape. For long term durability it might be better to cover the whole surface with tape, but at the moment I'm aiming for as light as possible.
 

mij

User
Some glimpses of lifting with fixed L-foils. Keeping to the spirit of this boat I have tried to keep the foils as easy to construct as possible. The foils used in this case are simple model hell blades for the vertical section and heli tail blades for the lifting section, joined with couple of 3mm carbon rods and a 2-part glue.


Now that I can see that the L-foils do provide some lift, I'm planning to install a central larger foil which will be set close to neutral. I want this foil to provide just enough lift to keep the windward foil and hull just above the surface.
 
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