= I am at it again! If you have followed the Cat-Ketch rambling below, you know that I had in mind to revisit the concept. Adding and subtracting elements to present an updated versatile version of this animal. Nobody called on this one. So why?
= When conventionally rigged sailboats are considered superior and when the cutter or sloop are the mainstays in the industry. A designer can argue all day long on this or that, but certainly, the client has ideas about aesthetics, appearance and taste when considering buying a boat. Or is he simply following the followers?
- Despite the reputation gained by designing quite a few selves standing rigs, the basis for the office work is far wider than simply relying on the design and construction of such boats. But I am trying to constitute syntheses about what has been learned over the years in a package brought up to date and hopefully with the construction of a prototype for a production run.
- The first consideration is to define the function of the boat. The environment is dictated by the dual purpose of offshore sailing and life-aboard. Those notions will dictate the interior design while the above deck is dedicated to sailing. Furthermore, performance under power has to show good speed. The design is voluntarily limited by characteristics inherited by experience and therefore I have decided upon the following parameters.
L.O.A 40'; draft 5'-0"; Rig: Cat-ketch. Accommodation cruising comfort for four. Headroom 6'4".
- Protection and safety a must. L.O.A to 12M. to be on the safe side of regulations limiting the length of a vessel to a certain category. It is always tempting to add to size but, I am forcing the issue here. Also in view of the larger 45 and 43's with the 37 somewhere, I think I'll try 40'. For the really Big Boat, I'll wait until someone comes with the Big Money.
- Of course, by limiting the length on deck, I have to maximize the length of the waterline. With the current, and also very old fashion of designing plumb stem and stern, the result is pretty straight forward and I end up with a D.W.L of 38.5'. This is the starting point for what I have in mind, with the always present gnawing need to constantly think about gravity, volume, square footage, stability and comfort, and safety; the whole scenario "a la" M.G.M.
- Length is followed by canoe body depth and overall beam. When it comes to the Midship Section, with a keel draft limited to 60", I restrain myself to go over 24" below the waterline for a proper hull deadrise. This in order for the fin keel to work as efficiently as possible with what is given. Past the length issue, the beam is where more room, inside and outside can be had. Therefore, going with a tolerable length/beam ratio of 2.5 at the deck level, I streamline the hips at the waterline.
= Recent commission prevents me from spending time on this project so: to be continued...
On the Blog, see also: Swing keel, centerboard.
Hi YMT,
ReplyDeleteI'm really pleased to read you are thinking about reviving the Tanton cat-ketch line. Reading your blog I wondered why you were thinking of a T40; may I enquire why not a 45 or longer? My own view is that the T43's lacked waterline length and the T45's mast being the same as the T43's limited what they could achieve. I was interested in your focus on a dual purpose yacht, i.e. offshore and live-aboard so I figured that a little more length would be a good thing. Perhaps I could draw your attention to the success of Discovery Yachts at 55', 57' and 67', it shows that some sailors will go longer. The 43's were and are a wonderful boat when running, but a bit steady to windward and I do hope you will make sure the new design improves on this. Will you be fitting a foresail forrards ahead of the main? When helming a 43 to windward I've often wished for more pull, some days it could save an awful lot of gas! Fully battened sails might enhance things for the offshore guys too, but you will know best. Please stay away from rotating masts, I know it might seem fun to design one in and it would enhance things a bit, but one of the attractions of the Tanton cat-ketch line was the absence of needless complication. The sail tracks up the main and mizzen need to be improved too, and the through-deck connections would stand being updated. One winch needs to be man enough to take someone up the masts, I've been up there a few times. Don't lose the dorards, you need some air down below. Then there is that canoe stern; I do hope you will keep it as, when you've seen what I've seen as to how that stern can cope with a seriously heavy following sea in near hurricane conditions, you would not want anything else. As the design of the stern lines makes them good to look at let's make sure there is plenty of accessible locker space so the rail is not needlessly festooned with clutter. Your ideas for the cockpit on the T45 were excellent, plenty of space and somewhere to bath the kids. Swim ladders? A folding swim ladder coming off the stern but folding away into its own recess in the stern structure would be a fine idea, especially for those occasions when you have to go over the rail to pull someone out of the water. While I think of it, a deck hatch in the saloon is a must so that, as a lowly crew member, you can slip out for some fresh air without disturbing those sleeping in the two staterooms. By the way, the pilot berth must stay, it works well; but if your new hull design changes the fore and aft pitching, that pilot berth might need to move forrards; we don't want a 'rocker' disturbing the off-duty crew's sleep. The bow area needs to accommodate some of the modern anchors too, and a separate compartment forrards to store the anchor chain, lines and spare sheets (and the dingy) and accessibility from the foredeck is a must. Bow thruster included please, another modern must have item. I think your caution as to the construction of the carbon fibre masts is well placed; and I hope that your new design will make inspection of the mast steps practical. Two heads or one? I have a pictorial record of many of the T43s and I've observed that in most layouts only one seems to be used; but at 45' or longer, my guess is owners would look for two. I've looked at many of the saloon layouts constructed for the T43s and T45s and the most practical and most pleasant was the T45 with its facility for two captain's chairs; perhaps that's why one owner converted his 43 saloon to the 45 layout.
Diesel electric drive? why not? it's worth looking at and while are getting lower in the hull, lets make sure you keep a strong skeg and rudder; please - no flimsy stuff down there. Galley - I dare not start! So I hope this comment will cheer and encourage you that there are folks out there that would love to own a Tanton cat ketch, especially a new design. I'd better stop but you please keep going!
Hi YMT,
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a chance to revisit this project!
Long gone are the days when you could approach a builder with 3 boats to build. He would just went ahead and build molds, boats and all. This was Taiwan for you.
ReplyDeleteNow, you can still build a one off, then maybe other ones.