Two Masts for Two Hulls
We got the second mast up today. Whatever else she still needs to go sailing, MON TIKI feels like a boat now, and I’m happy to share this picture and this moment with all of you. It’s taken no small effort to reach this point, and I’m grateful for the enthusiasm and support I’ve found here at The League!
When a boat sailboat has two masts, and the sail on the aft mast is bigger than the sail on the foremast, she a schooner.
Sailing people think they know a lot about schooners; most especially they think schooners are harder to handle and don’t perform as well as the much more popular single masted sloop.
This is not true; and why it’s not true may or may not have something to do with why I am (slowly) failing out of love with hate. More on that at a later time.
For now, it feels nice to (finally) have a schooner again. Below is the last schooner I had. A Phil C. Bolger design I named Margaret Ellen after my first daughter. (I started the boat the week Margaret came home to live with us.) The dog in the photo is Roxanne; gone, but not forgotten, and much missed.
What a beautiful boat. I’ve crewed a little on schooners and was wondering how the twin hulls of the catamaran enhance the handling – certainly they enhance the speed – of the boat. Can you post a picture of the cockpit? Do you need any crew? How far out off the island will she go? Is she more of a bay/sound sailer or an open ocean sailer?
I grew up refurbishing a 17 foot racing dingy one summer with my father. We almost killed each other but the memories forged were also some of my fondest from childhood.Report
MON TIKI is base on James Wharram’s Tiki 38, a passage making design, with engineering upgrades by John Marples to bring her up to American Bureau of Shipping Offshore Racing Yacht standards, per US Code of Federal Regulations 46, covering the design, construction and outfitting of Small Passenger Vessels.
Under idea conditions of whether and load, multihulls can be fast, very fast when compared to non-planing monohulls, and more forgiving than planing monohulls. Our primary interest in this design is that she offers a high passenger carrying capacity for her size and investment, and Wharram’s signature multiple interior spaces design is more “socially ergonomic” than similar sized monohulls or production cats. What that means is that each of my daughters will have her own person space, with it’s own entry way, and a separate space for myself and my wife. Based on our experiences on our 38 monohull, we feel this will make life aboard less socially stressful. It has the added benefit that the subdivisions make the boat virutally unsinkable.
Our Certificate of Inspection require a licensed caption and a deckhand. There is no cockpit in the traditional sense. The areal between the hulls is completely open, offering ample seating and sprawling space. Just sitting on her in the yard is a delight. At anchor or underway promises to be rapturous!Report
How soon is she going into the water?Report
I think we’ll be able to launch about a week after Honda gets us our engines. A very bureaucrtic company they are. Just sent a check (for the second time) today. We’re hoping for engines next week!Report
There is a beauty when a fresh new sail fills and pulls your heart forward. The twinkle of the sun kissing the water and the wake slipping from the hull. It imprints the soul in a way that few things do.Report
Like a Thoroughbred, sleek, and built for speed. I would very much like to see some of the construction details. Would it be possible to show some of the joinery drawings?Report
‘Tis terrible cliche, but ’tis true!
The joinery of this design is nothing too exciting. Plywood and lumber cleverly combined withe epoxy to create a boat what anyone with stubbornness and time can build. This isn’t a boat for a cabinet maker, it’s a boat for someone who wants to sail!
But since it’s joinery you want, this post about our hollow wooden masts should strike your fancy!
https://ordinary-times.com/blog/2012/06/manufacturing-jobs/Report
What an accomplishment. It is beautiful. Here’s to you, your family and crew, a handsome addition to the Montauk sailing scene.Report
Since you’ve chosen “Rothko” as your name de comment, I’m tempted to tell you we’re going to celebrate MON TIKI’s launch with cans of Ballantine Ale, but the truth is that we’re going to christen her with a couple of growlers of the Montauk Brewing Company’s Driftwood Ale, one for each bow of each hull!Report
nice. have a date for the launch yet?Report
I imagine it will be his wife.Report
Congrats, David!Report