A carryable sailing boat?

[kyky]

I'm building a SOF kayak purely because I wanted something I would be able to carry up and down the steep valley to my local beach. So that got me wondering, Is there anything like that in the world of sailing? A proper sailing boat, not a silly little windsurfer. And if there isn't has anyone even tried? Surely more young people like myself would get into sailing if they could just have a convenient little boat to carry off with them to the nearest lake, beach, river or whatever launch place is closest.

So is there anything close? Something light enough to be carried, small enough to be conveniently stored, maybe even fast enough for a little fun?
If there is, I reckon I could get a lot more of my friends into sailing. And if not, I reckon we should have a go at coming up with one.

Cheers, Kynan.

[Canoez]

Yup. Umiaks and the like and others, certainly. Here's a bit in one of the magazines from Brian Shulz of Cape Falcon Kayaks - Skin-on-frame construction: for camp-cruiser HUEVOS AL GUSTO, 191:72

There was a neat little SOF sailing pram that was in Washington state that somebody here had taken a picture of as I recall:

[kyky]

aah, but is there anything a bit more, I dunno, modern? I mean I like these kinda boats, but my friends however...

[skaraborgcraft]

How much weight can you carry? A folding Klepper canoe can be fitted with a rig,but anything of any size,unless skin on frame, is going to weigh possibly more than most people would want to literally carry. However, stick a small dolly wheel on the bow and some handles on the stern and you can move a fair size dinghy.....but i wouldnt want to be the one pushing up the hill going out of Porthtowan!

Ross Lillistones flint weighs in around 55lb,boat only,thats pretty light, can you manage that balanced on your head? Cheers

[skaraborgcraft]

aah, but is there anything a bit more, I dunno, modern? I mean I like these kinda boats, but my friends however...

You need new friends.....

[Canoez]

How do you mean, modern? Perhaps you ought to look at Dave Gentry's website... He's been working on a 16-30 style sailing canoe. Plywood frames and softwood stringers.

[jalmberg]

What about a sailing kayak? Or as they are usually called, sailing canoe?

[Peerie Maa]

http://www.adirondack-guide-boat.com/sailing-rig.html
Adriondack guide boats can be carried by one man. They originally sailed without leeboards or rudder, being steered by moving the crew back and forward. So you can be a simple or complicated as you want.

[kyky]

How much weight can you carry? A folding Klepper canoe can be fitted with a rig,but anything of any size,unless skin on frame, is going to weigh possibly more than most people would want to literally carry. However, stick a small dolly wheel on the bow and some handles on the stern and you can move a fair size dinghy.....but i wouldnt want to be the one pushing up the hill going out of Porthtowan!

Ross Lillistones flint weighs in around 55lb,boat only,thats pretty light, can you manage that balanced on your head? Cheers

I Miiiiight be able to carry that, though you're idea of a wheel is appealing. I'd have to pull it up the hill, And with those path's I'm not sure if it would fit any way other than sideways..

[JimD]

http://gaboats.com/boats/

[Daniel Noyes]

Modern/ portable?... Yes, it's a kite and board.

you actually mentioned the modern boat type in your initial post (wind surfer), but dimissed it as "silly and little" two adjectives I would not have chosen to describe the cheapeast, fastest and most technilogically advanced sail boat concept in mass production today.

Have you ever wind surfed? it can be tricky to learn but the first time you find your self skipping across the bay, suspended half way between water and sky, feeling every puff directly transfering power through the mast to the hull, sense the acceleration and power while you leave any and every "proper" sail boat bobbing in your wake... you might change your mind.

You do have a point that the speed boards lack the versatility of a real sail boat but the race boards and olympic boards ar incredible sailing machines that can point incredibly well and sail to windward of anything buy an Americas cup type yacht, they also have the stability and volume to keep you mostly dry and out of the water, all but your feet and ankles.

I think a wooden strip planked wind surfer might be a fun experiment.

[upchurchmr]

Kynan,

For other reasons I have been thinking about the same thing. Have you seen the Sailrig at clcboats.com?
My idea is basically the smallest hull that will support you. A 16' long, 12-14" wide kayak shape for a main hull, no cockpit, with similar sized outer hulls (that makes this a trimaran), with nets strung between the crossarms to sit on. Centerboard in the center hull, rudder, windsurfer sail free standing (to start). I think I could get by with SOF in the outer hulls, but mast, centerboard, and rudder seem to mean strip planked main hull. All built to the minimum size to carry one (2 if you have to). to make it lighter you would disassemble the hulls from the crossarms, unplug and wrap up the sail, strap the whole lot together. My best fantasy is that this will weight ~80#. Better have your wheel to help carry it. You will have to be a fanatic to get down to that weight.

It would be real easy to have it come out a lot heavier.

This would be the equivalent of a beach cat - very little concession to comfort- and reduced sail area for weight reasons.

Sorry I don't have a drawing, except in my head.

If someone could show how to do the main hull in SOF you might have a better chance.

[robert666]

I don't know the area but assuming its a village or rural area, you could just do what I did when I was about 12 or 13, bang together the cheapest skiff from exterior ply, 2x1'', galvanised nails and roofing tar for around £40-50, cheaper if you can rumage in skips and srounge building site scraps. Just leave them on the beach, no serrious theif would steal something so worthless and its cheap enough to build a new one every 2 or 3 years. When they rot just dig a hole in the sand and set fire to it, the fill the hole back over the ashes when its burned up. You would only have oars, rowlocks and anchor and chain/rope to carry home. it worked for me and I lived a mile from the sea up a steep track. I must have built 6 boats like this for myself and friends with basic free plans, before I built my dory with epoxy and marine ply for £350. After three years of hard use and being left on the beach/on an outhaul mooring all she needs is a fresh coat of paint.

Robert

[Woody Jones]

Designed by Bruce Taylor a forum contributor:

http://www.tdem.co.nz/boat/blackfly.html

Woody

[chrisk]

Check out Selway Fisher's dedicated sailing canoes:

http://www.selway-fisher.com/Sailcanoe.htm

I have always kind of liked the woodland 15. Don't know if that qualifies as "carryable" or not.

On that page it also lists some of the other canoes that have a sailing option that might be lighter weight.

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

There's the inflatable catamaran thingy - Catapult.
http://www.catapultcats.com/Gear.htm

Quick and only slighty mad.

[BrianY]

Blivit:

http://gaboats.com/boats/blivit13.html

Cricket 12:

http://gaboats.com/boats/cricket12.html

[176inches]

What about a slightly heavier boat you can beach, turn over and leave there for whenever you are ready? You only have to carry it up the path at the end of the season, with the help of a dolly and a friend or two, and launch with the same dolly. With such a steep path, it's unlikely to be stolen.

[kyky]

These geodesic airolite boat's seem pretty appealing. but isn't the kevlar a bit pricey? My own thoughts would have been a shaped coracle of sorts with a sail and dag. made with a rigid ply frame and covered in nylon. using a triangular shape like those of the mini-transat's for stability. maybe about 9-10ft. altogether.

[kyky]

Blivit:

http://gaboats.com/boats/blivit13.html

Cricket 12:

http://gaboats.com/boats/cricket12.html

Gotta say that Blivit 13 looks sweet

[Peter Belenky]

Cape Cod Frosty:





http://www.capecodfrosty.org/index.htm

Phil Bolger's Queen Mab:



http://www.woodenboat.com/wbmag/laun...WS_Entry_id=54



Really small yacht site:


http://web.comhem.se/chby/segling/smallyacht.htm

[Canoez]

These geodesic airolite boat's seem pretty appealing. but isn't the kevlar a bit pricey? My own thoughts would have been a shaped coracle of sorts with a sail and dag. made with a rigid ply frame and covered in nylon. using a triangular shape like those of the mini-transat's for stability. maybe about 9-10ft. altogether.

The Kevalr is used sparingly on one of Platt's Geodesic Airolite boats - it is diagonal bracing between the ribs and stringers. The boat is covered with a heat-shrink Dacron.

[skaraborgcraft]

You could build something like a Michalak Lars boat, and have outriggers for it and maybe a trampoline. It could all fit inside and narrow enough to push down the path on a dolley.

[Sayla]

If you can wheel it much of the way (little trolley wheels), you can get yourself quite the boat to be on the water in, plus you can split it in half for the hard steep track. I met a fellow in Vanuatu who built a 15' Acorn sailing skiff, and put a split in the middle, to bolt together at the middle thwart. It worked well, looked easy, sailed well and was easy for him to lift aboard his cruising yacht, and I'm sure there's easier designs to build. I would think that you don't necessarily need a really small boat on the water just to satisfy a short distance lift. Trolley wheels have a long history for making things very easy, and many designs could be split in two at the middle seat, and are not that uncommon either - I reckon splitting a Goat Island Skiff would be easy, quite light, and that's quite a boat. You would simply need to undo your wing-nuts, do two trips over the steep / narrow bit with the bow and stern sections, put it back together and wheel it home - or is the whole pathway a mountain goat issue? (Another alternative is a pull apart catamaran)

example of split boats

http://www.clcboats.com/shop/boats/w...-boat-kit.html

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgu...%3Disch&itbs=1

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgu...%3Disch&itbs=1

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgu...%3Disch&itbs=1


sayla

[Chris Woodward]

http://www.adirondack-guide-boat.com/sailing-rig.html
Adriondack guide boats can be carried by one man. They originally sailed without leeboards or rudder, being steered by moving the crew back and forward. So you can be a simple or complicated as you want.

Adirondack guideboats were never sailed. I think you are cross referencing guideboats,which are carry boats, with the St. Lawrence skiffs that are sailed by shifting your weight like a windsurfer and are quite a bit heavier.

[Roger Cumming]

Pete Culler designed a little (14 feet) boat with a centerboard that was a wheel and had two handles in the stern like a wheelbarrow. The wheel/centerboard carried most of the weight of the boat. You could throw lifejacket, bailer, water bottle, mast and sail into the boat, wheel her down to the water and leave nothing ashore while sailing. Wheeling her back up the hill would be harder depending on how steep. It's in his book of plans.

[johnw]

The El Toro is a real kick to sail, and the hull only weighs 60 lb. You can carry it down to the beach looking like a very large beetle.



There's also a good class organization.

http://www.eltoroyra.org/

they'll sell you a full set of plans for $30.

[kyky]

This is more along the lines of what I was thinking.

[Daniel Noyes]

not sure how thats more boat than a race sail board... the mast stands up on its own, ok, other wise its wetter, slower and heavier, also likely more complex to build...

but here's something else to consider
http://www.dngoodchild.com/divide_for_sail_boats.htm

[kyky]

not sure how thats more boat than a race sail board... the mast stands up on its own, ok, other wise its wetter, slower and heavier, also likely more complex to build...

but here's something else to consider
http://www.dngoodchild.com/divide_for_sail_boats.htm

Not entirely sure which boat you meant on here..I've looked at roughly...most/all of them. the main problem with these is the massive variation in quality.

[johnw]

This is more along the lines of what I was thinking.

If one person is going to carry it, length will make it more awkward. If it's going to land on a beach, a daggerboard is more awkward than a centerboard.

How much weight are you willing to carry?

[Daniel Noyes]

http://www.dngoodchild.com/5187.htm

Let me try this... yeah I need to narrow it down a bit,

Thats it!... also

http://www.dngoodchild.com/5679.jpg

http://www.dngoodchild.com/5045.htm

http://www.dngoodchild.com/5190.htm