And what do you know ... !

Take a look at this :




Notice the free standing rig. It is very similar to what we were thinking of doing on the F12.

Also check out the video on their homepage

http://www.windkart.com/en/windkart.php?pg=accueil

Check out the other video's at their video page, especially the riders video (click on "video playlist in the bottom right hand corner of the video window)

http://www.windkart.com/en/windkart.php?pg=wkmovie


The boats seems to have good speed (despite it weighting 110 kg = 240 lbs). Figure an F12 at 60 kg !

for its specs scroll down this page

http://www.windkart.com/en/windkart.php?pg=gamme

Length : 3,65 m / 12 ft
Beam : 2,25 m / 7,4 ft
Weight : 110 kg / 242 lb
Draught: 0.59 m /2 ft
Crew : 1 - 2
Boom : 2,50 m
Sail area: from 8,50 m²
Sailing from 3 to 30 knots of wind


The latest version of the F12 had :

Length : 3,70 m / 12.1 ft
Beam : 1.85 m / 6.07 ft
Weight : 60 kg / 132 lb
Draught: 0.50 m /2 ft
Crew : 1 - 2 (max 120 kg)
Boom : 2.00
Sail area: from 7,50 m²

Wouter

Wouter:

Seems like a fun boat. How much US? We are trying yo arrange the of truck SL-16's that US Sailing has to come to our area for a clinic/regatta.

Doug

Don't know. The webpage doesn't tell the asking price.

truck load of Sl16's ! Cool.

Wouter

Saw their assembly time at 20 minutes and thought, huh?

Looks like it's similar to the Hobie 17, the way the crossbars fit into the hulls.

The free standing rig is cool but with the blow cart style helm there would for sure be no use for hiking straps.<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Personally I think the blowkart style **** is a mistake, except when wanting to attact total novices to sailing at resorts. It will add ALOT of weight and make assembling take alot more time.

My main interest in this design was the free standing rig, the looks and the speed this craft still achieves. I see it as a sort of validation conception. Now the F12 must refine the design to a truely outstanding catamaran. In my view this means a normal trampoline setup with two straight beams in combo with a normal rudder setup.

Wouter

With the best will in the World, this idea looks as dumb as dirt to me.

Wouter:

I agree. We need the KISS way of doing it. Make it easy to sail and rig and teach the kids the basics so they can move up as they grow. We must do everything we can to keep getting new blood into the sport.

Doug

This project is still close to my heart, but sadly it is on hold till I have some "play money" to spend on this project. Will probably take another year or two.

I'm still looking at new ways to do this though. And I think the wishbone rig (as a windsurfer) may have the best cards at this time. Mostly because then there will be no need to have a kicking strap or traveller on the boat, this simplifies the design another step. And with a wishbone rig you can keep the sail tensioned all the time and have the battens pop nice and easy during a tack.

Wouter

Cheshire cat : 7900 USD

F12 : 3500 USD (or less)

<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> That is about 4400 reasons to favour one over the other ! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />


But seriously the F12 is fundamentally different from the Cheshire cat both in target group and concept. The F12 has a design requirement to be fully assembled from its basic parts under 10 minutes (5 if I get the trampoline fixture right), with as added requirement that all parts (except readily available ones like small blocks) must be homebuildable as well.

Wouter

I agree, it is in a different category. Nice boat though, I would like a Cheshire for pleasure sailing off Key Largo.