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Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: ] #182535
06/21/09 11:13 PM
06/21/09 11:13 PM
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 678
Palm Beach County
TheManShed Offline
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Posts: 678
Palm Beach County
Doug,

That is the design to be sailed from the ****. Original design was for the Worrell 1000 when it was an open class all out non stop race.

I'm taking it one step further. We are adding 4 inches of freeboard to the ama's so they will be around 22" tall max and 13" beam max. I'm thinking about rigging it so it can be sailed both from the **** and from the windward side, at least get the crew on the wire. Once the prototype is done and raced some I'll see what I'll do next, modify or make a mold. My plan is to go into limited production. I have not figured out the cost yet. The prototype cost just went up when I went from an aluminum mast to carbon fiber and the hulls from E-glass to carbon fiber, but that is half the fun.

I don't want to stomp on this posting so I'm going to do an update on the TMS-20.


Mike Shappell
www.themanshed.com
TMS-20 Builder
G-Cat 5.7 - Current Boat
NACRA 5.2 - early 70's

-- Have You Seen This? --
Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: TheManShed] #183158
06/26/09 08:34 AM
06/26/09 08:34 AM
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 2
E
ericmgt Offline
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ericmgt  Offline
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E

Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 2
hi everyone, my first post here!

I've been looking for a new boat for a while now ..... I'm getting to be too much of a codger for the laser after 30 years sailing that fine little dinghy.

thought I might go to a H16, but I want to be able to sail single handed, and trailer the new boat as well. There are no drysailing facilities for dinghys here in Comox, on Vancouver Island. the Weta looks like just the ticket.

Does anyone know the best setup for trailering for the Weta? Too bad the included beach dolly isn't a road legal trailer!! Would be a lot easier in my opinion.

Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: ericmgt] #183163
06/26/09 09:00 AM
06/26/09 09:00 AM
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,224
Roanoke Island ,N.C.
Team_Cat_Fever Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Team_Cat_Fever  Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,224
Roanoke Island ,N.C.
Hey Eric,
Check here: http://www.norbanks.com/ If you call ask for Jon. I believe the dolly integrates( sits on top of the trailer with the boat on the dolly as it should be) with the trailer that he sells, so it's almost like a road legal dolly.
You'd need to ask him for sure.
Todd


"I said, now, I said ,pay attention boy!"

The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea
Isak Dinesen
If a man is to be obsessed by something.... I suppose a boat is as good as anything... perhaps a bit better than most.
E. B. White
Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: Team_Cat_Fever] #183204
06/26/09 11:44 AM
06/26/09 11:44 AM
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 1,200
Vancouver, BC
Tornado Offline
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Tornado  Offline
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Vancouver, BC
I believe any locally available small utility trailer can be adapted to take the Weta & dolly. Saves having to ship the trailer with the boat from the dealer.



Mike Dobbs
Tornado CAN 99 "Full Tilt"
Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: Tornado] #183260
06/26/09 07:58 PM
06/26/09 07:58 PM
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 531
Lake Murray SC
FasterDamnit Offline
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Posts: 531
Lake Murray SC
Originally Posted by Tornado
I believe any locally available small utility trailer can be adapted to take the Weta & dolly. Saves having to ship the trailer with the boat from the dealer.



That is exactly what I did with my Antrim Wing Dinghy. It only came with ply/glass dolly. I picked up a Northern tool small utility trailer, took the casters off the dolly, and bolted it down. Light and very easy to do at a nice price.


Race cheap, race faster, Damnit!

E-Scow
24' ULDB

18HT hulls plus Gcat 5.7 rig = 18GT!
Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: FasterDamnit] #183315
06/27/09 07:38 PM
06/27/09 07:38 PM
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 2
E
ericmgt Offline
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ericmgt  Offline
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Posts: 2
thanks for the replies regarding the trailer,
will be checking it out.

Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: ericmgt] #192496
10/02/09 02:09 AM
10/02/09 02:09 AM
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 757
japan
erice Offline
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erice  Offline
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 757
japan
just brought the 1st two wetas into japan, will keep the resort version with dacron sail and roller furling jib in tokyo, as a demo, and have brought the standard version with mylar sails up here in the mountains to be sailed on our local lake

was out the other day and trying to use the gennaker as a super genoa?, as the swiss do on those light air lakes. very nice in light air to get the jib nicely shaped to to the main and then pull the big gennaker around the whole lot and bring it as far back and close to the rear of the boat as possible

even found a convenient cleat on the hull back there to hold it!

and then, just like on those swiss mountain lakes, while i had my head in the boat a big gust came swooping in, grabbed the genny, stuck the ama bow and proder in and then started lifting the stern, fortunately slowly enough that i had time to climb to the highest part of the boat and lever the whole lot back flat again

quickly pulled in the wildly flapping genny with 1 hand and lay across the back of the windward tramp with feet on the hull leeward hull inner and we were off blasting through a channel between island and shore

my 1st spinnaker? boat so i was steering around to find the best point of sail for speed and was pleasantly surprised to find that planning downwind on a skiff-like hull meant i could pretty much go where i liked

so that's what i did and 2 wake boarding boats coming out of the channel were concerned enough about my speed and directions that they both went WELL wide of me

i didn't look that much out of control i hope

around the other side of the island and the white caps were still forming so it was back upwind with just the mylar main and jib. spent a little too much time in the main hull during 1 tack and must have rounded around to a broad reach as suddenly the leeward ama was a full foot underwater!

fortunately the weta beams are like arms in a press up positions so there wasn't a huge amount of drag and i had plenty of time to steer back up to close hauled and scamper back up the tramp and find a seat just behind the stay

from there you are actually further out than if you were on trapeze from the hull

back up to the head of the lake while the wind was still good and then my first long crazy drag downwind under spin

all in all a great learning day and i think future owners of bigger tri's like the multi23, farriers and cosairs wcouldn't go wrong by spending some time building confidence and skills on these baby tri's before splashing out on the bigger sisters. certainly it was less intimidating that soloing my slightly faster but almost twice as heavy nacra 5.2 in similar conditions

found a july2009 video of a guy blasting through auckland harbour on his weta, every now and then you see the plumb amas doing some wave piercing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxSK1-8Ik0Y

anyone know of a weta dedicated owners group or forum yet?

Last edited by erice; 10/02/09 03:52 AM.

eric e
1982 nacra 5.2 - 2158
2009 weta tri - 294
Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: erice] #192508
10/02/09 07:59 AM
10/02/09 07:59 AM

A
andrewscott
Unregistered
andrewscott
Unregistered
A



Nice write up... glad you enjoyed the ride. We have a couple here and they look amazingly fun in 30knots (and less i must admit)

I guess you can count that as your first spin run,... but there is still a big difference using a monster asymmetrical beast...

Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: erice] #192763
10/06/09 11:17 AM
10/06/09 11:17 AM
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 1,200
Vancouver, BC
Tornado Offline
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Tornado  Offline
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Posts: 1,200
Vancouver, BC
There is a Weta forum over on Yahoo Groups.

I took my first extended ride on one a couple of weeks back with owner on board (at my insistance!).

My impressions...great little craft. Took me quite some time to adjust my steering response coming off the Tornado. The Weta felt quite sensitive on the helm...more like I would expect a small dinghy/laser to steer like. The T tracks well and while the helm only needs fingertip control and is well balanced, I found myself constantly over steering the Weta. Boat would turn up/down so freely compared to the T. This made finding & staying in the fast groove quite challenging.

I found the gennaker sheet loading to be quite high with only the one auto-ratchet block setup. This made hand holding for more than a few minutes at a time quite difficult. Loading on the hand seemed higher than we get on the tornado in similar breezes (we run two ratchets...one auto load sensing, one manually switched...per side in 10+ knots). I would definitely look at adding a second ratchet on the weta setup (might violate the class rules though...could lobby the class for this option).

We saw a best speed on the gps of low 12 knots. Not bad for 10 kts wind and two big guys on board.

Mike.

Last edited by Tornado; 10/06/09 11:25 AM.

Mike Dobbs
Tornado CAN 99 "Full Tilt"
Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: Tornado] #192795
10/06/09 04:15 PM
10/06/09 04:15 PM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,383
Kingston SE South Australia
JeffS Offline
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JeffS  Offline
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Posts: 1,383
Kingston SE South Australia
Thank's for that info, our club has just purchased its first one to run off the beach sailing for the disabled correctly titled "Sailability" and I'm the rescue boat driver for that. What are your thoughts regarding righting and returning people to the Weta?


Jeff Southall
Current boats
Nacra 5.8 1703 Animal Scanning Services
Nacra 5.8 1667 Ram Raider
Nacra 18 Square
Arrow 1576
Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: JeffS] #192798
10/06/09 04:30 PM
10/06/09 04:30 PM
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 70
Outer Banks, NC
OBXCC Offline
journeyman
OBXCC  Offline
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 70
Outer Banks, NC
The boat is hard to flip, but it is possible. If you just go main and jib, it would be almost impossible to flip without really high winds and waves The process for righting is to flood one ama and that flips the boat on its side and you then right it using the centerboard. Upon righting, all but about a gallon of water will drain out of the ama. Or you can just take off sailing and it will drain. Getting back on from the water is pretty easy. There is a You Tube video of the boat going turtle and getting righted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6S7o5nHiKU

Last edited by OBXCC; 10/06/09 04:31 PM.
Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: JeffS] #192799
10/06/09 04:45 PM
10/06/09 04:45 PM
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 1,200
Vancouver, BC
Tornado Offline
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Tornado  Offline
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Posts: 1,200
Vancouver, BC
Originally Posted by JeffS
Thank's for that info, our club has just purchased its first one to run off the beach sailing for the disabled correctly titled "Sailability" and I'm the rescue boat driver for that. What are your thoughts regarding righting and returning people to the Weta?


Have not pitchpoled with a Weta...but have seen the videos of the righting procedure. Might want to add a keeper system to the ama hatch covers (we use a big sponge tied by a thin line to a small "vent" hole in the cover on the T...the sponger can't just fall out of the opening when the hatch is off...keeps the covers from departing). Anyone thought of self-bailers liek some dinghys use for the Ama's?



Mike Dobbs
Tornado CAN 99 "Full Tilt"
Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: Tornado] #192808
10/06/09 06:34 PM
10/06/09 06:34 PM
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 70
Outer Banks, NC
OBXCC Offline
journeyman
OBXCC  Offline
journeyman

Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 70
Outer Banks, NC
The new boats have a ama hatch safety cord to the inside. It works well. Good idea on the self bailers. One Weta owner who flipped in SF Bay, righted it, lost his ama hatch cover and sailed the rest of the day without it. He had to hustle at the lift, but he had a great day sailing!!

cleating a screacher: a no-no [Re: erice] #200562
01/15/10 06:26 PM
01/15/10 06:26 PM
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 13
Albuquerque, NM
kindofblue Offline
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Posts: 13
Albuquerque, NM
Erice,
One sure way to pitchpole or capsize any multihull is to cleat a big off wind sail. Even using a continuous sheet on a sail like that is risky.

Originally Posted by erice
was out the other day and trying to use the gennaker as a super genoa?, as the swiss do on those light air lakes. very nice in light air to get the jib nicely shaped to to the main and then pull the big gennaker around the whole lot and bring it as far back and close to the rear of the boat as possible

even found a convenient cleat on the hull back there to hold it!


Warmest regards,

Doc Reid
www.drinkerscheckup.com
Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: OBXCC] #200565
01/15/10 09:09 PM
01/15/10 09:09 PM
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 47
J
jpayers Offline
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jpayers  Offline
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J

Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 47
Noticed that there were several Wetas signed up for the Everglades Challenge. If this little boat makes it in this race I will give it some respect.

By the way OBX dudes any chance of a Weta being races in your own backyard in the North Carolina Challenge. Can oars be attached.


See ya on the Water

J.P Ayers
Isotope 186

Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: jpayers] #200585
01/16/10 08:28 AM
01/16/10 08:28 AM
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 70
Outer Banks, NC
OBXCC Offline
journeyman
OBXCC  Offline
journeyman

Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 70
Outer Banks, NC
I think the Weta would be a great boat for the challenges! I plan on doing it in the future. You could figure out a way to do oars, but I think the boat could be paddled easily. Where did you see the registration list? I would like to contact the sailors doing it and offer some support. I spoke with someone last month who was considering doing it.

Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: OBXCC] #200622
01/16/10 09:27 PM
01/16/10 09:27 PM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,383
Kingston SE South Australia
JeffS Offline
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JeffS  Offline
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Posts: 1,383
Kingston SE South Australia
I've spent the last two weeks doing sail training for disabled people and having a blast on my own on the Weta when the wind comes up. Paddling would be no problem each of you would sit on the opposite front ama support with feet on the ama.


Jeff Southall
Current boats
Nacra 5.8 1703 Animal Scanning Services
Nacra 5.8 1667 Ram Raider
Nacra 18 Square
Arrow 1576
Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: JeffS] #201239
01/25/10 03:43 PM
01/25/10 03:43 PM
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 3
A
acat Offline
stranger
acat  Offline
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A

Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 3
Had a good look at '08 WETA. Boat was lightly used, stored indoors. Some build observations have me concerned. There is no mast shoe or base to protect what is a bare carbon tube. Abrasion was quite noticeable. Mast step was top deck mounted, had no direct support structure below though laminate was thicker in this area, perhaps concealing a plate, no compression cracks were evident. Mainhull was stiff in the tankwall areas and bow, otherwise soft from **** forward at sidewalls. Layup appearance was quite fair. Floats had appearance of poorer lay-up, appeared wavy when sighted down the sides. This may be build quality not necessarily compression, however there was minor delamination or topside surface compression cracking forward of forward vertical support post on starboard. Floats appeared sound at the mating surfaces. The mainhull's internal amas mount sockets appear to be bare carbon tube, a difficult fix, should wear or leaks develop. Mast sections with external trac appeared high quality, sleeved "carbon on carbon", again a potential repair area. Foils and hardware appeared well done, not all thru-hull hardware had backups. Sails, battens, and stitching looked well made, boltrope showed excessive wear, typical of Mylar sails. Overall, I'd like to see a newer build for comparison. There were enough potential problem areas to give me pause. I realize low volume and cost effectiveness go "hand n' hand", but believe there is room here for mfg. improvements, guaranteeing a robust product for initial and potential second hand owners.

Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: acat] #201248
01/25/10 04:41 PM
01/25/10 04:41 PM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,383
Kingston SE South Australia
JeffS Offline
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JeffS  Offline
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,383
Kingston SE South Australia
G'day acat this was my reply to someone who asked my opinion on another forum. I'm also concerned about the mast foot, it doesn't wear once its on but each time it's put up a little bit more wears away.

"Baz I've taken the Weta out 5 days now in our learn to sail program, probably sailed it for 15 hours. In about 8kt, had to work hard to get some fun and wasn't that impressed. Took two disabled people out for a sail and they loved it. One had never sailed before and took the tiller after 10 minutes. You can do a 360 turn staying on the wrong side without tipping with the genoa up in 12 kt. I took it out in 15-18kt on my own and enjoyed it for what it is, I got the ama and more than half the tramp under water with the nose starting to dig in and it still pushed along fine but you need all 3 sails up and to be solo to get it going. It's perfect for disabled sailing, would be great for a nervy newby family boat or somewhere really windy. The boat is well made but the block set up is fiddly little blocks, the downhaul requires 2 hands, the gennaker and jib halyard cant be tightened on the water when the gennaker comes a bit loose even under load it wont unfurl the gennaker. The tramp has stupid blocks to tighten it. If you want one get it with no blocks on it and put on cat type fittings like swivelling camcleats for the downhaul and halyards not 505 dinghy stuff."
regards Jeff



Jeff Southall
Current boats
Nacra 5.8 1703 Animal Scanning Services
Nacra 5.8 1667 Ram Raider
Nacra 18 Square
Arrow 1576
Re: WETA trimaran - pretty cool boat [Re: JeffS] #201257
01/25/10 05:11 PM
01/25/10 05:11 PM
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 757
japan
erice Offline
old hand
erice  Offline
old hand

Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 757
japan
the mast base WAS just a bare carbon tube on the earlier boats but there now seems to be a black nylon plug in the mast base there, also nylon plugs on the prodder tube where before there were none

also new are large hatches on the bulkhead just behind the mast. inside you can see that the deck area directly under the mast base is supported by thick honeycomb bulkhead

the amas are a solid glass layup,the hull has a thick honeycomb core and the deck a thinner foam core

the tramp lacing material has recently been upgraded from a slightly stretchy line to a amsteel type line, so less mucking about with the tramp tightening blocks is needed after setup

downhaul, at least on mine, is operable with 1 hand from either side of the mast

performance/thrills wise my weta is no match for my nacra 5.2, but then very few boats are...

however it packs a very big punch for a 14' that has the space and the power to sail 1, 2 or 3 up and i find it a more maneuverable, smaller, more relaxing sail than the nacra

bonus that it packs away and trailers so well too







eric e
1982 nacra 5.2 - 2158
2009 weta tri - 294
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