supersize a Tornado

Anyone ever expanded a tornado to 30 feet? Maybe with 6mm ply? Any takers? Thanks

what would the design objective be?

If you're going with increased length/beam, what plans do you have for the rig?

It may be easier to modify a Stiletto hull rather than build a whole new 30 tornado design?

I like the building technique that is stressed ply. I have enough of the plans to do. Would go to 20 foot beam. Try to build as light as possible. I would use only inland and maybe coastal. Build with fold up for trailoring. I have figured out that I could soak the ply in the lake, then bend to shape, first wire and tape keel,then soak. I believe this could be a very fast build( if there is such a thing in boat building). I have built a Yare clc kayak from Severn plans. I have also started a few multihull projects up to 30 foot in the usual ply on frame. I also like the idea that the Tornado is still a fast boat even by today standards which is quite a testiment to the design. So I am looking to have some fun. As far as rig, maybe a biplane, 2 -30 foot light masts for a total of around 400ft2 for the mains. Single handed and/or with friends.BTW I think the Stiletto beam is insufficient for 27 foot. I had a Supercat 19 at 8 foot beam and it was very touchy. Then I sailed 20 foot SC and what a differnce the wider beam was. I am looking to build as Spartan as possible with the least amount of materials to keep costs and weight lower.Thanks for reading.
.PS I forgot to say that this would be a newbuild.

With regard to the beams, I suggest that you play with the idea of making them yourself.

I've made superstrong beams for my 15 ft homebuilt epoxy sea-cat. I laminated them also fixed to the hulls, which is the most weight saving way. If you are interested I can show you a photo of the build up of these beams. They are made of wooden hollow core and a very strong carbon skin. No dolphin striker was needed, they are 2.60 meter.

I would like to see the pictures of your beams. Did you use any calculations to figure the dimensions or just wing it? I am going much bigger, over 6 meters(actually 20 feet) so things get more complicated, but I would like to make wood composite beams.Thanks for your reply.

Hi Bob,

It's now middle of the night, so I have to wait till the morning for taking the pics. (My wife was already growling).

Yes I tried to make some static calculations but things went very complicated because of the diamond section shape which I had in mind. That section shape was a must for me because I'm used to sail fullspeed from the water on the beach. A nasty habit of a solo sailor.

I first glued the inner HOLLOW wooden core from redcedar planks (special sawn with the grain longitudinal, don't know the english expression). Planks of about 1.7 cm thick. Then rounded the corners a bit off before start laminating the core with layers of carbon and expoxy.

Used square woven and one-directional carbon. The one-directional layers were always packed between the square woven ones. The numbers of layers was a bit of a gamble. After I stopped and let the whole thing cure, I tested the beam by placing it on 2 telefonebooks on each side and jumping with my full weight in the middle.
The goal was no swing-movement in the beam what so ever.

I had to repeat this procedure another 2 times. (Ofcourse sanding up the beamlaminate very carefully before the next layers!). Ended up with total beamweight of 10 kg. each.

So it was a sort of trial and error method which IMO is also usefull for your 20 feet beams.

The pics will follow soon.

So, you can supersize this construction for your 20 feet beam, Bob



P.S. This diamond shape also helps to eliminate torsion forces on the beam; so I didn't have to laminate carbon layers under 45 degrees.

P.P.S. I use this cat and the beams already 8 years in harsh circumstances.

Thanks a lot for the pictures, they are very helpful. I will add them to the files I have growing and certainly use the info somehow, thanks again.

You should definitely check out the other thread on this site: Farrier F-boats

Phill has a thread F-85SR in there where he detailed his home build of a 32' trimaran. Great craftsmanship and lots of photos

Jay,
The pics of my build are all gone. They didn't survive this forums move to a new server.

sad to hear that, but the details (even if in text form) are worth the time to read... I learned a lot even though I have no intention of ever taking on a project of that complexity. Gelcoat repairs and some minor glasswork are the limit of my rudimentary skills.

But your thoughts on foam core construction around complex joints/curves was really insightful.

Jake's site documenting his infusion molding techniques was instructive too..

So I'm glad to see that at least some of that wealth of knowledge was preserved here..

Jay,
Thank you very much for such a compliment.
I still have all the pics but they are mixed in with thousand of pics that I have taken during the build.
I will eventually go through them all and write a little book detailing the build from start to finish. I'll keep this in case I'm ever forced to sell and it will go with the boat The biggest problem in buying a boat that has not been built in production by a company like Corsair is confidence in how it was built. The book should help them make an informed decision and have a reference for any mods they may want to make following their purchase. I'm not thinking of selling yet but I should get started on the book once the few things I'm doing on the inside are finished. More fun than watching "the idiot box" during our cold winter evenings.

I'm sure that book will become quite the reference Tome.

I guess it's good you're cabin-locked for the winter to focus on your writing. I'm spending this harsh winter racing my F242 around the bouys here in the sub-tropics