Hey guys,

I wanted to say that I am addicted to my Hobie Cat, but the hull is going through some major delamination, and I feel like it will only be good for a couple more years. Its rather outdated, but I got my money's worth out of it.

I would really like to build my own 18-20 foot catamaran out of wood. I think it would look really cool in a clear coat, and be a little different. I was reading that the tornado class was created so that designers could make them at home. Anyways, I was wondering if there was any place that I could buy the blueprints/ specifications for cutting out the hull shapes. I know that thebeachcats.com has plans for them, but they look more thorough on instructions and not so much on the actual measurements. Apparently, the Guegon brothers and tornado.org have plans, but I can find no URL to find it.

Any help would be appreciated.

nothing specifically on the Tornado but The Gougeon Brothers are West System;

http://www.westsystem.com/

Click on projects and then boat construction...cool information inside.

There are folks here who can probably give you an answer on this. However another thought occurs... I don't know whether a timber Tornado would now be competitive within the class, so if you're more interested in creating something a little different and perhaps with a more modern hull shape, I seem to recall that Phill Brander, the designer of the Blade F16, at one point was talking about a 20ft design. He has produced plans for the Blade 16 in timber so perhaps would be interested in doing so for a 20 ft boat, or there is also the Blade F18 design. Phill is a regular here so perhaps he'll chime in.

Sweet. Sounds pretty cool. I like the wave piercing bows on the blade. I was completely unaware of plans for the blade. Are there any polar comparisons for a contemporary tornado vs. blade. Speed is good. Does wood vs composite really affect speed beyond an increase in weight?

and you would need a tilt trailer for a tornado

I would suspect the Tornado association could have plans.. Go to their website.. Email them as Im sure the plans would be on paper (still) and each set would have a license fee.. Hence them not being "freely available" on the website..

My heads up comments:
I recall the earliest wooden Tornados had no bulkhead structure under the main beam.. This meant after a few seasons the main beam and keel started to become one.. So look at the plans and re-engineer if this is the case.. Secondly the original plans also needed engineering in the bow sections. The bows tended to flex quite a lot even with the old rig. I suspect the forces have increased with the new rig. So look at that before building as well..

Now these two areas could well have been sorted on the plans but I dont know..

hope this helps..

Stewart

So if I go with the blade, I wouldn't be loosing much performance in epoxy covered ply?

And how through are the plans?

check out the boat building part of the forum, a couple guys are in the process and describing it there

if the engineering is sound.. and flex is controlled your hull should be as quick as any composite..
The example is the Tiapans wood vs composite shows old wood hulls are still winning major titles even after a few decades..

The plans on thebeachcats is all you need, including the measurements for cutting all panels.
Gougeon bros. stopped building tornados a long time ago and I dont think they distribute/sell plans anymore. At the time they built the best Tornado available, but it was done in cold moulded veneers with an inside supporting structure. They sould their Tornado business to Jerry Houlton who continued for some time. Jerry Houlton was the same person who collected the information from many sources which is now on thebeachcats. He started out building in plywood, continued with cold moulding but Marstrøms boats got a reputation for being faster in chop so eventually Marstrøm became the sole builder. Note that the glass boats Marstrøm built in the beginning was no better than wooden boats as far as I know, but the sailors went for his boats after a while. A 1987 or later Marstrøm is built with pre-pregs and autoclaved and is structurally probably better than a wooden boat. Not neccesarily faster..
You can buy plans directly from ISAF in the UK, but the plans on thebeachcats are better in my opinion. ISAF sells the originals, but the amassed experiences collected in the plans on thebeachcats make them much better.

A wood Tornado can do well at national events, but sadly the Tornado class is very, very, small at that level. It is not the boat which is fast but the sailors, you know <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
I sailed in the Tornado class for several years, but sold the boat last year. Now we are building F16 Blades..

Before you decide on any model, you need to decide on what you want to do. Sail or build a boat for several months? Pretty much the only reason to build yourself is to enjoy the process. Unless you have built before and have lots of connections you will not save money, and you will definately spend a lot of time on it, doing lots of mistakes. If you just want something different to sail, buying something used is the way to go. If you want a clear coated Tornado, you can find them around for a song from time to time. At the time, you could not give away wooden tornados. But these days I see some announced for ridicilous sums.

Before getting lost in dreams about clear coated wood, think through why you want to build and see if you have the right motivation. If "money" and "looks" are on top of the list, I would advice you to buy something instead.
If you decide to go through "the process", you can get a lot of tips on models, sourcing parts, how to do it and support in the builders forum.

Rolf and Gato both have great websites with photos of progress on their Blades -

http://woodastic.blogspot.com/
http://www.gust.ax/gallery/blade/

and Tony Jenkins recently posted some photos of his project.

http://www.catsailor.com/forums/sho...amp;amp;an=0&page=0&vc=1

Dont forget the Blade 16 Valtteri documented building on his Blog: http://www.rahkonen.fi/blog/

I definately recommend building in ply for the first couple of boats and not go for strip planking or composite. I dont know any available building plans for strip planking or composite beachcat construction, just ply. But the building method is not what is important, the motivation, available time, building shed and budget is whats most important.

Cool, I don't remember seeing that before. Which probably has something to do with age.

Thanks for the material. I'm pretty interested in making a blade. I will definitely have access to good old hardware, but what does the rigging run for? I figure that I am moving out in three years so I figure that would be a good end goal. Is there a price catalog or something?

I know of a nearly new 80s Houlten T here in Spokane that's been sitting in the rafters since it was stored 20 years ago. I think it was sailed one season and then carefully put away.

Dave 509 276 6355

True enough to think about. I did pretty well in Miami Key Largo (3rd in class, 11th over the finish) and corrected out in front of a Tornado Sport with a more than highly skilled crew. The best part was that I was just happy toi have finished the race with no break downs, and no blood spilled. There are however more hard parts on the boat than I remember from my competetive days int he late 80s-early 90's.

I think that I still have plans and templates for a tornado kicking around. I will look tonight and let you know. My tornado took 6 months to complete with building 1-2 days a week. I know that Tornado racing in this country has diminished over the years and you can find some older T's out there for sale. I do not for a minute regret building one and it is still my favorite platform to sail. the big down side to Tornados is the transportation issue. If you have a place to keep it rigged then it is not an issue.

I have a nice beach about a 10th of a mile from my GF house. The community has no problem with beached cats... there are 5 hobies including my dieing one.

You gotta come up to Gulfport!

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