RxMarine
Mad for Kayak Sailing
Other Boaty Projects
The RX1 - A simple, skiff style, sit down windsurfery thing!
Here is a little project I dreamed up after making the Pink Onion 2 - I decided to use one of the hulls from the Pink onion 2 and make a skiff type sailing machine. The design brief I set myself was as follows:
- The ability to easily transport the Rx1 on a car roof rack
- To go from car roof rack to ready to sail within 15 minutes
- To be able to use any standard windsurfer rig.
- To pack up neatly for easy storage
- The Rx1 must provide an exhilarating sail
Other notes on the design
The Rx1 is not designed to go round a course fast, it will probably
generate too much leeway to be good at this, but that is not the point
of the design
Call it a dinghy with amas or a trimaran, I don't mind, I am not into
labels, if it fits my design brief I will have succeeded
Why Rx? Simple, I sail on the River Exe in Devon
Anyway as a picture is worth a thousand words here are a couple of images:
Click on the images to enlarge:
My fourth Catamaran Project - The Pink Onion 2
I don't think the concept of small planing catamarans has been fully exploited and I have always been fascinated by the idea of a small car toppable, quick to assemble screecher of a cat.
So I decided to build one myself, here are a couple of pics of a planing Catamaran I built using an 8 metre Windsurf rig and manufacturing two hulls out of closed cell foam. Frame work is made from box section Aluminium that slots together. The whole this is car toppable and fairly quick to assemble
It flew off the wind! (But rubbish at going into wind (read - it couldn't go into wind))
I could have added skegs or a single dagger board to sort out the lack of windward performance however my mind was already wandering to another concept, a skiff style windsurfer sailing machine with hiking racks thingy.... I'll tell the story soon :)
The Pink Onion Mark 2:
