MacGregorSailors.com

I would build fiberglass in between. I would have booms running down the center for Fore/aft stays to hook to. I would lay that boom onto cross bar on the bow and stern. It is very simple for me to do, if people would even care to see it. But my idea would be for it not to come apart and trailer. The top inside caps would be cut off to expose the inside, then build an early lagoon style salon between the 2 hulls.

I would not pursue it further if it were me because the design will not work. Even if you built a structure strong enough to hold the mast it still would be putting too much weight on one hull during a sail. When the boat heels the sail is trying to lift all that weight on the other side and it will bury the hull. Also, to get enough sail into the air to even get 6 knots on such a contraption would be an enormous amount of stress on whatever you attach the mast to - so much stress that the structure would need to be very heavy. The side stays would need to lift that hull out of the water - I also think that a boat made like that would be prone to capsizing with the hulls to close to each other. And if you put the hulls far enough apart to give any real stability the boat will be too short to steer. The waves would always be pushing the nose one way or the other. Cats have asymmetrical hulls so they can steer through the water. The dagger board on the M is also not adequate for such a configuration.

The whole idea is bad - it just would not work.

Your commitment to not see this idea through reminds me of Edison to Tesla

General Electric (Edison) is still in business and Westinghouse (Tesla) is not.

BOAT wrote:General Electric (Edison) is still in business and Westinghouse (Tesla) is not.

Still have 60 Hz AC power to your house? (Tesla)
Or are you one of the old DC holdouts? (Edison)

Not at all, I worked for George Westinghouse for 10 years, I also worked for General Electric for 4 years.

Westinghouse went into atomic power and GE went into turbine engines. Westinghouse failed and GE thrived.

Tesla was real smart and had great ideas but without a practical application and good management of the idea it will fail, as Tesla did for almost all of his life.

Being the smartest guy does not make you the most successful guy - the world is not fair.

That's just the way it is.

Tesla's ideas did not fail, Tesla the businessman did. I consider the ongoing use of 60 Hz Ac power (in this country), electric motors, and radio proof of the fact his ideas were some of most successful and ongoing in modern history. Also, consider that Tesla's as a failure is judging by your standards, not his. He was interested in discovery and demonstration of new ideas, never showed much interest in maintaining a production line or business operation. He spent most of his time impressing people to sponsor his research and appreciate his ideas (supplying electric power for the first time at the World's fair is still impressive - to me at least).
P.S. - George Westinghouse was one of his financial backers, failure of Westinghouse is not a failure of Tesla.

In case you haven't noticed, I am kind of a Tesla fan.

Now, what was this thread about

It's about the boat in the pictures that Tesla designed that will not work

Poor fellow..., I guess I will call this one "Tesla"
It has 78" from floor to roof

Better keep that one on a lake - it looks like an accident waiting to happen.

Nicely done CP! Now consider removing the single mast and placing parallel masts / sails at the original mast locations on each hull.

I can modify it any way you guys like as long as it fits the idea of a catamaran

Love the cat model! But it occurred to me that you could cut the cat into two separate parts, with a chain-saw (can't see the points of attachment here, but they couldn't be all that sturdy--fiberglass, or aluminum tubing at best) and it almost looks like you could obtain two separate Macs! That would be so great.

Of course, you will need to get an extra mast and rigging, but that shouldn't be a problem