A couple days ago I got an email from Benjamain in Germany who is interested in building a small adventure catamaran, and wanted to know what I thought of the idea. I was immediately captivated by the drawings he sent me and asked if I could share them. Based on my own experience, I have a feeling that there would be no way to execute something like this inside of the weight and complexity limits that he would find acceptable, but I told him I would put it out on social media for comment. Here’s the email he sent me, what do you think?
“I would like to know your thoughts on a sailing, rowing, paddling catamaran that I want to build:
It should be light enough to tow with a bicycle, yet rigid enough
that you can sail it at speed.
Each hull has a wooden keel, a cloth skin, inflated (and that’s the
clever bit) with an airtight tube like a kite. The beams should be variable in length so that you can have a narrow craft for rowing or paddeling, or a wider one for sailing and camping on
the water. Have a look at my drawings. Do you think it can be done?”
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See the original post and discussion here.
