Class C sailing Canoe Designs

[chrisk]

After the New Year I'd like try and build a canoe that I can use to meet the Class C sailing Canoe specs.
As I understand the specs:

Symmetric hull
Max Length under ~18.5 feet
Min Beam 33 inches
Min 4" wl Beam 88% (presumably of above beam)
Max keel depth ~1.5"
Gunwales 4" max
Max Decking 2/3 LOA (I would like a deck)

While I have run across some plans that seem to meet the dimensions I don't know if any of them are necessarily good for sailing with a 5 sq mtr (~55 sq ft) sail.

Any recommendations on hulls that qualify and sail well will be appreciated.

[Todd Bradshaw]

As far as I know, Class C boats have historically been pretty "normal" canoes and not something designed for sailboat racing. The last hull that I remember being a hot competitor in the class was a V-bottomed, Royalex Mad River touring canoe in the 17'-17.5' range. I believe the model may have been called the "Northwoods", but don't remember for sure. The boat hasn't been in production for quite some time. As a paddling canoe it was typical of most Royalex boats - not particularly fast, pretty stable, fairly beamy with reasonable capacity and decent, though not unusual, maneuverability. A good boat, but nothing exceptional. I test paddled them, but never sailed one. Whether it's success in the C class was due to it's particular blend of buoyancy, maneuverability and speed or simply because a couple people won races in them and others decided to try the same hull, I don't know.

In general, I'd look for a boat that isn't too far off the scale in any direction. You don't want a slalom hull, but you also don't want something that tracks like it's on rails. You can probably use some volume in the ends and I doubt you'll gain much from trying to go with the minimum beam. Sometimes a couple more inches of beam can allow you to use more of the puffs, rather than having to ease the sail and bleed off wind pressure to stay upright.

Back in the good old days, a few companies offered Class C rigs as high performance alternatives to their lateen rigs. Here is a picture from a 1970 Old Town catalog showing a 17' Molitor wood and canvas model rigged with their Class C package. At that time, the boat sold for $585 and the complete rig was $325. If I ever invent a time machine, I hope it can carry a few boats back.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid37/p6fd947f74a9a3f85126a920653c584df/fd1c48f1.jpg

[chrisk]

I was lo0king at the "Canoe Craft" book and the Prospector, Hiawatha and Redbird seem to have adequate dimensions to meet the specs. But the Prospector has a lot of rocker which may not be good for sailing. The Hiawatha seems a bit on the short side at 15'. The Redbird has the "strong" curved bow and stern "harvestor" look that might look rather odd if I put a deck on the front and back 1/3. The Macgregor, from Wooden Boat, can be stretched out to 17', but it's only 31" wide and I am not sure there is enough freeboard there. I am willing to try my hand at strip building, lapstrake ply, cold molded or stutch & glue.

Ideally, I am looking for something like the picture at:

http://www.enter.net/~skimmer

It claims to have a 5 meter rig, maybe I have falsely assumed it's a class C sailing canoe. I
have the plans for Selway-Fisher's JC10, which has a 5 meter sail, but is assymetrical, although
with the sliding seat it looks like fun.

But, I would be willing to take a "standard" canoe design that meets the specs and put an appropriate sailing rig on it. I just don't know what exactly to look for to maximize the sailing over paddling.

[Todd Bradshaw]

Rocker isn't at all bad for sailing canoes, and can make a boat that tacks faster and easier than something with plumb stems and a level keel line. Getting enough power to move a canoe's long, light hull through the water is seldom a problem, but getting it to turn smartly through the eye of the wind can be. A certain amount of rocker will help there. If I had to pick a couple boats from the Bear Mountain selection to convert for sailing, I'd probably look at the Nomad and Redbird. They're a good size (length, depth and beam) and have reasonable fullness to handle chop. I've designed sail rigs and built sails for a couple customers with Redbirds and as far as I know they worked fine. Whether they're faster or better all around sailing canoes than other designs is hard to say.

Another one that my gut tells me might be a good sailing canoe is Hazen's 17'x 34" Micmac. Of all the general purpose canoes I've ever paddled, it's one of the fastest and at the same time, one of the most manueverable, which is rare on a fast boat. It's basically symmetrical and has a fair amount of rocker, but it is not the kind where the curve of the keel line gets steeper as you near the ends of the boat. The rocker is nearly a straight line from the center to the raised ends of the keel. I'm convinced that it is what makes it a fast boat that still turns easily.

Since canoes are usually designed to be used flat and level on the water, but when converted to sailing almost never are (and may indeed be heeled pretty far over) picking a paddling hull for a sailing canoe can be a bit of a guess, but those are my hunches and the designs that I would seriously consider if I was planning to build a sailing canoe based on a stock paddling hull.

The best examples of traditionally shaped boats with high ends and sweeping gunwales (like the Redbird) which also had very long areas of decking are called courting canoes. The decking would be a fair amount of work, but with a nice strip layout it could really look spectacular. You can see a couple pictures of a courting canoe at Kevin Martin's site"
http://kevinmartin.wcha.org/courting.html

[Meerkat]

There is an interesting article at http://www.selway-fisher.com/Choosing%20an%20Open%20canoe.htm on canoe design variables and trade offs for rowing/sailing etc.

[cherokee]

i agree with todd that minimizing beam has drawbacks in sailing canoes. personally i prefer a more powerful sail and hull form - but if your racing you have to consider your venue(s). i have a strip built thurlow 'atkinson traveler' with a 50'lateen rig that moves nice.(17'-5"x35") i'm adding a hiking frame and going up in s.a. a bit for next year just for fun. another sailing canoe i'd love to build/sail is rushton's 'wanderer'-17'x3.5'-dead straight keel line- a beautiful glued lapstrake canoe it would be.not a racer but i fantasize about camp cruising it down the baja/sea of cortez interface- met a couple of alaska boys two winters back in mulege doing that trip in sailing kayaks :D :cool: ..... i'm always surprised so few people think of sailing canoes.... gosh-have fun! john