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The “Family Dinkster” started out with a concept. I decided to build the “Ideal Dingy” as there was nothing on the market that fit my needs. After living aboard and cruising the Bahamas for several years and using a 12’ Logic named “Fanny Dragon” I determined that my new dingy would have to be about 14’ long, hard bodied, comfortable, dry, self bailing, fast (minimum 25/25 HP/Knots), fuel efficient and have a built in look bucket. The closest production model is the “Livingston” but it is too small, and not dry or self-bailing. I liked the look of the “Carolina Skiff” but they pound and are not self-bailing. The “Boston Whaler” is not self bailing (backing up in 3’ chop to set a 2nd or 3rd anchor) and is as heavy as a home built (15’ = 900#) and very expensive. The Aksano 13 is a little heavy and the motor would would bang the inside of the port ama. I made a few sketches based on my ideas and started building the “floating wooden sculpture” pictured here. I started by making a central self-bailing floor plate of 1” foam covered with biaxial glass & epoxy. Fitted a transom and look bucket box and then started creating functional form. The hulls were built next, the boat rolled and the superstructure completed. She has a large strong skeg/transom that should handle up to 50 HP. The forward central hull adds floatation and fairs water around the built in central “look bucket”. All substructure hulls are pressurized by air intakes behind the forward manifold. Pressure is generated as the boat moves through the air. Standpipes remove any condensation using this pressure. She should ride on a bubble of air under the center of the hull. An exhaust manifold for this pressurized air, assisted by the venturi effect, is located in the bottom of the catamaran hulls as the bows break to the flat areas. The counsel has a GPS, fish finder, compass VHF radio, solar panel, tachometer and water pressure (under the hull) guage.
I am hoping for about 25 knots top end and also much lower speed and rpm to maintain plaining.
BTW: We use a Quicken credit card and categorize purchases. Never ask your wife to check the running total cost on any project. As of March 2005 the cost of this “wooden sculpture” is over $7500.00.
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