Here is a trimaran being designed / built with a mission in mind. Go surfing!
Below we hear from surfer / sailor Trevor Parker about the sailboat he is has named the Wavedar 16.
Trevor’s definitely been bitten by the adventure bug and it’s infectious. His goals are both fun and inspirational.
The concept of this craft somewhat reminds me of the late Jan Gougeon’s boat named “Strings
Many thanks to him for sharing the following info and pics with us. (Click on images to enlarge them). To contact Trevor, as well as find out more about his online surfing community, be sure to go to https://the6tz.com/wavedar
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The Wavedar 16 Trimaran
by Trevor Parker
This boat idea mainly came about due to my sailing naivety. My main passion is really surfing and sailing to me is mostly a means to access unavailable surfing spots in order to avoid the crowds. I live in Camarillo California which is basically between the Channel Islands. Those islands block a lot of the Pacific swell which means when the coast is flat the islands still have great waves. I originally bought a $2100 Catalina 27 and began exploring the islands with that vessel while learning how to actually sail. With that boat I learned a lot but more importantly realized it didn’t fit my specific needs.
I disliked that in order to operate the boat the skipper has to be outside. Biminis and Dodgers don’t block wind well or insulate temperature. All the boats that have an enclosed cockpit or steering position are usually 35 foot+. The boat was 27 feet long which some may consider small but for weekend adventures/camping trips it was more space than I needed. The problem with extra space and size is that it all comes at a cost. Hand scrubbing the bottom paint, slip feels, and any maintenance jobs increase with size. The Channel Islands create excellent swell shadows that can completely block the swell on one side of the island but sometimes the wind is magnified on the Lee side after being funneled through canyons. This can make anchoring stressful when its gusting 40+ in the night; I just wanted to be able to pull the boat on the beach and sleep like a baby.
I couldn’t find any designs that addressed my problems and desires. The boats were either too big and expensive or too small and not sea worthy. I had been building and designing wooden surfboards for the past 3 years throughout college and thought I could take my surfboard building skills, add a couple feet of length and add walls to build my own boat. Now I know that’s not the case, but I’m glad I started.
The surfboard culture has recently been shifting to shorter wider boards based on the theory of modern planning hulls made popular by Daniel Thompson. I basically proportioned one of those boards to 8 feet and used that as my base. I know that specific shape, even when flat, planes well and just needed to throw a rockered bow that would provide lift to get the hull up on plane. I’ve received a lot of suspicions from friends about the flat bottom design but my thinking is that a sharp point is meant to cut. My hull is meant to plane and a pointed bow would make the base go into the wave rather than over it. I love talking displacement versus planning sailboats but don’t want to get too far off topic. Basically the middle hull is designed to be a surfboard with walls.
As I’ve never built or designed a boat before and have no CAD skill or experience, I’ve been stuck with drawing all my designs with pencil, ruler, and paper. I’ve changed the design a plethora of times and probably will continue to until its finished. It’s been designed as a junk rig, monohull with Lee boards/hydrofoil, and everything in between. It’s extremely inefficient, but I am so glad I didn’t completely build off the initial design. I am hoping this organic and dynamic style of building will lead to some innovation or even better, a working boat.
As of today, 12/22/18, she is designed to be a 13″ main hull with two attached prindle 16 hulls which makes LOA 16. I’m thinking the 3 feet of Prindle hull in front of the main hull will reduce hull slap as they are very fine cutters. The amas will fold in which will change the beam from about 8 feet to around 11ish feet when expanded. That design element was heavily inspired by Frank Smoot’s Slingshot 16. Her sailing rig will also be off the Prindle 16 with a modified down haul system to allow for full reefing from inside the pilothouse. Speaking of pilot house, I am still trying to figure out how to bring all running lines to some sort of dashboard inside and also allow for outside steering and trimming for days when it’s nice. The drawings I sent you include a stern deck that will pop up into a tent like a car “roof tent”. This will allow for more sleeping space on board just in case I ever get a a girlfriend lol. The model name of the boat is set after its purpose of comfortably finding good surf. Wavedar is the radar for waves.
As in the past, the design is still dynamic and there’s still a lot of work to be done and money to be spent. As I just graduated college I have time but no money or career. I’m quite fortunate my dad is letting me construct this “experiment” in his backyard but the patience is wearing thin. I am always curious of how others find the time, finance, and motivation to build there own boats and your website is a great resource for that. I love talking boats and haven’t got to write about my boat, Tarah, for awhile and it’s nice to know somebody cares. Let me know if you need anything else.
Fair wind, fair waves,
Trevor Parker
