AngusMcDoon
Well-Known Member
This is NOT the way to do it...
Trimarans should sail upright
- Thread starter AngusMcDoon
- Start date
fireball
Well-Known Member
Er ... oops - looks like the starboard float has folded in?
Boomshanka
Well-Known Member
Looks like a Dragonfly? Locking mechansim failed (or not locked - I don't know how they are set up)?
snowleopard
Well-Known Member
Which is why, despite the speed and obvious convenience for berthing, I would NEVER consider going far offshore in a folding tri.
sighmoon
Well-Known Member
COuld the float just not be submerged? IIRC, they have a 'kayak garage' in the floats - maybe someone left the door open?
edit: googled it. Found this:
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/multihulls/float-broke-off-trimaran-capsizes-29556.html
This particular dragonfly is discussed further down the page.
edit: googled it. Found this:
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/multihulls/float-broke-off-trimaran-capsizes-29556.html
This particular dragonfly is discussed further down the page.
Last edited:
AngusMcDoon
Well-Known Member
It was newby trimaran sailors discovering why it's important to use a checklist before setting off.
But, the boat wasn't particularly damaged, no-one was hurt, or even got wet. Just embarrassed.
sarabande
Well-Known Member
quite impressive, through, how the whole boat stays afloat.....
snowleopard
Well-Known Member
From the report it looks as though the damage from two previous collisions plus incorrect assembly of some parts caused a chain of failures.
armchairsailor
Well-Known Member
IIRC dragonflies are meant to be able to sail with the floats folded in, albeit very tenderly. I can imagine one of the amas (as they're oddly called) folding back in as the system is quite complicated. I went out on a 1000 last year and because the rig wasn't completely detensioned beforehand, we ended up breaking one of the webbing straps that holds the trampoline taught when we were unfolding the amas. Since that had gone, it meant that part of the inherent stability of the design wasn't there - we ended up turning round before the breakwater. Pity, but rather that than the other.
I'm up for another go though - 10kts in 15 sounds like fun.
I'm up for another go though - 10kts in 15 sounds like fun.
AngusMcDoon
Well-Known Member
Wrong report. There have been 2 Dragonflies go over in the last couple of years because of the leeward float folding. This picture is an almost new DF35 where the new owners failed to follow the basic operating procedure and didn't lock out the floats.
The one you are referring to was a DF920. It had been incorrectly repaired from former collisions causing a weakened float brace bar, and incorrectly maintained, where a block in the float outhaul line had been installed reversed causing the block to fail.
There were no injuries in either case and neither boat was lost. But it does emphasise that high performance trimarans need to be operated more like aircraft with check lists and rigourous maintenance schedules and procedures.
AngusMcDoon
Well-Known Member
The hulls are all foam cored and no keel. Flood all the compartments in all the hulls, and they will still remain afloat. Add to that multiple sealed compartments - it's unlikely to hole them all - and it's no surprise that they never sink.
Mine has 9 sealed compartments separate from the main living area.
AngusMcDoon
Well-Known Member
Not according to my user manual. It couldn't emphasis more strongly not to attempt it.
armchairsailor
Well-Known Member
I bow to your superior knowledge. 
Lady Campanula
N/A
AIR 'a weakened float brace bar' detached at one end, while the boat was power-reaching, and the loose end speared across the cockpit, coming within inches of spitting the owner through-and-through.
But that was quite a few years ago, so I'm wondering if there have been several others. And, having sailed on several, I consider they're not the most robust of multihulls on the market....
AngusMcDoon
Well-Known Member
It was 2009, so 2 years ago. I'm not aware of any other similar incidents.
I agree. But to push performance limits you have to push engineering limits, which means (like aircraft) they have to operated and maintained correctly. A Heavenly Twins is a robustly built multihull that will forgive almost any abuse, but a slug to sail. You can't have both.
These boats are not for most people, but those who do own them generally know what they are in for before they buy them.
Lady Campanula
N/A
Perhaps a few pointed qwessies to the MOCRA crew about 'happenings in the Solent' to earlier examples of the marque.
Having sailed an HT26, and also a range of DFs - including series-racing the 800s and the 1000, as well as an all-carbon Farrier - I'm aware that nothing on the latter broke, while stuff on the former lot broke rather more than I thought reasonable. The owners of the 'former lot' were paper-pushers, not engineers, while the owner of the Farrier really knew his stuff and built an exceptionally-strong boat in all respects.
I'd comfortably sail anywhere 'off soundings' in the FX-9, but would now be 'twitchy' going out of sight of an RNLI station in a DF, new or old. And I have several sound reasons for that view....
And, having earned my crust in military aircraft for a couple of decades I know the value of reliable preventive maintenance on the airframes by qualified and experienced specialist engineers - and I also know the value of fully learning the lessons from predecessors' misadventures, so I don't repeat their misguided moments and suffer the same consequences.
That's 'Air Clues', or 'CHIRP', and we could all benefit from that approach.
AngusMcDoon
Well-Known Member
Ok. I give in. You know a lot more about this trimaranning stuff and maintenance than me. We all pay our money and make our own choice when it comes to the boats we sail. You carry on sailing your boat, and I'll carry on sailing mine.
Lady Campanula
N/A
A preventive maintenance programme based on regular inspection, as in the aviation engineering trade, should see a meticulous owner all right. It's when any part of that is absent - especially the last part - that trubl takes root and spreads. Especially on lightly-built 'flyers', designed for family cruising but raced very hard.
But do enjoy it....
But do enjoy it....
