On 24 Oct 2004 16:11:22 -0700,
(peterMelbourneAustralia) vaguely proposed a theory
.......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email
Are you making your own sail? I still reckon a spar maker should be
asked, and as someone said, he will ask right back at ya.

Have you even checked out similar proas?

Good luck.

I am a bit overwhelmed by the amount of information from this thread.

I was kinda hoping for something like 'my 14ft cat had a similar mast,
so 82mm diam should be OK'.

You yourself had a cat. _Is_ 82mm OK?


Yes the proa is light. As a comparison Rob Denney's Elementary proa (1
person in cabin) weighs 110kg unladen. Proas tend to be long narrow
and light, disadvatnage is that thy do not have much space or carry a
lot of cargo.

The proa is a pacific proa, meaning that the outrigger (weighs 25kg

without ballast)

what can I say?

25kg 2 metres from the main hull would have _negligible_ righting
moment. At 6 metres, it starts to matter. How much ballast? How wide?

is always to windward. At this point feel tempted to
give the mast a go becasue it is so cheap (is new and proper grade,
not junk), worse comes to worse loose $250 mast. As a comparison some
dingies with similar sail area have mast diam of 60mm in aluminium.

A dinghy is at best a poor comparison.

1) multihull
- different stabilites, different bending forces on the mast due
only to rigging, not wind
2) cruising = at least 20-30% extra fudge factor.
3) not many dighies expect to be out in a 45 knot + gale,

************************************************** ***
Have you noticed that people always run from what
they _need_ toward what they want?????

Mt last post in this thread I think.

The outrigger is 15ft long, weighs 25kg unladen, but has 50kg of water
ballast. The outrigger is 4m from the main hull and always to the lee
hull. Yes crew can go out on the tramp towards the outrigger for more
righting moment, but unlikley in very strong winds due to safety.

The mainsail is 85sq feet. I have a jib, which is smaller, approx 60
sqr feet, but am thinking of cutting it up to make even smaller jibs
at far ends to balance the rig.

My feeling is that the windrush 12 cat I sailed had a rig that was
strong enough in huge blows and went like the wind. So if I new what
that was feel that similar would be fine. Rob Denney uses unstayed
carbon masts. My question has been posted on a site that he looks at
regularly but he has not posted. Dont want to annoy him again with
another email.

What I will do is look at rigs of small cats (closest to my 170kg
proa), and see what mast sections they are using. 14ft and 12 ft cats
seem the best comparisons for they go out in huge blows without undue
drama.

N. Peter Evans

peterMelbourneAustralia ) writes:

.... The outrigger is 4m from the main hull and always to the lee
hull. Yes crew can go out on the tramp towards the outrigger for more
righting moment, but unlikley in very strong winds due to safety.

traditionally crew hike to windward.
not a slave to tradition myself.

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