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Dear Readers
- Sailboat Reviews
The right boat at the right time, the J/24 has proven to be a wildly successful one-design racer.
The J/24 is one of those boats that happened along at just the right time, with the right marketing to a ready market. Some may wonder whether the tale of her success would make a better textbook or a better storybook. Either way, much of the marine industry has studied her story, and then flattered her with the praise of emulation. However, no imitation or variation of the J/24 has yet to achieve her popularity.
Since her humble beginnings in 1976 in the garage of an amateur designer, thousands of boats have been sold from factories in Rhode Island, California, Australia, Japan, Italy, England, France, Brazil and Argentina. All of the builders are licensed by a company called J-Boats to build the J/24 to strict one-design tolerances. J-Boats is owned and run by two brothers—Bob and Rod Johnstone (the J in J-Boats).
Bob is the marketing whiz and Rod is the designer. Conservative estimates put their total revenue from the J/24, after buying the boats from the builders and selling them to the dealers, at several million dollars. Not bad considering how it all began….
Ragtime was a 24′ inspiration evolved by Rod Johnstone and his family in their garage as a two-year weekend project. Rod was a salesman for a marine publication, and an avid racer with a successful background in high-performance one designs. He had undertaken, but never completed, the Westlawn home-study course in naval architecture (although he has since been awarded an honorary degree so the school could use his name in its advertisements). Ragtime was launched in 1976, and was an instant winner, taking 17 firsts in 19 starts in eastern Connecticut. People began asking for their own boats.
At this time, brother Bob, also a respected racer, was working in the marketing department of AMF Alcort (Sunfish, Paceship, etc.). When Alcort declined to produce the J/24, Bob quit and formed JBoats. Tillotson-Pearson, builder of the Etchells 22 and the Freedom line of boats, was more receptive and production began in 1977. The first J/24s were as fast as Ragtime , and dominated regattas like the 1977 MORC Internationals. Bob made sure that the favorable results were well publicized; more than 200 boats were sold that year, and nearly 1,000 the next.
It was a big hit for a number of reasons. She moved into a void, appealing to two groups of sailors who were ripe for her type of racing: those who had outgrown athletic small boats, yet still yearned for the competition of one-design racing, and those who wished to compete without the expense, hassles and uncertainties of handicap racing.
The J/24 is a one design’s one design. Like the Laser, Windsurfer, and Hobie Cat, she is proprietary-built under the supervision of one company. Unlike most proprietary one designs, sails are not provided by the J/24’s builder. This was a particularly astute move by the Johnstones as it involved sailmakers in the class. Sailmakers comprise many of the big names in racing; by getting them in the regatta results, the Johnstones added instant credibility to the J/24’s budding status as a “hot” class. By the midwinter championship in 1979, almost every boat in the top 15 finishers had a sailmaker on board.
The big advantage that proprietary one designs have over “independent” one designs (classes with competing builders) is the power of centralized, bigbucks promotion. J-Boats has organized and promoted regattas, and had a heavy hand in running the class association. J/24s got a lot of press, thanks to JBoats. Full color, multi-page advertisements appeared monthly in the slick sailing magazines. Promotion has been primary; money is no object. J/24s have been donated for several high visibility USYRU championships. Big discounts have been given for fleet purchases (sometimes to effectively crush interest in competing one designs).
With the help of British enthusiasts, the Johnstones were able to make the J/24 an IYRU (International Yacht Racing Union) recognized class. More international lobbying got the J/24 into the Pan American Games.
There are some disadvantages to proprietary one designs. First, the class is in a real bind if the builder goes bankrupt. Likewise if the builder should ever abuse his power by ignoring class administration or changing construction of the boat to suit economic demands. Although a proprietary builder faces competition from other types of boats, there is no competition building his boat. This can inflate the price, especially when there are three substantial markups in the pricing structure (builder, J-Boats, and the dealer).
Construction
The J/24 has the distinct advantage of having been produced in great numbers and been subjected to the rigors of hard racing. It’s safe to say that nearly everything that could have broken, has broken, and that the J/24 is now almost bulletproof. J-Boats has done a commendable job in correcting nearly all of the “bugs” in the J/24. However, if you are planning to purchase a boat several years old you should be watchful for some of the old bugs.
Boats built during the first two years of production had particular problems with leaking along the hull-to-deck joint, delamination of the main bulkhead, and the attachment of the keel to the hull. The hull-to-deck leak was due to failure of the silicone sealant in the joint.
The inward-turning hull flange is overlapped by the deck, which is bedded in sealant and through-bolted at close intervals through a teak toe rail. Now this joint is bedded with 3M 5200, a pliable strong adhesive, and leaks are infrequent. Fortunately, the internal side of the joint is exposed throughout the boat’s interior, so recaulking is not difficult.
Harder to rectify is the problem of delamination of the main bulkhead. J/24s are raced hard, often with substantial rig tension. The chainplates pierce the deck and are bolted to the main bulkhead. The plywood bulkhead is tabbed with fiberglass to the hull and deck. The mast is stepped through the deck and sits on an aluminum beam, which is also tabbed to the main bulkhead. Rig tension pulls upward on the bulkhead while mast compression pushes downward on the beam, resulting in tremendous shearing forces on the bulkhead and its tabbing.
On some of the older J/24s, the plywood has delaminated, letting the mast “sink” 1/4 inch or more. Owners of these boats have either returned them to the factory for replacement of the bulkhead, or ground off the delamination and reglassed the bulkhead themselves. The builder now uses a better grade of plywood and installs screws to reinforce the bulkhead tabbing. As an added precaution, the boat owner may wish to bolt the mast-bearing beam to the bulkhead with an angle-iron.
The third problem with some of the older J/24s is the keel-to-hull attachment. The builder used to fill the keel sump with a vermiculite mixture of resin and plant fiber. The keel bolts were fastened through the vermiculite which, when saturated with water, is less rigid than solid laminations of fiberglass. After several years of sailing, or a hard grounding, the keel bolts would begin to work, and the keel would loosen enough to be able to be wobbled by hand with the boat suspended from a hoist. The first sign of this problem is the appearance of a crack along the keel stub. Tightening of the keel bolts, which are quality stainless steel, is a simple but temporary fix. What is needed is a backing plate for the bolts, bedded on top of the vermiculite.
There was a variety of other problems with early J/24s: The mast has three internal halyards; two jib halyards exit below the headstay with the spinnaker halyard above. On the older boats, a large square hole was cut in the mast to accommodate the sheaves, leaving an open, poorly supported space adjacent to the spinnaker sheave. This is sometimes the source of mast cracks; the fix is to weld a plate over it.
In January of 1980, the J/24 got much-improved companionway and forward hatches. The hatches on older boats were molded of thin fiberglass, and had a tendency to leak and fracture under the weight of heavy crew members. The new forward hatches are lexan, and the companionway hatch is now much heavier with a lower profile.
The J/24’s rudder is heavy and strong. The builder claims you can hang a 900 pound keel from the rudder tip without breaking it. Although the J/24’s rudder pintles appear more than adequate, after several years of use they have been known to develop corrosion cracks where the pintle is welded to its strap. In 1981, the builder began equipping J/24s with weldless pintles; the builder also offers the new system as a replacement for old boats.
The starboard chainplate bolts through both the bulkhead and the hull liner. The port chainplate bolts through only the bulkhead. After the first two years of production, the port bulkhead was reinforced with fiberglass in the chainplate area. On earlier boats, a backing plate should be added to prevent the chainplate bolts from elongating their holes.
The hull and deck of the J/24 are cored with balsa, which makes them stiff, light, quiet and relatively condensation-free. We have heard of occasional delaminations resulting from trailering with improperly adjusted poppets. The Kenyon mast section is the same as that used on the Etchells 22, a bigger boat. It is more than adequate for any strength of wind.
The J/24 does not have positive flotation, and she has been known to capsize in severe conditions. This is usually not a problem as she floats on her side with the companionway well out of the water. However, should the leeward cockpit locker fall open, water can rush below, filling the cabin and causing her to sink. While fastening the lockers in heavy weather prevents the problem, the manufacturer began to seal off the lockers from the cabin with an additional bulkhead several years ago, as a safety measure.
Of the 2,500 J/24s sold in the US, nearly 2,000 of them have been built by Tillotson-Pearson in Rhode Island. The others were built by Performance Sailcraft in San Francisco, which is now defunct. New boats are now shipped cross country. Top west coast sailors tell us they favor the east coast built boats, claiming the keels and rudders on the west coast built boats are too thick to be competitive. The west coast keels are thick because they are covered with injection-molded gelcoat. Tillotson-Pearson fairs the keels with auto body putty.
Handling Under Sail
The J/24’s PHRF rating ranges from 165 to 174, depending on the handicapper. She rates as fast as or faster than a C&C 30, Santana 30, or Pearson 30. One must remember that, because the J/24 has attracted competent owners, her PHRF rating is probably somewhat inflated. While the J/24 is an excellent training boat because she is so responsive, a beginning racer may have an especially hard time making her perform to her PHRF rating.
Aside from her speed, the J/24’s greatest asset is her maneuverability. With her stern hung rudder she can be turned in her own length, sculled out to a mooring in light air, and brought to a screeching halt by jamming the rudder over 90 degrees.
The J/24 has a narrow “groove;” it takes a lot of concentration to keep her going at top speed. She is sensitive to backstay trim, sheet tension, weight placement and lower shroud tension. The lower shrouds act like running backstays, because they are anchored aft of the mast. They must be loosened in light air to create some headstay sag, and then tightened in heavy air to straighten the mast, making backstay tension more effective in removing the sag.
Sheet tension is also critical. Top crews rarely cleat the genoa sheets, having one crewmember hold the tail while hiking from the rail. Some of the best sailors even lead the jib to the weather winch so the sail can be trimmed without sending crew weight to leeward.
The class rules allow you to race with a mainsail, a 150% genoa, a working jib and a single spinnaker. This makes sail selection simple and the inventory affordable (about $2,600 total). However, the one genoa must carry the boat all the way from a flat calm up to 20 knots or more. To be competitive in light air, the genoa must be full; yet to hold the boat level with this full genoa in a strong breeze, you need a lot of crew weight. Most of the top crews are now sailing with five people on board for a total crew weight of 800 to 900 pounds. The J/24 is a small boat, and the additional fifth crew member really makes the boat cramped. Add to this the increasing trend of some skippers making the crew sit in the cabin on the leeward bunk in light air, and you have a boat which can be less than fun to crew on.
There are two worthwhile improvements that can help a J/24’s performance. To decrease the boat’s slight tendency toward a lee helm in light air, the mast should be cut to minimum length allowed in the class rules, and the headstay should be lengthened to the maximum allowed to give the mast more rake. The other improvement is fairing the keel to minimum dimensions. The keel is much thicker than is necessary for optimum performance. It comes relatively fair from the builder, but most owners will want to grind off the builder’s auto-body filler and sharpen the trailing edge. On some of the older boats, the trailing edge is twice the minimum thickness.
Some racers go so far as to spend $500-$1,000 to have the keel professionally faired.
While all indications are that the builder has excellent quality control, there have been complaints that some of the spars provided by Kenyon in the last two years have come with the wrong length shrouds, or widely differing bend characteristics. One top sailor said he would never buy a used J/24 without first making sure that he could make the mast stand straight sideways with substantial shroud tension.
The J/24 is best suited for racing; there are many boats in her size range that are far more comfortable and practical for daysaiIing. However, the J/24 is a joy to sail under mainsail alone. Unlike most boats, she balances and sails upwind at a respectable speed, and her maneuverability gives her tremendous freedom in crowded harbors.
Handling Under Power
The J/24 is powered by an outboard engine; an inboard is not feasible or available. Class rules require that an outboard with a minimum of 3.5 hp be carried while racing. Most owners opt for a 3.5-4 hp outboard. It provides adequate power and is as much weight as you want to be hefting over a transom. Although the cockpit locker is plenty big enough, most owners stow the outboard under a berth in the cabin to keep the weight out of the stern. This makes using the outboard inconvenient. The factory-supplied optional outboard bracket has a spring-loaded hinge to lift the engine for easy mounting; we recommend it. Because the outboard is likely to be stored in the cabin, a remote gas tank will keep fuel spillage and odor to a minimum.
Above Decks
The J/24 is very well laid out, yet she is still not a comfortable or easy boat to crew on. When she was first launched, sailors said her layout could be no better, and she was copied by manufacturers of competing boats. However, after years of racing, sailors have discovered several things that could be improved.
Cockpit winches are located just forward of the mainsheet traveler, which spans the middle of the cockpit. Many sailors have moved the winches forward, so the crewmember tacking the genoa can face forward instead of aft during a tack. It pays to check to see if relocated deck hardware was installed properly; one J/24 owner we know discovered that the previous owner had moved the winches, but hadn’t installed proper backing plates or filled the original holes correctly. As a result, seepage had occurred and several square feet of the balsa-cored deck above the quarterberth had become sodden and rotten.
The standard mainsheet cleat is attached to the traveler car so that, when you trim the sheet, you inadvertently pull the car to weather. Many sailors have solved this by mounting a fixed cleat with a swivel base at the center of the traveler bar.
On older boats the backstay was single-ended at the transom. Boats now come with a double-ended backstay led forward to the helmsman on each side of the cockpit. Foot blocks need to be mounted on the traveler to keep helmsmen from falling to leeward as the boat heels (you must steer from forward and well outboard of the traveler).
For those who plan to try cross-sheeting to the weather winch, leading the jib sheets through Harken ratchet blocks is advised. Most sailors will also want to mount barber haulers to pull the genoa sheet outboard in strong winds. Cam cleats for the barber haulers should be mounted on the companionway so they “self-cleat” when led to the weather winch.
Cabin-top winches for the halyards and spinnaker guys are optional and essential. Because the J/24 has single spinnaker sheets, most sailors mount “twings,” which pull the guy down to the deck outboard of the shrouds when reaching.
In the search for a cleaner deck, it is now common to mount the spinnaker halyard cleat on the mast. Most sailors use only one jib halyard. Although a second jib halyard is optional, it is necessary only for long distance handicap racing. On short one design courses it is better to struggle along overpowered than to place crew weight on the bow to change headsails. Instruments are also unnecessary in one design racing. There are more than enough boats on a one design race course to judge your speed without the help of a speedometer.
The J/24 comes equipped with a Headfoil II grooved headstay system, which works very smoothly. Early boats came with Stern Twinstays, which have occasionally failed when the bearings freeze up with age. Some sailors have exchanged the grooved headstay system for cloth snaps on their headsails (you seldom change sails anyway). We applaud this idea, as it makes the sails more manageable in severe weather.
Although the flat decks are well suited for racing, the cockpit is less than comfortable for daysailing. There are no seat backs and the boom is dangerously low. Visibility with the deck-sweeping 150% genoa is terrible, and is often the cause of nightmarish collisions on crowded race courses. Lower life lines are optional and recommended for those with children, but they interfere with fast tacks when racing. The boom is rigged with a 4-to-1 vang, which is swiveled on the more recent J/24s to be adjustable from either rail on a windy spinnaker reach. The boom is also rigged with reef lines which exit through stoppers at the gooseneck.
Top sailors have discovered that the boat always sails better without a reef, which is a good thing, because the stoppers are both difficult to operate and have a history of slipping.
The interior is simple and functional. On most boats it is used for little more than sail storage. However, for a couple who enjoys roughing it, it could make for occasional weekend cruising. The first thing you notic below is the lack of headroom. You can sit in comfort, but to move about you must crawl.
The interior is finished off in bare white gelcoat. Early boats had coarse, non-skid gelcoat on the overhead. While this may have been more attractive than smooth gelcoat, it really did a number on elbows and bald heads. It also tended to collect dirt and mildew. Earlier through-bolted deck fittings were capped with acorn nuts. Now the nuts lie flush with the overhead—less pain when bumped.
A molded hull liner is used to form the two quarter berths, the cabin sole, and two lockers and a galley just aft of the main bulkhead. One locker is deep enough to serve as a wet locker for foul weather gear; the other is best used to store the rudiments of a meal. The galley consists of a sink with a hand pump. A small, two burner stove could be mounted in the small, removable “table” forward of the port quarter berth. The icebox, a large portable cooler made by Igloo, has a piece of teak glued to it and doubles as a companionway step. After a season or two of jumping on the ice chest, the lid disintegrates.
The forward V-berth, although divided by the mast, is still large and comfortable enough for a couple. The boat does not come equipped with a head. To avoid the extra drag of a through-hull fitting, portable heads are often used. We would rather use a cedar bucket—there simply isn’t enough space in the cabin of a J/24 to cohabitate with a portable head. If you plan to seriously race, you won’t want to load the boat’s lockers with cruising equipment. If you do cruise, it will probably be out of a duffel bag.
J/24: How Trailerable?
The J/24 is not launchable from a boat ramp, unless the ramp is steep, paved or of hard sand, and you use a long extender between the tongue of the trailer and your trailer hitch. Her 3,100 pounds (fully loaded) require a big, 8-cylinder vehicle to tow her. She is easily launched from a 2-ton hoist which can attach to a strap on her keel bolts. However, the hatch slides just far enough forward to allow the hoisting cable to clear it, so the hatch tends to get chewed by the cable.
The J/24 was originally designed to sail at a displacement of 2,800 pounds. The class minimum was later increased to 3,100. The original single axle trailer provide as a factory option was barely adequate for the intended, 2,800 pound boat, and totally inadequate for a fully loaded boat. Tales abound of blown tires and broken trailer welds. The factory now offers both a single and double axle trailer; we recommend the double axle.
If you want to seriously race a J/24, trailering is a necessity. Local fleets grow and shrink each year with the whims of their members, but national and regional regattas continue to attract many participants. Make no mistake, however; trailering is expensive.
The owning and maintenance of a big car, the gas and tolls of trailering, and the housing of crew are not cheap.
Conclusions
The appeal of the J/24 is as a racer. If you plan to do anything else, she is not for you. Although the J/24 is relatively easy to sail, she is very difficult to sail well. To many people, she represents a chance to compete in the big leagues; by traveling to major regattas you can sail against some of the best sailors in the country. However, the big leagues are tough—if you like to race with a pick-up crew and a hangover you’d also better be satisfied with finishing last.
One appeal of the J/24 is that, unlike many big league boats, you can always come home and sail because the boat has so big a following. There are enough boats to race it one-design almost anywhere; and in a pinch, there is always handicap racing. As long as you don’t want to travel, the boat is inexpensive to maintain.
Despite our effort to highlight every flaw that has appeared throughout the J/24’s evolution, we’d like to emphasize that she is more hardy than most boats of her type. Few boats can take the punishment that a J/24 gets during a season of racing and come through with so few scars. No racing boat will appreciate; but the J/24 can keep her value.
The dream boat with the fairy tale success story has turned out, after all, to be a rugged winner in the real world.
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J-24 Sailboat Converted to a Trimaran
by Small Tri Guy | Oct 19, 2012 | Production/Commercial Small Trimarans , Small Tri Info - All , Small Trimaran Videos | 13 comments
Our small tri friend Stefano M. sent me links to the following YouTube videos. They feature a J-24 sailboat converted into full-blown trimaran.
The sailor(s) responsible for this appear to have done a fine job. Converting a monohull into a trimaran has certainly been done before. But it’s not for the faint of heart :-)
One really needs to know that they’re doing if ever attempting to do such a thing. There are so many things that can go wrong (structurally speaking).
One of the replies to the first video on YouTube indicates the amas are converted Hobie 20 hulls. This idea is naturally attractive to anyone who dreads an all-out boat building experience.
I’d love to know what mods were done, especially with regards to the lead keel … and the interior/cabin structure supporting the crossbeams. And was the mast reinforced? The stress on a multihull rig is generally much greater than on a mono.
There are also questions about how a boat performs after being converted into a tri. Does it still tack nicely? How well does it point? Etc.
Anyhow, perhaps we’ll find out as time goes by. (And thanks to Stefano for these vids!)
Update – 01/16/15: The owner of this boat, Delane, saw this post and shares some specific details about the building-conversion of this boat in the “Comments” area below.
___________________________________________________________
13 Comments
Can this please be the final nail in the coffin for the idea that all successful trimaran main hulls *must* be long and skinny for the boat to perform and/or track?
Nobody seems to be manhandling the controls and the boat is obviously moving quite nicely in not a ton of wind…and the J 24 hull is 24′ LOA with a whopping 8.9 feet of beam. That’s tubby even by mono standards, but fast because it’s light and has very minimal draft (low wetted surface) and very flat aft sections like a motorboat so it can surf/plane even as a monohull hauling an extra 950 lbs or so of ballast and 3-5 crew.
This thing doesn’t even have purpose designed amas and in the middle video you can see it accelerating and beginning to surf/plane and there’s hardly any whitecaps and no big swell, just wind waves…I guarantee you that boat is faster there than my Cross 24 would have been, and that boat was no slouch for its size and designed from scratch by a true master and design innovator.
Throw off those “long and skinny is best” shackles and full displacement thinking and there’s a world of monohulls out there that would make excellent tri main hulls, that are already exceedingly fast in their own right whether on plane or not…and were designed by a true master and design innovator as well-
http://www.flying15.org.uk/flying15/about.asp
http://www.sail-world.com/USA/index.cfm?SEID=0&Nid=40824&SRCID=0&ntid=0&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0
“It is anticipated the hull and deck will weigh around 1000 lbs. ”
a 33 foot FRP over foam boat that sans rig weighs barely more than what a stock J-24 carries as dead ballast weight, with an even more “correct” length to beam ratio than the J boat ( it’s still narrower than the J)…all in a boat that planes already as a ballasted monohull- food for thought.
speaking of Uffa Fox and tri hulls- this one looks like a tri already, just missing its amas…and could use the same sized donor amas as the J 24-
http://1001boats.blogspot.com/2012/06/fairey-atlanta.html
Ian wrote: Can this please be the final nail in the coffin for the idea that all successful trimaran main hulls *must* be long and skinny for the boat to perform and/or track?
Well, probably yes…although from some other sites it may appear that this idea risks to be buried alive (check on w17 site for example). Other previous nails may well be magnum 21 trimaran (I personally measured a 1:6.3 bwl/lwl ratio, and perhaps what Farrier writes of his own tris: from TT 720 through F 27 to recent F 22: flatter run and wider (and a higher sail/dspl ratio).
My own experience tells me that with little power (kayaks, lesser canvassed proa or tris) having a sleek long hull ( 1:10 ratio) with some angle to get on a plane on a small wave set may be beneficial, but it really needs to be narrow and long.
A fatter hull needs more power. So if you do not intend to deal with tall masts and plenty canvas ( like more or much more than 30 sqm per metric tonne) , you’d probably be better off with a sleek hull with a flat run aft perhaps.
I’m drawing my own tri a 22 ft. It is a design that needs to strike a balance between ease of construction, ease of conduction and performances, including carrying 450 kgs payload ( 1000 lbs on 22 ft). It will have some dihedral forward, to help get some lift to get on a plane, it will have a 1:9 bwl/lwl ratio roughly, not too much rocker – about 1 ft over 22 – and it will have a flat and wider aft run, carrying the mid ship section all the way back. It will carry 26 sqm of sail upwind, over 2000 lbs ( 0,9 metric tonnes fully loaded) roughly a 30: 1 sail/dspl ratio, but then it will have a gennaker and a 52: 1 ratio downwind or on a broad reach in lighter winds. In brief, I’m trying to get inspired by semi planing one step hulls of the beginning of XXth century with ( I hope) a target cruising speed capable of reaching the low teens with the mentioned modest power in a beaufort 3-4 (Mediterranean summer breeze). The amas will hopefully be two dart 18 hulls (we need to get them from the seller yet) thus capable of a more powerful rig should need be.
ANYONE THERE WITH A SPEED PREDICTION PROGRAMME WILLING TO CHECK ON THE ABOVE MENTIONED FIGURES ? I’d love to receive some feedback before cutting the plywood. Bye to all, Stefano
Hi Stefano-
The hull you describe sounds very much like the type of boat I’m talking about with the beam carried far aft…assuming that it has very little hull draft and the runs are kept very flat it should be very easily driven even at fairly wide dimensions whether it is truly on plane or not.
I totally agree with you about kayaks and canoes being optimized for low power but I think the length/beam ratio is maybe getting more credit than it deserves as far as why these boats can make good small tri center hulls- they also are built very light as a rule and that makes for good tri building in general, and maybe even more importantly they are both hulls designed to remain upright in use, rather than working best when heeled over like many long, skinny sailboat designs of the past.
That’s a huge part of what might or might not make a good monohull conversion and a lot of skinny mono hull width is about self righting from knockdowns and seahandling when heeled as much as it is about speed potential.
Now of course when you say “canoe” most people in the US think of Indians paddling on rivers…but even with double ended canoe designs Uffa Fox managed to get them to plane very early on and knew exactly what he was doing-
“…Flying Fish has the longest length and smallest beam permissible under the rules, and as can be seen from the lines, these dimensions produce a very easy and sweet-lined canoe. But when we look at the lines of these light and very fast sailing hulls we must always bear in mind that they plane two-thirds of the way around a triangular course, and even close reaching will get up and scoot along the top of the water, and for this reason their lines must be studied from a different viewpoint than that taken when studying an ordinary sailing craft.
The sections are V’d forward, and are gradually flattened as they go aft where they are almost flat. The buttock lines also carry this out for they come down steeply forward, and then run aft almost parallel with the keel line, this giving the long flat run, necessary for planing.”
http://www.intcanoe.org/iclife/hist/uffa_flying_fish.html
note that the hull draft on this boat is 5 inches…there’s hardly any boat there at all, and that’s sitting still.
here’s more-
“Canoes sailing to windward or in light weather are travelling at a speed equal to the square root of their waterline length, or slower with the chine aft out of water. At such a low speed, the minimum wetted surface is important, so she has a round bilge for three quarters of her length.
Off the wind in a fresh breeze, or a wind of greater force, she travels at up to four times the square root of her waterline; then it is that the chine aft tells its tale, for where the water clings to a round, it cuts clean away from a sharp corner. The chine also extends the planing bottom outwards and gives greater planing power.”
http://www.intcanoe.org/iclife/hist/uffa_sailing_boats.html
I don’t know that the above qualifies as a speed predicting program, but if Uffa Fox says you can do 4X theoretical hull speed in semi planing mode, then I’d be inclined to believe him…regardless you seem to be on the same path that he was and modern materials and a tri platform shouldn’t do anything but help.
here’s a neat video of some international canoes in action-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exb6i3E3r-4
very speedy in pretty light air and the hiking plank makes it exactly like a tri if the amas fell off and the guy is trying to get back to the dock before it capsizes…why not just put some amas back on and relax?
Most interesting to me is the planing ability despite the relatively narrow double ended designs, which is a function of the boats having a very different bow and stern sections that look like a maxi ocean racer bow grafted onto a wide pin tailed surfboard with very hard rails (a chine). The difference between the super fine exits of traditional paddle canoes and kayaks and this flatter wider exit is the difference between hitting hull speed easily with man sized power input and then hitting a wall no matter how much more power you apply, or exceeding theoretical hull speed easily and regularly even with relatively small amounts of sail area.
In the video, also note the almost complete absence of rooster tails or any visible stern wave or wake, and very little bouncing compared to similar sized racing skiffs going really fast…there’s obviously a lot more going on here than meets the eye when it comes to what will/won’t plane or go fast, and how to do it…these boats obviously use the power they harness very efficiently and would seem to be an ideal candidate for grafting some appropriate small beach cat hulls onto for a smoking performance tri conversion…
I can see this-
http://www.sailnut.com/international-10-meter-canoe
with one of these as ama donor-
http://nswptca.papertigercatamaran.org/gallery.html
-making a very exciting under 250 lb 17 ft performance tri that would be a million times easier and more comfortable to sail than the canoe (or the cat) alone and would still be ultra fast for its size, for not a ton of money compared to anything else that would give you that kind of performance potential.
It could satisfy the go fast planing hull types as well as the people who like the traditional pointy boats with fine exits.
You could also build from scratch in ply-
http://www.internationalcanoe.yachting.org.au/?Page=24752&MenuID=How_to%2F13919%2F0%2F%2CBuild_an_IC%2F13920%2F0%2F
I wish to thank Ian for his fast and informed ( as always) comment. After posting my comment, I did some research on semi-planing hulls and yes, the graphs show that the figures range in between 3 and 4 times the square root of lwl expressed in ft. (A small digression here: I am amazed at how many graphs and formulas do not express the measurement units nor the axis meanings. I would not have got past junior high school if I did such a thing, which explains much of our scientists success when they migrate to find better jobs).
So… square root of a 22 footer lwl is 4,69 and the predicted speed thus would fall in between 14 and 18.8 knots.
Personally, I will take anything close to 10 knots in 3-4 beaufort as a big success, especiually it the huls will not pound too much ( other reason for putinng a V section forward) since I ignore in figures what a ” flat run aft” is ( mine will be 10-12 inches rocker), the dihedral angle that would be best for “lift” ( I will ask the sail maker to draw a gennaker with some lift power though) and what “reduced wetted surface” would mean. In fact, with my old PC programme ” plyboats 2″ I am trying to get the best figure of wetted surface/displacement at a maximum heel of 8 degrees. I also ignore what the step should be like, but I’ll check this stuff on a closeby museum that has many planes and hydroplanes hulls with steps on show. I also read that steps in the hull create an intended turbulence mixing water and air so to reduce friction drag from hull/water ( high) to hull/water+air ( lower).
I’ll strive to make the whole tri at least pleasing to the eye since thing I really loved in Uffa Fox boats is their looks, especially Atalanta. So again Ian, thanks for sharing :-) I hope here my Italian eye trained to beauty will help in the effort.
Yours friendly, Stefano
For Ian again…
Reading and quoting Uffa Fox from the same article on flying 15 lines:
(…) So while I think these lines we are now looking at are very fast indeed, I do not think they are fast round a course, and the moral of all this is that designers must put into the hands of helmsmen instruments, which, while being fast, are well within their capabilities, so that plenty of spare energy, both mental and physical, is kept in reserve, for the planning of their race and the sailing of it, enabling them to conduct operations in a seamarlike manner rather than in a state of feverish excitement throughout ” (Uffa Fox)
I wish I knew this man !! The bottom line of good handling and “manners” at sea are totally within my design goals and priorities, and stand higher than maximum speed overall.
Again thanks for sharing… Stefano
I truly envy your being able to go visit a museum full of Italian seaplanes, which are without a doubt some of the most beautiful machines of any kind ever created…and in the case of this one, still the fastest propeller driven seaplane in the world since 1933-
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Macchi_M.C.72.jpg/800px-Macchi_M.C.72.jpg
http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/4917/italianafmuseum132.jpg
I think you are correct about the air induction aspect of stepped hulls being a major reason for using them on fast planing powerboats…on a float plane float that’s some of it, but not so much for speed potential as for helping to quickly break free from the water surface entirely, the same way steps on three point hydroplanes do.
But on a float plane float some of the step design there and especially the aft sections with the extreme fine exit and very upwardly angled straight rocker aft of the step are all about nose high trim attitudes on takeoff and especially landings…a really flared nose high landing means that the aft section of the float becomes the entry point and a wide flat planing hull shape here could potentially trip the entire machine and slap it down on the water hard enough to destroy it…when you look at it this way you see that the aft section of a float is really more like a bow pointing backwards.
So there’s some stuff that is directly applicable, and other stuff that isn’t unless your ama is regularly breaking free of the water and re-entering it (like in big seas), which it very well might and a plane float style ama and step might make perfect sense.
Another thing to consider is that step placement fore/aft can affect overall pitch trim when underway because the air/water mix behind it is less buoyant. On a powerboat with a step and wide transom, this has the benefit of causing the stern to sink slightly into this foamy mixture and assume a better trim for planing when underway, but still have a full depth transom. On a float plane it means that as you apply power the step makes the plane assume a more nose high trim needed to take off and the grip of the water on the float lessens.
When angled other than 90º to the hull, steps can also induce a turning moment…some deep vees do this on outer chines, to help fatter boats turn better as they roll onto that section of hull that is designed to always turn.
On a heavily canvassed tri I can see this kind of asymetrical step being used on an ama to counteract negative helm tendencies as the hull is pressed harder and engages the step, which might allow larger less balanced rigs without strenuous helm input to control them going to weather…but what really intrigues me is the idea of using a directional step on the main hull to not just affect that hull but to also direct and modify the flow of its wake so as to optimize the flow that the ama works in/on…
a step in the main hull will bring the stern wave more forward, which puts the amas in a position to surf naturally on that wave if they are shaped and positioned properly…it’s not that you are making more power, just re-harnessing some of what was used to make that wave in the first place.
This “ama surfing the main hull wake” idea has been used on some of the big power tris like Earthrace/Ady Gil that have the amas very far aft and tucked into the main hull wake…if you look at this pic-
http://www.barking-moonbat.com/images/uploads/earthrace2.jpg
you can see a bit of this positioning- imagine wanting to catch that stern wave on a surfboard and you would want to be paddling hard right about where that ama is sitting, which is that magic point where the wave takes over and you are riding it.
at speed it’s even more dramatic-
http://www.sail-world.com/photos/Alt_Earthrace%20finishes.jpg
the amas are just buried in that stern wave, again very similar to the attitude a surfboard takes right before it uses that stored energy of being sunk to pop forward and plane right along as long as there’s a wave.
hard to do that with a sailing boat that needs the width for stability and more ama buoyancy forward…but a step in the main hull might bring that wave forward enough to get some of that effect on a more traditional sailing tri hull layout.
The Tricote trimaran is another beautiful “monohull to trimaran” conversion – http://www.tricote.fr/construction.php
I’m the designer and builder of the Tri conversion. Going on a short vacation soon, but after I return I can submit a summary of the project from the beginning to it’s current design. I built a hump under the main Vaka, lower the Amas and repositioned the rudder to the right side and was ready to launch and then a Typhoon flipped it off the trailer, breaking the mast, destroying one of the Amas and a couple of holes in the deck and a bit of damage at the new plumb bob bow. I’ve done nothing since the disaster but want to bring her back to life. Was so close to trying out the newly modified hull design that by my estimation would have increased performance by at least 20 to 25% depending on point of sail. I’ll be back with more.
Please do ! it will be our opening new year bonus! Looking forward to the insights…
best luck for this project, Stefano
Most of the project details are on a forum called Boatdesign.net under the multihull section. Search for Hobie/J-24 Tri Conversion Project. The first step was to cut off the keel and then glass up the stub that was left. The beams go through and are supported by 4 fiberglass boxes. The mast was converted to a tabernacle so that I could de-mast during Typhoons. She sails great to windward with the boards down or up. The center fixed dagger board was fabricated using a a 6mm steel plate, spiderboard foam aircraft wing – NACA 2210 if memory is correct. It is very solid. Can go into detail on that more if you like. She tacks on a dime. Very neutral on the helm. You can’t let go of the helm more than 3 seconds. Check out the site, and I’ll post some updated photos of the last hull mod to the center Vaka. The day I recorded the video segments we saw 10.2 on the GPS and a few times I’m sure we hit 12 coming off of a wave set. I’m in the process of re-building after the disaster 2 years ago and can’t wait to see if the hull mod proves worth the effort. I did use additional flying wires attached to the front beams. Let me know if you have further questions. Also where can I upload some photos?
Hi Delane, Great to hear from you! Thanks for sharing some specific details about your conversion of this boat to a tri. You won’t be able to upload any photos here, but you can post URL links that link directly to each photo you want to share. In other words, just “direct link” to each photo so when someone clicks on the link the photo will open up in their web browser.
Delane Rivenbark
Is it possible to chat with you online to discuss that J24 Tri 24 you made. [email protected]
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Let's connect, j/24 sailboat.
The J/24 sailboat is a legacy of Rod Johnstone’s J/Boats. It is an immensely popular one-design keelboat that was built in 1977. After being recognized by World Sailing (WS), more than 5,500 units of the J/24 sailed internationally. Its body is predominantly composed of fiberglass that gives it a sleek, high-end look. It has a length overall (LOA) of 2.40 ft., a waterline length (LWL) of 20.0 ft., and a maximum beam of 8.00 ft.
With a heavy-duty ballast of 950 lb., this design can effortlessly resist the lateral forces on the hull. The J/24 sailor runs on an outboard engine that is ideal for a sailboat of its size. It features a fractional rig that sports a 26.25 ft. foretriangle height, a 9.50 ft. foretriangle base, a 28.00 ft. mainsail luff, and a 9.75 ft. mainsail foot. Its impressive sail specs sport a mainsail area of 136.5 sq. ft., a jib area of 124.6 sq. ft., and a spinnaker area of 449 sq. ft. It is steered with a heavy-duty spade rudder that is controlled by a wheel or fin keel.
For a boat of its size, the J/24 is spacious enough to accommodate up to five passengers. Its interior is designed with aesthetics and comfort in mind. The cabin features two adult size settee berths that have ample storage space beneath. It also offers a V-berth, waterproof lights, electrical panels, sink basin, hot and cold water tank, and watertight ports.
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J/24 RACING TIPS FOR ALL CONDITIONS
Racing takeaways: the 2021 midwinter championship.
The 2021 Midwinter Championship in Miami, FL supplied a variety of conditions for the 29-boat fleet. North Experts with the help of Midwinters skipper John Mollicone broke down each race day by wind speed and explain the changes they made with their rig tune, body weight, crew roles, and sail trim. Although the racing took place in Florida, these tips can be related to any regatta coming up depending on wind conditions and sea state.
Tips for light to medium air: 6-10 knots
- Tiny bit of weather helm in under 6
- Consistent heel angle, always
- Send one or more down below to get low in chop
- More heel helps you stay powered up in flat water in the lightest winds
- Avoid getting close to other boats to eliminate chop and disturbed air
- 20/15 shroud tension
- Move the mast butt aft ⅜”
- Look for -3 fingers on the headstay
- 2.25 to 2.50 inch pre-bend on the mast
- Stay powered up and avoid the lulls!
In lighter conditions, the trimmer should stand down below and be agile and able to move up to the rail as the wind picks up. The trimmer controls the angle of heel the most. Two forward crew are last to go below if needed, but keep weight forward in light conditions.
Skipper/Trimmer Tips for lighter air:
- Trim the main in hard, two handed when fully powered up so you can point a little higher, 8 to 10 knots range with everyone hiking
- Trim the genoa 2-3” off the spreader tips when fully powered up, ease to 4-6” off spreader tips in the lulls.
- Move the genoa car one hole forward to power up the bottom of the jib.
North Expert Paul Abdullah commented on trim,
“I like to move off the rail and move forward. When I look at other boats who have their trimmers on the leeward side by the winch, it’s not long before we are sailing right by them. Body placement is key for the trimmer in light air. I avoid sitting to leeward by the winch, if your weight needs to be to leeward it is better to do that below deck.”
Trimming the Genoa: Medium to Heavy Air
“It is a common misconception to trim harder in more breeze, said John. This is not a solution. You actually point higher by easing out, sometimes a full foot off the spreader tip. If you see 8” off the spreader tip it’s not a bad thing if things are working for you.”
How can you tell?
- If the boat feels good, your speed is good, and you are playing the main and vang sheeting in the puffs, you will be in good shape.
- Skipper and trimmer should work together with sail trim.
- Never let the boat heel over too much. When you feel bound up, ease the genoa 5-6” off the spreader tips. Easing off the backstay will also help get your power back in the major lulls with the rig tight.
- Rig tuning tips: Medium to heavy air
- When you move your mast, 2 to 2.25” of prebend is always a good starting point.
- Headstay tension should go from 3 fingers to a tight 2 fingers.
- Having your backstay set up so you can move through a wider range is important.
“The mast butt on J24 is a powerful tool,” said North expert Nick Turney. “When the breeze increases you need to feel comfortable moving your mast. Ideally you move the mast at the dock before you leave. When you don’t make necessary adjustments to rig and mast, you will notice that you are losing punch. If your main is flattened too much, this is a direct indicator that your settings are not aligned.”
Tips for Breeze On and building: 13-18 knots
- 27/24 shroud tension
- When the wind builds, go plus 1/plus 1 – stick to full turns if possible. It’s easier to keep track.
- Moved mast butt forward, ⅜ to ½” depending on age and stiffness of mast and boat.
- If the lulls are big, you’ll need power. 27/24 is great for lulls and only a tad loose in the puffs.
The North Sails tuning guide is a great place to get your set up numbers.
Mainsail set up is important, especially in bigger breeze. If you notice wrinkles from all the clew up towards the spreaders at a 45-degree angle, this is a telltale sign that you need to go tighter on the rig, sometimes an up plus 1/plus 1 can help get your main looking better, which in turn allows it to work better. You will be able to pull on more backstay, and cunningham. The cunningham for example is not easily adjusted from the rail, so we minimized how much we moved our bodies because we needed weight out mostly, we would leave the cunningham as-is and ride it out. Another thing that is crucial is crew weight. Keeping it together and close makes hiking more effective.
With the mast settings the same as medium air conditions, it allows for depth in the mainsail while keeping the backstay tight. Weight aft together hiking hard is a good look. When changing gears, it’s important to define your modes and make adjustments. It’s very important to stay powered up and transition through the modes.
Ask yourself: “What mode do we want to be in?”
- Height mode,
- normal mode (balanced and going well through the water),
- Or fast mode
What are the changes you have to make in the back of the boat to accomplish the different modes?
Trimmers typically call the speed, the tactician may override in certain instances. The driver has the mainsheet and backstay, the trimmer adjusts the genoa sheet accordingly, it’s a constant dialog. Together you are always making sure the boat is going full speed. If you feel like the boat is stuck ease the sails out and get it going again. When the boat stalls the boat goes sideways.
“In Miami for the Midwinters,” John commented, “5.4-5.6 was our normal boat speed. We had our bow down, and our backstay on. We looked more for 5.8 to 6.2 on our velocitek once we got going. It’s nice to gauge where you want to be and see what that feels like.”
When should we switch to the blade?
Start out with the genoa if you are on the fence. Try moving the mast butt ⅜ to ½” forward, which is a conservative move. Make sure your tension is adequate. In medium breeze 29/31 could work well depending on the age and stiffness of your mast.
Ask yourself:
- Can we go upwind without the main flogging?
- Does the boat feel balanced?
- Are we slipping sideways?
- Is our speed a problem?
- If things are out of balance, speed is a struggle, and your main is flogging, then it may be time to switch to the blade.
Paul Abdullah commented,
“Understanding the ability of your trimmer is the real question. If you cannot tack the genoa efficiently, then you have your answer.”
The blade is good if the conditions are right for it. The genoa gives you the power and punch for getting through waves. The blade can be sufficient enough if breezy and flat water.
When you are on the edge of the blade in 14-16 knots, you might need to consider a step down on the shrouds and jib lead forward to power up the Jib. Keep in mind, using the genoa at the top end of the wind range means you have to pull the halyard on harder, move the lead back one as you go tighter on the shroud tension.
“On a shifty day with flat water, the blade could be the best weapon of choice. It varies for every team, so you have to do what is best for you, depending on what you are comfortable with,” said John.
Upwind strategy
- Find the pressure
- Set yourself up for the long term play
- Get into the pressure before making a decision on your next move
- It’s OK to hang in a thin lane as long as its the long tack
- Try to figure out what the long tack is before the start so you can position yourself on the starting line
- It can be a high risk to win the pin and you might not be able to tack so you have to recognize that early on
- Choosing the midline works well if the pin is crowded. It can also open doors later on up the beat.
Minimize your maneuvers
Tacking with the genoa in mid-range conditions will result in ¾ boat length loss. Chop and puffy conditions tacks are costly using the genoa especially. We made sure our tacks counted. If we wanted to make a tactical decision, we made sure we were in the best pressure first.
Downwind Strategy
- Balance crew weight
- Get around the windward mark and ask yourself: do we want to stay high or go low? After the offset, are we jibing early?
- All things should be openly discussed as the pole is being put on and you have almost arrived to the offset.
- Steer clear of potential issues
- Identify: Is there anyone around us? Are we playing defense? Recognizing scenarios early and talking about it is the key to a successful windward mark rounding and setting up for a good downwind.
Settling in for the Downwind Leg
After the kite is set, it’s important to get settled in. Depending on location, remember to check for weeds. If it’s windy, send the lightest person back to do this. It is hard to drive and check for weeds, especially in heavier air conditions.
Crew weight Downwind
- Changes with weight will help steer the boat. The trimmer and driver are mostly in the same spots all the time downwind. Driver plays the main, sits to leeward. Trimmer stands up on the deck to trim.
- Tacticians can take the guy and face outboard to help trimmer.
- If it lightens up, the tactician would go below but generally stands in the companionway.
- Bow guy went side to side as needed, twings could also move with bowman as both are more agile.
- Keep your weight outboard out to the sides.
- Keep the boat flat so if the wind increases, there is no risk of the driver losing steering due to instability.
- If it is super windy you may consider two forward crew sitting to leeward to help balance.
“Weather heel downwind pole back is my favorite,” John said. “It’s fast.”
What Gate to Choose?
- Find the path of least resistance.
- Figure out which side is lifted, and try to round the side that allows you to immediately be on the long tack.
- Ask yourself: where’s the competition and where is there less traffic?
Tips for Breezy Conditions Downwind
- Bring both twings down, especially on the jibes.
- Stacking the leeward (bow and mast) rail is a huge weapon in breeze downwind. Too much weather heel is out of control.
- Vang on- be all over it. You need more than normal if it’s breeze-on conditions.
- Backstay on just a little for stability.
- Broad reach more, don’t sail DDW in puffs or by the lee if things are getting dicey.
For the Miami Midwinters, the winners used North Sails Fathead mainsail, DX-7TT Genoa, SRB jib, and FR2 spinnaker . Have questions about optimizing your inventory? Get in touch with a North Sails J/24 expert today .
Thank you Chris Howell for your support of the class on and off the water!
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COMMENTS
Down wind leg from Kerama Islands to Kadena Marina, Okinawa, Japan.
Converting a J24 to a trimaran is preserving the worst features of both types. You have the high wetted surface of the floats and the beam of the monohull. You've refurbished the J24 - you now have a nice monohull. If you want a trimaran, sell the J and get a trimaran. Despite the common cliche, a trimaran is not really "a monohull with ...
Recognized as an international class by World Sailing, the J/24 has been selected for use in nearly every major international championship, including the PanAm Games, World Sailing Games, and Nations Cup. The J/24 is the world's most popular keelboat class, with over 5,500 boats built and over 50,000 people actively sailing in more than 150 ...
Anodized aluminum boom with Harken 5:1 internal outhaul and adjustable reef line. Complete running rigging package. Deck Hardware. (2) Two speed primary winches mounted on molded winch pads with. Winch handle and plastic holder. (2) black anodized jib tracks, with adjustment holes and two jib block on cars. (2) black anodized genoa tracks, with ...
International J/24 One-Design Class. There are currently 5,500 J/24s sailing in 150 fleets in 40+ countries, with large J/24 fleets existing in North America, Europe, Australia, and South America. The J/24 Class and its builders have provided J/24s for women's and men's regattas for over 35 years.
The J/24 was originally designed to sail at a displacement of 2,800 pounds. The class minimum was later increased to 3,100. The original single axle trailer provide as a factory option was barely adequate for the intended, 2,800 pound boat, and totally inadequate for a fully loaded boat.
A look 3 YouTube videos featuring a J-24 sailboat that has been converted into a trimaran using Hobie 20 hulls +(44) 01590 619315 The online community for enthusiasts of trailerable (and cartopable) trimarans [email protected]
LENGTH: Traditionally, LOA (length over all) equaled hull length. Today, many builders use LOA to include rail overhangs, bowsprits, etc. and LOD (length on deck) for hull length. That said, LOA may still mean LOD if the builder is being honest and using accepted industry standards developed by groups like the ABYC (American Boat and Yacht Council).
J/24. The J/24 is an international One-Design and Midget Ocean Racing Club trailerable keelboat class built by J/Boats and defined by World Sailing. [ 1] The J/24 was created to fulfill the diverse needs of recreational sailors such as cruising, one design racing, day sailing, and handicap racing. [ 2][ 3][ 4] The J/24 class has more than ...
J/24 Sailboat. The J/24 sailboat is a legacy of Rod Johnstone's J/Boats. It is an immensely popular one-design keelboat that was built in 1977. After being recognized by World Sailing (WS), more than 5,500 units of the J/24 sailed internationally. Its body is predominantly composed of fiberglass that gives it a sleek, high-end look.
Hobie/J24 Trimaran Conversion. Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by Delane, Apr 17, 2005. ... What is the latest in your J24/Hobie conversion. This type of construction keeps me out of the bars, that is why every trimaran is required to have a fully stocked bar.
Hobie/J24 Trimaran Conversion. Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by Delane, Apr 17, 2005. ... When the J24's rig was designed it was designed for the very limited initial stability of a keel boat plus a few hundred pounds of moveable ballast (the crew). This determined everything. It determined the size of the shrouds, the size of the ...
The first is pure boat speed. The J/24 is a stiff boat with lots of horsepower and sailing length. The hull lines are very clean and wetter surface is at a minimum. The J/24 is not an ultra-light. It has a D/L ratio of 150, which puts it just on the edge of "medium."
J/24 RACING TIPS FOR ALL CONDITIONS Racing Takeaways: The 2021 Midwinter Championship 📸 Chris Howell The 2021 Midwinter Championship in Miami, FL supplied a variety of conditions for the 29-boat fleet. North Experts with the help of Midwinters skipper John Mollicone broke down each race day by wind speed and explain th.
Things really took off with the first J/24 Midwinters in 1978. Twenty J/24s came to Key West, Fla., for the event that would unofficially rocket the J/24 into its 20-year orbit. It was the first time the boat had been put under the microscope of such prominent dinghy, big boat and Olympic sailors as Scott Allen, Bob Barton, Gordy Bowers, Vince ...
Hobie/J24 Trimaran Conversion. ... Decided to use a standard J-24 Main, 110% Roller Furler and utilize water stays in addition to the existing new rigging. Once the position of the foil section is decided, I plan to butt weld a 25mm steel rod to the flat 4mm steel plate. Next fiberglass the foil section and glue to the rod (gussets included ...
J24 preowned sailboats for sale by owner. J24 used sailboats for sale by owner.
4'. Maryland. $12,000. Description: Turn Key J/24 for sale located in Annapolis, MD for $12,000. Hull #3293 "Wild Card". The boat was meticulously cared for, is in great condition and is ready for the next owner to start collecting trophies. Includes long list of upgrades and equipment as well as a long list of wins in the Mid Atlantic theatre.
New Trimaran. Here is a pic of my "new" trimaran named "Tri Again". 18 feet of Hobie 18 main hull, with two 5M GCat hulls serving as amas. The boat trailers at 8.5ft beam and then telescopes to 16ft beam for sailing. Here is a pic, fully rigged with the Hobie 16 mast and ready for fitting the sails from a donor Hobie 16.
Hobie/J24 Trimaran Conversion. Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by Delane, Apr 17, 2005. ... Build a Trimaran from an Australian Surf Boat and Hobiecat. Chris71, Mar 11, 2021, in forum: Multihulls. Replies: 17 Views: 6,398. buzzman Jun 30, 2021. Hobie 18F centerboard box repair? ...
J24 preowned sailboats for sale by owner. J24 used sailboats for sale by owner.
Hobie/J24 Trimaran Conversion. Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by Delane, Apr 17, 2005. Page 4 of 11 < Prev 1 ... The J24 can plane as a mono with all that extra weight of the keel. Tris are traditionally built with very narrow hulls for all the obvious reasons... but what will be the reality of having an central hull with a bigger planning ...