Skoota 24
By Woods Designs www.sailingcatamarans.com
Introduction Power catamarans offer many significant advantages over monohull power boats. They are safer, due to their twin engines, high stability and self draining cockpit. They offer low wake and much improved fuel economy. They are comfortable under way with no slamming or broaching in waves and have excellent handling in a seaway while being very maneuverable in harbour. They do not roll when fishing or at anchor and are easy and safe to beach. They have more deck and interior space for a given length, not just because of their wide beam, but also because they have an essentially rectangular living space. Thus they do not have to be as big as a monohull to give the same interior room, performance and safety. Interior Skoota's short length helps keep costs and trailing weight down. (There is no point in having a trailable boat to save mooring fees if you need to buy a bigger car to tow it). Furthermore, not every country has the big wide roads like those found in North America. It is a centre cockpit design, so that everyone in the family can have some essential privacy. The aft cabin contains a 6ft 6in x 4ft double bunk for the parents, while the saloon has a dinette arrangement and thus two single bunks (each 6ft 6in x 2ft) for children in addition to space for a stove, counter top and sink. There is 4ft 6in headroom in the forward cabin (4ft in the aft cabin) with the hatches closed. With hatches open the forward cabin has 6ft headroom (5ft in the aft cabin). The cockpit tent and bimini are not shown on the drawings, but are an integral and essential part of the design. Not only does the tent give another room with full headroom, but also provides dry, private access between the cabins. During the day the toilet (portapotti) is used in the aft cabin, but at night it slides out into the cockpit locker so can be used by all on board (assuming the cockpit tent is in use). The hulls are only used for bulky storage (like an inflatable dinghy), fuel tanks and possibly bait/fish wells. The forward cockpit is a fun place to sit when underway, and, as it is between the bows, is much safer and drier than an ordinary bow rider. Performance Most power catamarans are planing boats, with all the disadvantages that the type implies. Furthermore they tend to have a narrow, 8ft beam for trailing, so that many of the advantages of the catamaran form are wasted. Skoota, on the other hand, uses semi displacement, non-planing, asymmetric hulls. The hulls are finer than those used on a sailing boat, because power boats always have power available to get over the hump speed, so low speed, wetted surface friction drag is less of an issue.
Tank testing has shown that there is significant extra drag caused by wave interactions between the hulls (up to 20% at certain speeds) if the hulls are close together. Thus, Skoota has widely spaced hulls, yet will still fit in a standard 14ft wide slip. The hull asymmetry helps fool the water into thinking the spacing is wider than it really is. The computer predicts a 12 knot cruising speed at 10mpg using a central 40hp outboard. Trailing The boat folds for trailing in the same revolutionary way that has been used very successfully for over 15 years on similar sized sailing catamarans (eg Wizard, Sango). In simple terms, the trailer is backed down the slip and as the hulls hit the water their buoyancy pushes them up, thus the boat unfolds automatically as it is launched. During retrieval the boat folds, again automatically, with this time gravity doing the work. The trailer itself is a simple flat bed with T-section supports to match the cuddy bottom. Flexible mudguards are used to help reduce overall height. A 4 wheel trailer is recommended. Final trailer details will depend on the country of use. Construction Not everyone can build complex shapes, but everyone can build in flat panels. So for mass appeal Skoota is built using conventional plywood-stringer-frame construction with all surfaces glass/epoxy sheathed. Fortunately this building method is still the cheapest and quickest. Because the boat is modular, it can be built in an ordinary garage (lengthened as necessary to build the hulls). Building in sections also has a psychological advantage, especially important for amateur builders, which is that it is quick to build each section, thus progress appears to be fast. Furthermore there is little fairing to do, just smoothing the glass joints. Conclusion The Skoota 24 offers: stability, low wake, the ability to maintain high speeds in rough conditions, superb directional stability, a self-draining cockpit, fully buoyant hulls for safety, fuel-efficiency, lots of interior space, low speed maneuverability and the security of twin engines. A clear winner by anyone's standards.
Materials List and Weight Estimate 6mm ply 33 sheets (8ft x 4ft sheets of Gaboon/Okume) 9mm ply 9 sheets Timber 48kgs Epoxy/fastenings 53kgs Glass (sheathing and joints) 21kgs Engines, tanks/controls 155kgs Safety gear 43kgs Crew (4 people plus personal gear) 400kgs Fuel 52kgs Total Approx 1180kgs Hydrostatics LOA 7.52m LWL 7.25m BOA 3.95m BWL (per hull) 0.5m Draft (hull) 0.27m Freeboard (hull max) 0.878m Cp 0.688 VCG 0.75m above WL LCB 4.37m aft of stem WSA 10.05sqm Disp empty 680kgs Disp loaded 1190kgs
All text and drawings Copyright Woods Designs 2010 Woods Designs Foss Quay Millbrook Torpoint Cornwall PL10 1EN UK www.sailingcatamarans.com
LOA 7.52m LWL 7.25m BOA 3.95m BWL 0.5m Empty Displacement 680Kgs Loaded Displacement 1190Kgs
Engine HP ) 1 x 40hp Cruising Speed 10 - 14 knots Fuel Consumption 10 mpg at 10 knots Headroom 1.35m (plus lifting hatches) Berths 2 single, 1 double
24ft Trailable Power Catamaran SKOOTA 24 Copyright WOODS DESIGNS 2010 www.sailingcatamarans.com
Fuel Tank
Stowage Locker Fish well
Aft beam
Wheel
Lifting cabin hatch
Lifting cabin hatch
Fwd beam
Walkway
Forward cockpit
Cockpit tent/rigid bimini not shown for clarity Deck Lkr portapotti access Walkway
Aft beam
Fuel Tank
Stowage Locker Fish well
24ft Trailable Power Catamaran SKOOTA 24 Copyright WOODS DESIGNS 2010 www.sailingcatamarans.com
Deck Layout
Fwd beam
2in x 1in chine stringer Transom reinforcing to suit outboard engine
2in x 1in gunwale
WL
WL
11/2in x 1in stringers
glass tape/epoxy chine joints
Hull Side View
6mm ply bulkheads 2in x 1in bulkhead framing
Hollow ply/timber box beam, but solid in way of beam pivot bolts and at inner end
9mm ply deck 11/2in x 1in deck stringer
6mm ply cabin sides with 2in x 1in framing 2in x 1in gunwale
CL
CL
6mm ply hull side 20mm (3/4in) aluminium pivot bolt fit through beam and beam box 1 off per beam
6mm ply hull side Beam in black Beam box in red
WL
11/2in x 1in stringers
WL
9mm ply
Typical Beam Connections at pivot bolt
3/8in dia beam bolt weld to 1/8in plate bolt to beam box 3/16in st steel plate held down by nut
WL
WL
glass tape/epoxy chine joints
9mm ply keel panel
Typical Cuddy Cross Section
NOTE: All glue to be epoxy, All inner ply surfaces to be epoxy coated All outer ply surfaces to be sheathed with 6oz (200g) cloth
Typical Hull Cross Section
Beam in black Beam box in red
Typical Beam Connections at inner end beam
24ft Trailable Power Catamaran SKOOTA 24 Copyright WOODS DESIGNS 2010 www.sailingcatamarans.com
Typical Construction Details
CL
Seat Seat
Section 4
Section 3
Section 2
Section 1
Fwd cockpit sole
WL Section 1 CL
Shelf and Lkrs Stowage and cables Headroom 1.35m 1.8m with hatch raised
WL
CL CL
Cooker, sink and table Portapotti under seat
Forward cockpit
Stowage under seats
WL Section 2 CL
WL
CL
Fuel tanks P and S
Bulky stowage P and S
Watertight compartments under, fwd and aft of lkrs
Stowage and cables
Portapotti under seat
WL
Headroom 1.35m
WL Section 3
Headroom 1.2m
Forward cockpit
CL
Stowage under seats Cooker, sink Headroom 1.2m 1.5m with hatch raised Portapotti slides into cabin when bed is folded away
WL
WL
24ft Trailable Power Catamaran SKOOTA 24 Copyright WOODS DESIGNS 2010 www.sailingcatamarans.com
WL Section 4
Shelf and Lkrs
WL
General Arrangement Interior
2.9m (9ft 6in) approx from road to top of cabin Trailer shown in red 8ft width in yellow
24ft Trailable Power Catamaran SKOOTA 24 Copyright WOODS DESIGNS 2010 www.sailingcatamarans.com
Hull Folding System
2.9m (9ft 6in) approx from road to top of cabin Trailer shown in red 8ft width in yellow NOTE: Trailer design depends in part on regulations in country of use
24ft Trailable Power Catamaran SKOOTA 24 Copyright WOODS DESIGNS 2010 www.sailingcatamarans.com
Basic Trailer Concept
DWL
DWL
Inner hull side
DWL
DWL
Outer hull side
Outer hull side
CL
Inner hull side
24ft Trailable Power Catamaran SKOOTA 24 Copyright WOODS DESIGNS 2010 www.sailingcatamarans.com
Lines Plan
CL
CL
DWL
DWL
DWL
DWL
Forward Sections
Aft Sections
NOTE: Red lines are inner hull side Blue lines are outer hull side NOTE: not all frames ares shown on this study plan!
24ft Trailable Power Catamaran SKOOTA 24 Copyright WOODS DESIGNS 2010 www.sailingcatamarans.com
Body Plan
