A guest post from Dave Zeiger on a VolksCruising TriloBoat...

A VolksCruising, Blue Water TriloBoat
By Dave Zeiger at ​triloboats.blogspot.com

Full disclosure... Anke and my blue water experience is entirely vicarious. I do not recommend a TriloBoat to venture far offshore as I lack blue-water performance data.

I can confidently say a TriloBoat hull wouldn’t be the ​worst​ choice. A good design, built robustly and competently handled, they should survive anything a similar vessel can, and do so more comfortably than many.

In a VolksCruiser, I look for:

• Tolerably small ​(small is beautiful! - ​E.F.Schumacher​)
• Simple hull shape ​(easily lofted, easily built)
• Simple construction ​(straightforward build from common materials)
• Simple interior​ (avoid complicated spaces, joinery or detail)
• Simple, durable finish​ (wipe-down, if possible; avoid varnish)
• Simple, basic systems​ (avoid unnecessary, complex, unrepairable)
• Simple, robust gear​ (good quality, fix-it-yourself)
• Simple, robust rig​ (low stress, fail-safer)

It is the ​combined ​economies of these points that keep overall costs down, and often make the difference between ​Go Now ​and ​Go Never.

Our personal approaches add:

• Flat bottom​ (easiest build, greatest volume/displacement on given dimensions)
• Square sections​ (easiest build, highest form stability / volume / displacement, reduces ballast)
• Ultra shoal draft​ (offers a hundred harbors to every deep one)
• Outboard rudder​ (external, inexpensive, easy maintenance)
• Retractable Lateral Resistance​ (lee-, center-, dagger or off-center boards (our fave)
• Free standing, junk rig​ (inexpensive, simple to use, maintainable with DIY materials, fail-safer)
• Copper plating​ (long lasting, non-toxic anti-fouling, mechanical protection... works particularly well with flat bottoms and panel designs)

And last, but not least:

• Move aboard ​(If you don’t, let’s face it; our vessel is an expensive toy)

WAYWARD

Our current TriloBoat, WAYWARD at 32 x 8 x 1-1.5 feet, represents our state-of-the-art nearshore ​VolksCruiser thinking for two. We sail and scull engine-free in Southeast Alaska.

Her layout... large cutouts in interior bulkheads... total cabin space is 20ft x 8ft... ample for two:

Adjacency is arranged for the following reasons...

• Bunk - Salon: The bunk is at the same height as salon seats, extending the social space. The dinette may be broken down and gangway planked over to form a large, flat interior platform for projects or flexi-space mode with extra storage under.
• Salon - Galley - Cockpit: The galley can service both the salon and cockpit without isolating the cook. Food and beverages can be handed either direction with less risk of spill.
• Galley - Cockpit: In addition, the galley serves as a pilot house. Remote steering is simplified by adjacency. We can sit on the counters with a 360deg view, and access the cockpit directly when necessary. The galley has standing headroom, which allows a wet-locker handy to the companionway. Anke can stand; I sit in the salon.

Her rig is a version of our preferred​ junk rig​. It’s DIY, cheap and easy for a couple to handle blow high, blow low and in the dark o’ night.

Factoring in Blue Water

I believe any vessel that ventures offshore should be prepared to be caught in worst-case weather.

In brief, I accept the sea-keeping proof-of-concepts for shoal draft provided by ​Monroe’s EGRET and ​Bolger’s ROMP​. They rise over and skitter away from seas rather than shoulder through them and absorb impact. They and others have been proven in hurricane conditions. ​Wise’s LMII​ and others do the same for flat-bottomed hulls.

My personal order for storm tactics is to ​evade, heave-to, run off, set ​Jordan Series Drogue​ from stern. I’d prefer the bow, but the US Coast Guard doesn’t recommend it (with bow-deployed drag devices, the hull risks being turned sideways and rolled by breaking seas).

Consequential parameters include...

• Self-righting
• Avoid deep, broach-prone lateral resistance
• Favor retractable lateral resistance (including rudder)
• Encourage downwind tracking (fixed aft skeg)
• Water shedding cockpit
• Poop resistant aft ​everything​ (including rudder)

A barge / scow’s generally lighter weight (less acceleration down a wave face) and immenseforward reserve buoyancy (anti-plunging) should, I believe, reduce risk of pitch-poling.

In designing a seagoing Volkscruiser, I would likely work from ​a TriloBoat toward Yann Quenet’s SKROWL concept​, preserving construction simplicity where I could. But, for the sake of discussion, let’s look at ​minimal ​changes to the full TriloBoat formula.

To take a TriloBoat offshore I’d include the following design features:

• Heavy bottom ​and ​watertight pilot-house ​(when closed up).
• Roll up the bow​ to ease plunging contact with green water.
• Aft skeg​ for aft lateral resistance in aid of downwind tracking.
• Layden chine runners ​and ​forward daggerboard​ for no-trip/broach lateral resistance.
• Full positive buoyancy​, with ​water-tight bulkheads​ isolating cabin from holds.
• Lower pilot house and rake its leading edge.
• Shutter large windows​ with track-sliding and bolt-down aluminum plate.
• Hollow, sealed, lightweight masts​ (that resist roll-over and can be raised and lowered at sea), supported by​ running shrouds.
• Reinforced mast tabernacles with splayed struts.
• Reinforced holdfasts, fairleads and winch(es) for Jordan Series Drogues.
• Increased ventilation (can’t rely on windows/hatches/doors) with immersion proof designs.
• Water tanks (vs. cannisters) and/or ​advanced solar still​.
• Lee cloths in bunk, port and s’brd, and settee..
• Windvane steering.
• Wafer dinghy​ stowed flat on the deck crown.

In the following cartoon, I’ve drawn a retractable daggerboard and balanced, kick-up rudder to augment the mid-ships ​Layden Chine Runners​. I’m guessing the daggerboard wouldn’t need to be lowered to max, as shown, in order to be effective.

It needs more thought, over all, but I present this hopeful monster for your consideration...

Thoughts on Construction

Our​ lower end, ply-foam-ply approach for WAYWARD​ cost about $10K in 2014 to finish the hull, superstructure and interior (including rent, shipping, tools, etc.). We built remote... savings from scrounging, shopping and transport could reach 25%? Copper plating doubled that to $20K.

At the higher end, glass / foam composites with vacuum bag resin infusion are not as scary as they sound. Materials are initially more expensive, but like copper, prorate well over a long period of time. Maintenance effort and costs drop. I’m guessing it might add another $5K?

If venturing offshore, I would consider a rot-proof hull to be a good investment in on-board insurance. Not like you can pull over for a pit stop.

*****

If Anke and I were to go to sea, I think a vessel with a TriloBoat foundation would be a contender. We can build it with our skills and resources. I ​believe​ we’d be at least as safe at sea as most boats of a size.

As the Pardeys sing it...​ Go Small, Go Simple, Go NOW!

For more thoughts along these lines, the following are a start:

http://abargeinthemaking.blogspot.com/2013/11/baseline-design-against-which-all.html
http://abargeinthemaking.blogspot.com/2013/11/considering-curvier-dogs.html
http://triloboats.blogspot.com/2020/01/fail-safer-hull-design.html