The Concept
Planned for fast ocean voyaging, these prototype designs have been configured with a a skeg hung rudder and a relatively shoal draft fin keel with a ballast bulb.
The purpose of the bulb is in order to concentrate the ballast as well as to provide an 'end-plate' effect for the fin keel. The skeg hung rudder in combination with this kind of keel will provide excellent windward ability and also accurate tracking at sea.
Aluminum for the hull, deck and house structures would be optimum, although steel would also be possible. The radius chine shape is easy to achieve, and allows plating the majority of the surfaces with flat panel material.
These prototypes illustrate the flexibility inherent in computer modeling. The models illustrated here have been developed directly from the 96' Zebulun design, a fast sailing charter schooner.
The Interior
A variety of interiors would fit in these boats. So-far the 45 footer is planned to have sleeping for four, a generous galley / saloon, and a private owner's cabin, while the 60 footer would have private sleeping for six.
The Rig
The ketch rig has been preliminarily chosen for the 60 footer, and the sloop rig for the 45 footer.
The ketch rig on the larger craft provides excellent ocean cruising benefits, yields a generous sail area, provides a variety of well-balanced sail combinations, and allows the sails to be a more manageable size. The mains'l - the largest sail - is well inboard where it can be handled with the greatest safety. The ketch rig would be configured nearly the same as the
Sonja 50 Preliminary Sail Plan, though slightly larger.
The sloop rig on the smaller craft would be of the same type. The sloop rig allows the boom to be proportionately longer and the mast proportionately taller. This encourages a slightly deeper keel, and provides just a bit better windward ability.
Being a prototype, there are any number of combinations that would be equally possible, not only with the rig but also with the hull form, the interior, the preferred materials and so on... This kind of flexibility is the key benefit of working with a prototype or new design.
