I would think it would be obvious that the beams would be straight unless the benefit of curved (arched beams) locked at 8'-6" could provide an advantage superior to the advantage gained by increasing the width of the platform with a extendible beams. Let form follow function.

Bob

Hello Jake and Gary-

There is a price to pay for wide beamed boats in my experience. When I first bought my FMS 20[restickered Supercat 20 by Boston Whaler according to the rep who found the boat for me in Jupiter, Fla.] in 1981. It had an expandable trailer with a winch to spread it out and pull it together. Unless you greased the pulleys everytime this trailer would bind. The trailer I have for my ARC22 is expandable but has no cables. You simply pick up a hull and walk it out. It takes a couple of pulls on each end to get a hull fully out but its alot easier than the one with cables. It aligns well most of the time. I usually put it together singlehanded because I always pay close attention to details. It takes awhile to complete the task. I have a place where I can leave it on the trailer fully assembled thats close to the lake. Don Caldwell has nade a tilt trailer for his SC20. He said he can be on the water in 45 minutes which is very quick. I may get one of those myself. There's nothing like sailing a wide beamed boat once you get a chance to try it... you won't want to go back.

thom

Telescoping beams work but it is hard to say that they are user friendly. I was always finding excuses not to trailer the SC21 because I disliked the system so much. It jams easily with sand, the bolts were difficult to remove, parts got lost...

The reason I favor some kind of swinging beam system is that it could also be used in the water. Maybe somehting like the X folding beams shown in the last MM, page 20 (Cat 2 Fold). It doesn't need to lower the mast to fold.

Hi All

Good posts ,

Raced the H-21 for a year and traveled around the country with it for events ,-
The telescoping beams were not a problem at all ,--though you needed to be carefull around sand as it would cause binding .-We generally set up in parking lots or grass areas.
The added wings to the extended beam were great also ,though you had to be sure to tie them in ,
the spin block was mounted on the wing end and could be pulled out by the force which would result in a wing flying around at the end on a spin sheet line ,-
The physics problem of the 21 was its huge overall weight,
the comptip mast was very heavy also , to lift and take down .
quick story -
On one mast take down in Newport ,I had gotten a large gash on my hand during Sat races that required stitches ,
we raced Sun ,-me with a duct taped right hand in high winds and a huge chop from enormous amounts of boat traffic from spectators and the jazz festival going on .
With the mast that heavy and tall and one hand good was a bad combination , half way down the base popped off its base and started down pivoting on my shoulder with me fighting it the whole way ,---For some reason the gr crew thought they could catch it before it hit ,--yelled let it go ,--but too late ,--they ended up with a fractured wrist . -Rough wek for al of us.
We had one on a trap wire on each side ,--but from then on we always attached a rope and winch .

Do really appreciate the light C F masts available to use now ,-hopefully costs will continue to come down for them .


Wanted to comment on the rules aspect and how that effects boat design also ,-for cats though ,not monos .
Will add a post there in re -.

It is too bad that the system used for the Shark catamaran has not been adapted to others. It's a 20-foot-long, 10-foot-wide boat. It folds up in the middle so it looks kind of like a long teepee on the trailer. The folding and unfolding only takes a few minutes. I'm sure there must be some reason why it doesn't work for other boats, since no others have used it. The new Sharks weigh in at minimum weight of (I think) 450 lbs. Maybe the folding system only works because of the hard deck instead of trampoline? Oughta get Shark Builder John Rogers on here to comment. Always seemed to me like a better option than telescope or tilt.

Mary,
Are Sharks still built from molded plywood? It may be that with more modern materials they could weigh in at 400 lbs., as good or better than most 20 footers.
David