Hulls, of course, are the same length for both A-Class and 18-squares, and in my file I found that plans for building A-class hulls are available from Gougeon Brothers in Bay City, Michigan and also from Greg Goodall in Australia.
Very few 18 sq have been built in the last 10 years. The ones that have been built, have been very very fast. They have about the same upwind and downwind speed (hullspeed).
Keep in mind these boats are top quality with carbon or carbon wood hulls; carbon mast and beams; top quality rudders and boards and custom sails.
There was or is a fleet of 18-squares in North Carolina. If you want a couple of contacts, e-mail me. Maybe somebody there has plans or knows where to get them.
Re: 18 Sq plans
[Re: Mary]
#28031 01/23/0410:14 AM01/23/0410:14 AM
When I spoke to him, he spoke of the 18sq days in the past tense as in "we used to sail boats called 18 squares because they had 18 square meters of sail."
I inferred that this meant he no longer participated. Glad to see I was wrong.
Plans are available (I think) through Gougeon Brothers plan service, but hull is really an "A" Boat design - and needs a bit more displacement to support wider beam and bigger rig. John Lindahl lives in Fennville Michigan and you can probably do a search and contact him directly. Denis Palin from Houston Texas is another who had recently build an 18 Square. Bobby Bergstedt in New Jersey might still have contact with Brad Johannson who was also a custom builder. NACRA ended 18 Square production in the late 1980's - early 1990's due to slow sales and an influx of "custom" boats. Originally they were SolCat hulls, then they moved to the 5.2 hulls at 10 feet of beam, and as the class grew, the Roland Brothers started building their own hulls called NACRA which eventually were bought out by Performance Catamarans (Frank Butler). Class sails were made by Skip Elliott, Henry Bossett and Randy Smyth - with a few home-growns ones included. Coyote molds were purchased and produced for a short period of time in Texas by Chris Kilbourn (last phone number I have for him is 214-224-8441 - work number). Not sure what he did with the molds. Gino Morelli and a few other west coast sailors did some one-off's back in the early 1980's - but never knew if they kept the molds or not.
The 18 Square IS NOT a 5.5 - or a 5.8 set of hulls.
They are specifically designed 18 foot long and the beams started at 10 feet and grew to 13 feet, then settled back at 11-12 feet. Masts were usually 30-32 feet and mainsail was 18 sq. meters or about 194 square feet. Weight of boats ran from ultra-light 260 lbs. up to about 400 for glass production boats. Class had Category 1 and 2 and raced together. Solid Wing sails were allowed and WILD TURKEY owned by Craig Riley of Calfornia was our class "poster boat". Lack of new builders also contributed to the decline of the class. Boats were either taken apart or tilted for trailering. Large fleets were located in the North East, Michigan, Virginia, Florida, Texas and California. A few others were scattered around the country - Tennessee, Carolinas, and even South Dakota ! There was also a bit of 18 Square activity in Australia and in Europe for a time. Germany, specifically, had a group of Squares as did the U.K.
As former Class Secretary I welcome any questions.
REALLY a good definitive post on the 18 SQ .thanks DL saving that one. Would reiterate contacting John L ON THE HULL DESIGN and const. techniques and numerous aspects of any 18 sq project any sailor wanted to build or undertake. With 194 sq ft on taller mast section and the carrying power and resulting forces of added beam it takes more hull volume forward to counteract the greater sail forces produced . An A Class type hull would generally become overpowered in the upper wind range and tend to drive its bow down and into waves. John's LDC design and the Coyote 18 sqs had very flat full hull sections and plenty of volume forward for good reason . One problem they had with 10 or 11 ft beam was the boats tacked so fast they could never get across quickly enough. Followed John's development over a few years of building them , He tried a taller mast and sail in earlier years before winning the 18 sq Nationals finally . The taller mast he found was not ideal in gusting conditions were others with closer to 30 ft masts excellerated through gusts while he was up and down too often , beam was increased in earlier years also ,but found the boat designs that flew a hull earlier with less beam were faster , It was really a trial and error process in finding the right combination of beam mast sail componants to work together for average targeted wind speeds. John said that the biggest change since he was active in the A Class and 18sq is not hull building technique ,but all the great lightweight hardware and rigging componants that are available now. The CF masts and sail materials have improved as well . John developed a combination alum and top portion C F mast , a great innovation back then for the class.
Steve -recall your a larger sailor 220 plus ,like me ,so an A Class cat is not ideal ,-Interestingly John and others started in A Class cats then moved to the 18 sqs , they liked the unlimited beam aspect and thought the 18 sq formula had a wider appeal to a variety of sailors light or heavy. There are however very few 18 sq s being actively raced ,though a great singlehanded class concept.
Got a feeling I probably know you sail6000 ! Might want to compare this attachment with the one form my earlier post. The one in above post is a "stock" NACRA 18 Square.
This attachment is one of the Category 1 boats built by Brad Johanson.
Identified in the photo - At the bow = Fred Lemke (Then Michigan - Now Wisconsin) At the stern left to right: ...Duane McDaniels (Pontiac Michigan) ...Chris Cordes (Jacksonville Florida) ...Bobby Bergsted (Toms River New Jersey - and the "pilot" of this square
I think I have a set of line drawings at home that I will post later. One is the NACRA and the other is the COYOTE.
A look (attachment) of the deck of the Johanson boat. Note circular plywood plate for mast rotation, and also the steped, secondary tramp with curved traveller. Red & White stripe hulls peeking upper left is bow of Johns "old" 18 Square.
Thanks again for all the interesting posts and pics . A poster above -Kantz- mentioned me in a post so thought I should respond with added insights for Steve . You can click on a posters forum name and see their bio ,many inc their names etc etc . You can also send a private e -mail to another via forum ,-its a nice feature here as well ,-
Good to hear from you, pretty cold out there today ,just goofing off at work here on a TGIF afternoon, dreaming about sailing and racing ,as usual.
You know Claude? He's my bud. I'm going to tell him you said he was old. Actually, he has Dennis' old 18SQ that Dennis built and he (Claude) still races every year at CatFest.
There is an 18sq Fleet at the Lake Norman Yacht Club near Charlotte, NC. They have 10-15 boats. They usually only have 4-6 racing. They used to travel to Regattas, but they quit several years ago. That is why I got rid of my 18sq. The boats are all Nacras. They have all three different 5.5 hull constructions represented(stringer hulls, foam hulls, long tramp hulls). Nacra made 18sqs from their standard 5.5 uni hulls, or vice-versa(their website says so). The uni hulls have the bridle tangs on the outside of the bows. I have never heard of a third category. The portsmouth only has 2 listed.
You could build a Category 1(light) 18sq with A Class hulls. An F18HT could be converted to an 18sq.
This is another Class with no Class Association and unknown, missing Class rules.
It is a great sailing boat. When you are on the wire the visibility is terrific. The width makes it very resistant to flipping when hit by puffs. I trailered mine disassembled. I could assemble it alone, and be in the water, in less than an hour.
I have always wondered how they managed the wing sails. I would surely be afraid that a capsize would damage the wing. Also, if it was parked on the beach with the wing up, did the owner get any sleep at all ? I would be very afraid that a gust would hit the boat and capzise/damage it. Raising/lowering the wing every time like the C class ?
