Professional BoatBuilder - December-January 2018

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2018 7

AIRMAR

• Install during production now... add Mix & Match cable to meet any sonar
  brand later.


• Housings let installers adjust the angle at which the transducer sits to easily
  accommodate the hull dead rise angles up to 22º.


• Models available for all hull types and performance requirements.


• For use with solid berglass hulls only.


• Expert advice on proper, ecient installation for new and retrot installations.

makes it

, DEFINING CHIRP TECHNOLOGY

In-Hull Chirp-ready transducers for all sonar

brands with no cutting or drilling during install

eas

M135M

P95M

800-543-

as a very shallow jibing board at the

bow of the ama underwater. For some

years now, there have been several ref-

erences to this windward ability in the

comments on my website, http://www.small

tridesign.com, under “What sailors

are saying,” so readers are invited to

check it out.

All these observations have guided

me in the development of the W

ama hulls, and all I can positively con-

 rm to Marples and other readers is

that they do work as intended, with

low-leeway being only one of several

advantages. As to de ning the fuzzy

science that explains this, I can only

o er the ski analogy or thinking of it

trials, about two-thirds of them have

remarked on how negligible the leeway

seems to be. So at this point, I have no

doubt that the ama hull shapes I have

developed actually do work.

Now the question, through whatever

fuzzy science we can come up with, is

why? First, realize that it’s only the  rst

few inches of ama depth that are truly

asymmetrical.  e decks themselves

are symmetrical, and there’s no large

exterior bow wave either. So I see the

slight curvature presented to the

oncoming water more in the way a

curved ski develops a side force when

carving turns. Water passes the inboard

 at side in a parallel  ow with no appar-

ent side displacement.

As to the question of toe-in, I may

be one of the only tri designers to use

it, but I came to this by accident. Back

in ’89 just before I bought her, Magic

Hempel was shipwrecked during the

Swi sure Race in the Paci c Northwest

when a waterstay  tting failed, causing

the main aluminum beam to buckle

at the hull. Kurt Hughes bought her

inexpensively, and to get her back in

the water fast and keep the repair sim-

ple, he had about 2" (51mm) cut out of

the beam, and with a sleeve, had the

beam welded up but now 2" short on

one side. Over the 23' (7m) length of

the ama it was just not visible—until

you put a tape measure to the beam.

 is I did a couple of years a er own-

ing her when trying to explain to

myself just why the boat seemed to

climb better to windward on that tack.

I then came to realize that many tri-

marans actually sail with their ama

bows pointed outward, as they are

o en set up parallel to the main hull

centerline when measured at the deck.

But when you take into account the

typical 10° of inward inclination of

many ama hulls and the fact that the

stem is much higher than the stern,

the actual centerline at the waterline is

really pointing outward. All my trima-

ran designs now have toe-in to correct

for this, as well as a little more to push

upwind a bit. (Too much would cause

excessive drag, of course, as did a jib-

ing board I created way back in ’54.)

Letters170-AdFinal.indd 7 10/31/17 11:31 AM