Experimental Multihull and Family Daysailer

Now let's take a look at two very contrasting ways to get out on the water easily.

Steve Curtiss is a mechanical engineer in Los Altos, California, and he has been working on a wacky little boat he currently calls his "Thinghy." It's a hybrid type trimaran/windsurfer that Steve feels combines the best performance elements of wind surfing and monohulls using the Laser dinghy as a standard for comparison. The project is still in prototype phase and I usually shy away from reviewing projects like this but in this case the little M3 is so interesting I thought it might provide some fun contrast for this series of reviews. I think this boat has some promise.

Everything is different about this boat. The center hull is a windsurfer-type hull with concave deadrise. The amas are knifelike and placed well aft on the craft. The driver sits on a seat with his CG about 3.1 feet off centerline compared to 2.2 feet for the Laser. The rotomolded polyethylene hulls can be broken down for transport so that no piece weighs more than 44 pounds.

It's basically a windsurfer rig with a mast for support and the mast is stepped on the stern of the center hull directly onto the aluminum seat frame. This requires some shrouds as the prototype pictures show. Sheeting is accomplished by two push-and-pull rods mounted on the wishbone boom.

The ability to both pull and push the boom makes for instantaneous boom angle control and this is very helpful in heavy air. You can jibe the M3 like a windsurfer, around the outside or you can jibe it inside, conventionally. If you jibe outside you will, for a moment, have no sheet to hang onto. Both sail size and ama size can be varied to suit sailors of different weights and abilities.

Why would you even want a boat like this? Maybe it has to do with the speed-to-money ratio. Steve says his M3 will be considerably cheaper than a Laser and able to outperform it. You will get very wet on this minitri so you had better include the cost of wetsuit or drysuit into the boat cost.

But, if you are not the M3 type maybe this new Catalina 14.2 will be more to your taste. Designed by Gerry Douglas and his crew of designers at Catalina, the 14.2 offers an excellent boat for beginners or a family who wants to get under sail quickly.

The most interesting thing about this design is that it comes in both centerboard and keel versions. The keel version has a 230-pound keel drawing 2 feet. This is ideal for those who can leave their dinghy on a dock and want some extra stability. You can still hike all you like if you're in the mood. Given the dynamics of shifting crew weights, it is not reasonable to think of this dinghy as self-righting but the lead keel will certainly help keep you out of capsize trouble.

If you need to haul the boat onto the beach or a trailer you can go with the centerboard model. The cockpit is self-bailing and this is unusual on a small boat.

The rig is a simple sloop type with a boom high enough not to provide a danger for beginners. There is a reason it's called the "boom." The jib has some overlap to it and roller furling is offered as an option. The material I have also shows the 14.2 with the Gary Hoyt Smart Rig. Gerry says the Smart Rig is significantly faster off the wind but not as fast upwind as a standard rig. The boom is auto-vanging and because the boom is not attached to the mast you can roll the mainsail up around the mast for furling.

Mom, Dad and two small kids could pack a lunch and a bucket, get under way in 9 minutes, and spend all day having fun in this little boat.