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PostPosted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 7:34 am 
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Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2016 4:14 am
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I had an idea of connecting to Tandem Islands together. Remove both amas and akas from both tandem Islands. Design two new akas to connect the two kayaks together at The X bars.
It's now a catamaran. Two main sails, two Spinnakers and seats 4.
Has anybody ever done this if so, I'd like to know the results.

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 12:06 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
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Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
Cool concept, it wouldn't take much effort to tie the sails and rudders with common lightweight crossbars. I know with our TI we have used it as a party barge with a pack of Hobies ( all with mirage drives) all grouped together, you would-be amazed how far you can go in no wind with that many peddlers.
We have also towed many TI's, by powersailing then towing/sailing the second (and sometime a third) TI behind the mother boat ( the one with the outboards), the following boats exploit the apparent wind created by the first boat, with very little speed loss, (we pull the whole pack at 8mph upwind, however our normal 60-80 mpg kinda goes out the window of course).
I would design a short very flexible cross bar, (with a tramp) connecting the hulls (keeping the knuckles in the design), then using ropes/ lines to tie the boats together in a truss type fashion. I would keep the outermost AMA's and tramps on so I could seat 8, (lol I got a big family, we seat 6 now at times currently).
Being our only family boat, most of the time our TI never had enough capacity. Something like that would make the perfect family boat, especially around here.
I would at certain times bring along the second set of AMA's so once at the remote island destination (sometime 5-10 miles away) the boats could be split again and go their separate ways, ( which is kind of what we did with ours often).
In our case we had twin big ole outboards, in this case I would simply mount one on each hull (inboard, between the two hulls).
Seriously if I had thought of it I would have done it, pretty cool idea.
Hobie could easily do this as a brand new 'green' family adventure line to compete with the powerboats and ribs, many of which are in the $30-40 grand range) for family weekend adventures, healthy and green to boot (lol).

Matt, you should run this one up the flagpole, set aside your hardcore man vs sea sailing hat just for a moment, and think about green family fun boat, (with optional ultra high efficiency tilt up outboards that get 50-60 mpg as an option for us not so physical or man vs sea types).
Yea I know sounds insane, ( lol)
FE


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 3:51 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2007 9:21 pm
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Location: Central Florida
We had posts about this years (6-9) ago with the original AI's but quickly decided the stress from two hulls riding different parts of different waves would be too great. They would have to be built much sturdier like a cat to not breakup in "conditions".

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 7:51 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
Posts: 3058
Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
Yea Unless it was a very flexible say 1/2" x 3" very flexible fiberglass or twin hinged aluminum braces mounted horizontally on the ends of the knuckles, then cross braced with a series of ropes forming a type of truss holding everything together. You could easily lift one bow a foot or two high with the other staying in the water.

Cool thought though, I would like the 1200-1400 lb capacity ( we have a too big a family for our only TI). Still way cheaper than the 12-16 ft center console ribs with a 40-150 hp outboard with biminy tops that we've been eyeing lately ( tons of those around here), some of those are in the $40k-$50k range.
If I were to design and build one for myself ( only) I would mount twin 10hp outboards with electric start and tricked out props, my planing hull mods, and definately my wing sails, ( would require tons of over engineering, but still come in under half the cost of the ribs I'm lookin at.
Two TI's $13k
Two short shaft 9.9 Mercs (electric start) $4600
Wing sails (2) $1000
Planing hull mods $1000
Mounts and rigging $1000
Fun factor priceless
I think I could get 40mph in speed mode, (planing in fairly calm seas, no sails, and not very fuel efficient), and a good 25mph in super efficient mode (tripower with the wings), and get 40-60 mpg, and seating for 6 plus. The coolest feature though would be with four strong peddlers and the wings, I think we could easily maintain 10+mph for several hrs with the motors tilted up or removed, and way faster if there is any wind at all. Wouldn't look much like a TI any longer though, but my last one didn't either. And there wouldn't be much storage with the foam filled hulls. And it would still be a very wet ride.
Everything would be hardened for offshore ( because that's what we use our boats for).

Sorry I overthink things, would be a really fun project, but the wife is tired of all my gadgets and inventions, she wants the RIB.
FE


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 10:58 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 8:24 pm
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Location: Houston, TX
Yes I did this with a friend a few years back with 2 AIs. We connected the two hulls with about 4 ft of PVC pipe so that there would be flex between the hulls and we would not damage the hulls. We left the outside amas on. We used both sails but unfortunately did not see any real performance boost. Maybe we should have left the amas off but there was safety concerns since we were doing this offshore.

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 5:45 am 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
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Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
Unfortunately the amount of engineering and work involved to make this all work would be too much. I would be further ahead to just design and build a pontoon boat, then just tow my TI when I plan to use it.
Or just buy a rib boat ( something offshore capable in the keys) then tow my TI around.
It was fun to think thru though
FE


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 20, 2017 5:05 am 
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Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2017 1:46 am
Posts: 249
Location: Sweden, sjöbo
Interesting idea! Love to read about theese kind of Projects.
I am working on a different but similar concept but only utilizing the two amas. Connecting them together with a small platform with a swivel fishing chair omtop. I will make a well for the Mirage drive and mount my small 35 Lbs trolling motor in the rear with just a small 50Ah LiFePO¤ batteypack. No sail, this concept is just for fishing in small bodys of water. But it should get good speed with the MirageDrive with only the two thin slim amas giving it very little drag.
I think this might be perfect to fish small "puddles" instead of using my inflatable Belly boat.
The two amas are easily carried a short distance even in rough terrain so this might work in small Waters if I cant launch the TI.
The width will hopefully make it stable enough to enable standing up and fish. The TI Amas will lift around 200Lbs each so boyance should be enough. I will try this next summer.
:D
I have never seen this be done before but my guess is someone else tried somethiong like this allready?
/Gustav

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PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2017 1:17 pm 
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Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2010 8:14 am
Posts: 111
Here ya go....


http://vimeo.com/50486043

https://vimeo.com/50486043


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