Idea Men

Thomas Edison meets Jolly Roger and becomes the brand for Anarchists. I like it! Anarchy is fun. Fight the Power! The Man is just being all the manish. Well, the man, I don't play the man games! I'm gonna make paper airplanes and send them on secret missions! I'm gonna stop watching TV! and I'm not going to buy anything anymore! I'm gonna live off of the land, and drop off of the grid, and get ready for the world to devolve! I think I'll look good in sheepskin and a toga, like the olden days.

luigi colani

I have been thinking about the Leeward hullshape of the proa. Harry's design is simple, easy to build and all, but I wonder what it would look like if Luigi Colani would have designed it.

colani's designs are so forward thinking I have a hard time believing he is human.

Check out his version of a motor home. The body shape increased the fuel efficiency by 45%!!

His biodesign approach reminds me of the Mercedes box fish car.

proamobile

There was some good smack on Proas on the interweb. Some neet guy posted the coolest proa mobile I have ever seen!

The table is ready to go. The core is on it's way from that country that I ordered it from... I can't wait!

The Laser 28 is still in the water. I'm going sailing tomorrow... It's the last boat in the water in this sleepy town...

new main

I have worked out a new main sail for the old school Rapscallion. The sail has a big roach. In this case, the roach has nothing to do with weed, it is a bigger than sail than a regular main. I designed the sail to match the profile of a melges 24 main sail. The sail is class legal according to the laser 28 class rules, so I shouldn't take a PHRF hit for it.

I also designed a "spitfire" main for the boat. It is a bit smaller, but the shape is more closely optimized to the spitfire wingshape.... decisions decisions....

sad sad times

Pulling the boat out of the water is a rough time of year for me. But I have all kinds of things this fall and winter to keep be busy. I started another Master's program at UW Madison. This time the degree will be in Polymer Engineering, it should help with my sailing and possible boatbuilding hobby... I'm also teaching another class at a local private college... more cash for the cause...

This winter I plan to get Rapscallion race ready. Here is a list of upgrades:

repaint deck
sand hull
new bottom paint
check keel and rudder profile
new halards.

I'm also getting a new mainsail (max roach) finally.... and a new/used spinnaker.

I'm still working on the proa... I just ordered the polycore for the boat. I have the basalt and epoxy, and with the core I'll be able to start making panels. I'm using derek Kelsall's KSS building method for this one.

The hard part was finding a place to build the hulls... but I was able to talk a guy into letting me use his warehouse in exchange for an undetermined amount of stroh's
beer... imported from detroit...

I'm also thinking about entering a mustache growing contest. See, there is stuff to do after the boat comes out of the water....

http://www.planet.fi/~kcad/cpc/Cruising_proa_concepts.htm

a bit of proa info for EVK4

Rapscallion 2.0

After over a year of mulling over plans for a home build, I have finally found the boat I am going to build... (or at least try to... but like Yoda said, "There is no try, only do or do not.")

I was hoping to build a 31' Kurt Hughes swing wing trimaran, I even bought the plans, but the cost of raw materials was a bit higher than my very modest budget could handle.

So I asked Rob Denney to design a proa that had standing headroom, a fully enclosed head, easily trailer launch-able, and fast as the Dickens! Also, because the of boat's light weight, it can be pulled by my regular Lebaron Convertible. No gass sucking SUV for me... and freedom from the Marina Fees! Horray!

At that moment Harry Proa and Rapscallion became very good friends! For it was at that moment that Rapscallion 2.0 was born!

The Bruce number for the boat is 2.34! And, with some internet wheeling and dealing, the boat will be very inexpensive to build. Check out www.harryproa.com for details on this boat - which are contained in the most recent newsletter.

The original rapscallion is cleaning up nicely, but is itching to race.... more on racing as soon as the pics are available.