Sea Sled: Outrigger/Catamaran Hull Sections by 4ndy

Last crawled date: 2 years, 12 months ago

Thingiverse has enough toy boats now, so I designed these segments for a 3D-printable ama/outrigger that could actually be used for hull(s) as part of a wee catamaraft or an outrigger canoe. (Starting with a beautiful excited ms-paint concept sketch that preceded a couple days of thought and a night of CAD :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ama_%28sailing%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outrigger_canoehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catamaran
STL and STEP files are provided of original blanks and my 3x2/4x2 model, so that hopefully you can adjust this design to whatever size you want and fittings you have available. A SolidWorks eDrawings file is also available to get a quick look at my suggested assembly. Actual rope lashings are not shown, but I hope you can figure out something as simple as cris-crossing a rope to lash 2 beams together, since representing it in a CAD drawing is tedious. Not all the nails are in this diagram either due to defining mates for either end of the assembly being a pain (I've learned to use octagonal holes outside the X-Y plane instead of circular, for ease of printing).
My current pre-holed versions of these models are adjusted so they should fit nicely with 6ft-long beams of 2x3" or 2x4" wood cut to standard North American softwood lumber dimensions:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumber#Dimensional_lumber
The design shows 6ft 2x3's in the sides holding the outriggers straight, but this could be achieved with shorter scrap lengths by staggering them along either side. A few 1ft-long 2x4's are shown cut to a roughly appropriate shape, but longer beams would be better, and the lateral beams (aka) are 5ft lengths of 2x4" with a notch on one flat side near either end to aid holding position to lashing points.
The nails shown are some 3mm by 45mm aluminium roofing nails that I've just got hold of (if you're going to use metal fasteners at sea, high-grade stainless steel, admiralty brass or aluminium is a must), and there are holes between each designed section that could be used for 6x25mm dowels.
Not shown in pictures yet is a hole that I added across each bow, which could have rope tied through it for rigging or carrying. The two holes shown at the back could be used for a pivot-and-pin adjustable rudder, so that it can be pulled up when launching/beaching and dropped&pinned into place during strong winds.
I might add some more part designs later to enable a very small sail to be rigged easily; when I have time of course, there are so many other fun and useful projects that I could try working on.
Bonus points if you can build one with a sail, solar panel, battery, Arduino GPS Shield, sensors and actuators, and have it circumnavigate the globe autononmously. Zero-fuel automated freight is one goal that I hope we can aim to develop towards (and past :)