FOILS FOR THE DOUBLE OUTRIGGERS SPONSONS PONTOONS OR AMAS AND MAIN HULL WINGS RESERVE BOUYANCY ALUMINIUM 20TH SCALE ELIZABETH SWANN APRIL 2024

1:20 SCALE - FOILS APRIL 2024: ELIZABETH SWANN

Dig for gold with our A - Z or set sail for HOME

APRIL 26th 2024 - We finally reached the point in design and manufacture, were we could mark out the position of the foils in relation to the superstructure and hulls. This 1:20 scale model, will be over 2.8 meters long and weigh over 29 kilograms (64lbs). Thus, it will be a two man job getting to events and launching the vessel. Or, setting up a stand. Leo is the Youth Project Lead, an engineering student at Bexhill-On-Sea college.

The Elizabeth Swann has a unique trimaran hull. Triple hulled vessels have proven to be the fastest sailing boats in the world, though are not without their problems. While catamaran ferries are among the fastest ships in regular service, with reduced loading and unloading issues, made fast with high output fossil fuel powered engines. The Elizabeth Swann has only modest propulsion power by comparison. Designed for sustainable blue water cruising using renewable zero emission energy, in harmony with nature. But more on that later.

One problem for trimaran hulls in regular service is docking. The British Royal Navy discovered this with their RV Triton. An experimental Nigel Irens (inspired) design after the Cable and Wireless Adventurer.

APRIL 26th 2024 - In this picture you can see the starboard foil in the making, shown here partially formed and riveted to the alloy arm that hinges from the superstructure, ready for test fixing before final shaping and riveting to the starboard outrigger hull.

The Elizabeth Swann hull is designed to overcome the docking issue, with special outriggers that double up as loading access ramps; port and starboard. Meaning that no special facilities are needed in ports or marinas, other than an uncluttered dockside. The practicality of such, will have to be confirmed in service. The details are proprietary.

Traditional trimarans don't have upright foils. The main hull sits on the sea, as do the outriggers. The Swann uses upright foils to connect the main hull to the superstructure. The object being to raise the solar panels higher, and to allow wave piercing, without the wash from the central hull coming into contact with the underside of the superstructure. Except in really outrageous weather conditions, such as tropical revolving storms. Thus reducing secondary drag. The much admired PlanetSolar suffered from serious secondary drag, on the central 'V' hull, though a virtual catamaran in service.

OUTRIGGERS - The ride height or depth of the central main hull is adjustable by raising or lowering the amas using these stainless steel shackles attached to the superstructure and outrigger arms. We are also looking at aluminium versions of these rods with rose joint ends. And, maybe one day, by way of an experiment, we might install motorised actuators, that the Swann might be adjusted remotely on the move, or even adjust her running trim herself on the move - for least running resistance, and maximum speed.

MARKING OUT - When building a full size hull, marking out material for cutting is called lofting. In the modern age, metal sections are cut by computer using plasma cutters and water jets. We have a plasma cutter for thick metals, including steel and aluminium. But for this model, that would be overkill. We used cardboard to make templates for marking on the main hull. Being careful to check dimensions with our CAD drawings.

MAIN FOILS - We used the CAD drawings to make cardboard templates. And the card cut-outs to mark out a block of wood, and carve it to shape, as a buck, or former. We can use the hull and former together, to make a paper template. Then mark the Aluminium sheet with the development, and check with the CAD file to be sure it is correct. The alloy sheet will then be bent around the wooden former and shaped to blend onto the hull.

Our budget for the build of this "proof of concept" model is £60,000. Taking us up to September of 2024, including overheads and open water trials. But not including design time. We have already exceeded £15,000, due to the re-working of the original floatation calculations, and purchase of additional hull materials. Such cost is very low, due to volunteer input, and Cleaner Ocean Foundation (essentially) being a not for profit organization.

Though interestingly, the Charity Commission held were not a 'Charity' in relation to the SeaVax project in 2016. Thus, although our Articles are charitable, it seems we may trade on our objects, without offering shares or dividends. Hence, the Foundation is an R&D trading entity, only without share capital. We invited the Commission to clarify the position further for us with a Judicial Review, which opportunity they declined. It seems then, all third party contributions are 100% tax deductible in the usual business context - not by way of charitable donations. For example, as advertising costs, IP investments. Etc. According to our accountants. Please bear this in mind if you are thinking of partnering with the project.

TRIANGLES - A triangle is the most perfect engineering form structurally. Several coats of primers and paints later, and this is what the superstructure looked like on the 20th April 2024, air curing. Eventually, the superstructure may be spray painted in 2-Pack white, to match the white deck and wings of the Elizabeth Swann, in preparation for stenciling in gold trim. If we decide to theme as the Queen of the Nile.

ABOUT TRIMARANS (DOUBLE OUTRIGGERS)

A trimaran (or double-outrigger) is a multihull boat that comprises a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls (or "floats") which are attached to the main hull with lateral beams. Most modern trimarans are sailing yachts designed for recreation or racing; others are ferries or warships. They originated from the traditional double-outrigger hulls of the Austronesian cultures of Maritime Southeast Asia; particularly in the Philippines and Eastern Indonesia, where it remains the dominant hull design of traditional fishing boats. Double-outriggers are derived from the older catamaran and single-outrigger boat designs.

The word "trimaran" is a portmanteau of "tri" and "(cata)maran", a term that is thought to have been coined by Victor Tchetchet, a pioneering, Ukrainian-born modern multihull designer. Trimarans consist of a main hull connected to outrigger floats on either side by a crossbeam, wing, or other form of superstructure - the traditional Polynesian terms for the hull, each float and connector are vaka, ama and aka, respectively (although trimarans are not traditionally Polynesian, since they instead use single-outrigger and catamaran configurations).

A beautiful wooden trimaran sailing craft with traditional double outriggers, in the Philippines. Stabilisation of a very slender central hull is achieved using wide spacing of the very thin amas. This hull should be very efficient.

20TH CENTURY SAILING TRIMARANS

Recreational sailing catamarans and trimarans gained popularity during the 1960s and 1970s. Amateur development of the modern sailing trimaran started in 1945 with the efforts of Victor Tchetchet, a Ukrainian émigré to the US, who built two trimarans made of marine plywood, which were about 24 feet (7.3 metres) long. He is credited with coining the term, "trimaran." In the 1950s and 60s, Arthur Piver designed and built plywood kit trimarans, which were adopted by other homebuilders, but were heavy and not sea-kindly by modern standards. Some of these achieved ocean crossings, nonetheless. Other designers followed, including Jim Brown, Ed Horstman, John Marples, Jay Kantola, Chris White, Norman Cross, Derek Kelsall and Richard Newick, thus bringing the trimaran cruiser to new levels of performance and safety.

Following the homebuilt movement, production models became available. Some trimarans in the 19–36-foot lengths (5.8–11.0 m) are designed as "day-sailers" which can be transported on a road trailer. These include the original Farrier – Corsair folding trimarans, such as the F-27 Sport Cruiser – and original John Westell swing-wing folding trimaran (using the same folding system later adopted also on Quorning Dragonfly) and like trimarans.

Modern western-built trimarans typically do not use Austronesian rigging like tanja or crab claw sails. Instead they use a standard Bermuda rig. Trimarans are also typically significantly wider. In addition, trimaran floats are much more buoyant than those of outrigger canoes to support a large sailplan. They contribute to drag when heavily immersed, and their level of immersion indicates when to reef. In terms of performance, an objective comparison by Doran (1972) in terms of maximum progress against the wind, maximum speed, and speed downwind concluded that both the traditional double-outrigger vinta of the Philippines and the single-outrigger wa of the Caroline Islands, respectively, are still superior to the modern trimaran.

The folds and returns have to carefully follow the pattern, the bends being that much harder to make over a wide length of metal. Alloy is much easier to form than steel. Though steel is far easier to join with welding. Aluminium welding requires TIG equipment, or a spool-on-gun MIG. The liners of the feeds cables may not be interchangeable, where steel or copper on alloy, produces a contaminated weld. We have plenty of experience in welding and fabrication, having built a sports car chassis from scratch, and repaired our "Miss Ocean" VW surfing wagon, which is to be fitted out internally, to carry the Elizabeth Swann model to shows and open water trials.

APRIL 24TH 2023 - Leo is seen here offering up an aluminium fold, to check for length in relation to the deck, which is covered in solar panels. Leo is interested in boat design and practical metal working skills. In the background you can see a solar catamaran design that was tested a long time ago, in the development of the present trimaran design. We are hoping to have this model ready for another local United Nations event in November. So, we have our work cut out.

It is very important to measure carefully. We work to a tolerance of around 0.25mm. But in practice, where there are folds, 0.5mm is usually acceptable with a little fettling at the joins. In the background you can see a SWATH design that was tested well before the Elizabeth Swann design hit the drawing board. The submerged twin hull concept proved to have a higher drag than expected, and it was difficult to trim. The radio controlled model had four tanks that could be flooded or pumped out, for trim and ride height adjustment for different sea conditions.

SAILING COMPETITIONS

Thomas Coville holds the world record of 49 days and 3 hours for sailing solo around the world in the trimaran Sodebo Ultim, finishing on December 25, 2016. The previous record was set by Francis Joyon on January 20, 2008. The 51-year-old Frenchman circled the planet alone in 57 days, 13 hours, 34 minutes, 6 seconds in a trimaran. He beat British sailor Ellen MacArthur's record set in February 2005 for which she spent just over 71 days at sea.

Francis Joyon and a crew of five in the maxi trimaran IDEC SPORT set the absolute (wind or mechanically powered) time for the fastest maritime circumnavigation, in 40 days 23 hours 30 minutes 30 seconds of sailing between Dec 2016 and Jan 2017. Their average speed was 26.85 knots (30.71 MPH) over a total distance of 26,412 nautical miles (48,915 kilometres; 30,394 miles). In early 2020, the same boat won a race retracing the tea clipper route from Hong Kong to London in just under 32 days – one-third the time it took the clippers to sail the route.

Hydroptère, an experimental sailing hydrofoil trimaran, briefly reached 56.3 knots (104.3 km/h; 64.8 mph) near Fos-sur-Mer, but capsized and turtled shortly thereafter.

33rd AMERICA'S CUP

Competing with a giant trimaran the BMW Oracle Racing team won the 2010 America's Cup for the Golden Gate Yacht Club on February 14, 2010, off Valencia, Spain. The team beat the giant catamaran Alinghi 2–0 in the best-of-three series, becoming the first American syndicate to win the cup since 1992. The large rigid wing sail of the USA 17 trimaran provided a decisive advantage and the trimaran won the America's Cup by a considerable margin in each race.

TRIMARAN SHIPS

The trimaran configurations has also been used for both passenger ferries and warships. The Australian shipbuilding company, Austal, investigated the comparative merits of trimaran ships, catamarans and monohulls. It found that there was an optimum location for the outer hulls in terms of minimizing wave generation and consequent power requirements for operating at high speeds with a payload of 1,000 tonnes. It further found that such a trimaran configuration was superior to a catamaran for roll and lateral force in a beam sea and superior in suppressing motion sickness resulting from a head sea.

The negative considerations for trimarans, compared with catamarans or monohulls are:

- A more complicated and consequently more expensive hull structure for the payload, making them more suited for low-density cargo or passengers.

- More complicated geometry and large size per unit of cargo carried, which makes docking more difficult than for a catamaran or monohull.

Between 2005 and 2020, Austal had built 14 aluminum high-speed trimaran ships, 11 of which were for the US Navy. In 2020, they had 11 trimarans under construction or under order. In addition to shipyards in Australia and the US, the company had shipyards in Vietnam and the Philippines.

In 2005 Austal delivered the 127-metre trimaran (417 ft) Benchijigua Express to Spanish ferry operator Fred Olsen, S.A. for service in the Canary Islands. Capable of carrying 1,280 passengers and 340 cars, or equivalents, at speeds up to 40 knots, this boat was the longest aluminum ship in the world at the time of delivery. A modern warship, the RV Triton was commissioned by British defence contractor QinetiQ in 2000. In October 2005, the United States Navy commissioned for evaluation the construction of a General Dynamics litoral combat ship trimaran designed and built by Austal.

APRIL 2024 - Between February and March we increased the diameter of the base cradle and original Jig base and tower locator clearances. Having calculated the diameter of the larger hull tubes, it was a relatively simple matter to cut larger semi-circles in the wooden Jig. But this was very time consuming. In April, having re-sealed the cut wood, we were able to progress to the vessel itself. In this picture you can see we have, sealed, primed and painted the superstructure, onto which the aluminium aft and helm sections will be fixed. Please note that these modifications to the scale model, do not increase the estimated build schedule of the full size craft. Previously, Leo (Youth Lead) had tried his hand at spray painting on the AmphiMax model, before conducting remote controlled trials.

HIGH SPEED FERRIES

High-speed craft are governed by a code that applies to those designed for international passenger voyages that are shorter than four hours from a port of refuge, or cargo craft of 500 gross tonnage no more than eight hours from a port of refuge. All passengers are provided with a seat and there are no enclosed sleeping berths.

The demand for high-speed ferries started in the late 1970s for ferries built mostly in Norway. Ultimately, two Australian shipyards came to prominence, Incat and Austal. They were initially built by many shipyards, but by the turn of the century only two companies were still building larger vessels of over 70 metres and 3,000 Gross Tons. While Incat has specialized in wave-piercing catamarans, Austal has developed high-speed trimarans.

In 2010 Austal built the 102 metre Hull 270, although they were unable to find a buyer for the ship until it was sold to Condor Ferries in 2015 when it was named HSC Condor Liberation and began operating to the Channel Islands. Prospects for trimaran ferries picked up in 2017 when Fred. Olsen Express ordered two 118-metre trimarans for their Canary Islands services, named Bajamar Express and Bañaderos Express. In 2018 a Japanese company ordered an 83-metre trimaran ferry.

The Research Vessel Triton is a trimaran vessel owned by Gardline Marine Sciences Limited and a former prototype British warship demonstrator for the UK's Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (later QinetiQ). She was built as a technology demonstrator ship for the Royal Navy's Future Surface Combatant, and has been used to both prove the viability of the hull-form and as a trials platform for other QinetiQ innovations. The ship was used by the Australian Border Force's Marine Unit, and was for a time moored in the River Fal near the King Harry chain ferry. Up until July 2019 she was moored on the River Yare, Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England.

Triton was designed as a demonstrator to prove that the trimaran concept would work successfully in a large warship. Following her launch in 2000, the ship began an extensive series of trials in 2001, which covered general ship handling, performance, sea-keeping behaviour, but also areas more specific to its design for which the Royal Navy had no experience. For example, a series of docking manoeuvres were undertaken by the pilot boats of HMNB Portsmouth to determine the problems of docking a large trimaran, and the ship underwent underway replenishment alongside HMS Argyll and the tanker RFA Brambleleaf to ascertain the characteristics of a trimaran and a monohull replenishing at the same time. Triton also undertook the first helicopter take off and landing on a trimaran.

n January 2005, Triton was sold to Gardline Marine Sciences, a UK company based in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Triton was used for hydrographic survey work for the civil hydrography programme (CHP) on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). The vessel was fitted with a sensor suite which includes the Kongsberg Simrad EM1002 multibeam echo-sounder, a GPS attitude/heading system, surface navigation and ultra-short baseline sub-surface acoustic tracking system, Gardline Voyager5 integrated survey system and Caris post-processing system. The vessel was enhanced by Gardline by installing a bowthrust unit, additional accommodation and survey equipment facilities. In 2009, two new MTU engines were fitted; MTU 16v 4000 M40B. Output 2,080 kW (2,790 hp) each.

In December 2006, Gardline contracted Triton to the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service to patrol Australia's northern waters as one of the service's fleet of patrol vessels. Australian Customs Vessel Triton has been fitted with two .50 calibre heavy machine guns and carries up to 28 armed customs officers. The vessel is also equipped with two 7.3 m (24 ft) high-speed rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBs). The ship arrived from the UK in mid-January 2007 and started operations immediately. Austere accommodation is provided for 100 embarked persons in addition to conventional accommodation for 45.

NAVAL TRIMARANS

The first use of trimaran hull designs in modern navies was in the RV Triton, a Research Vessel for the Royal Navy. She was built as a technology demonstrator ship for the Royal Navy's Future Surface Combatant, and has been used to prove the viability of the hull form. Since 2007 the ship has been used by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service's Customs Marine Unit.

Littoral combat ships built by General Dynamics at Bath Iron Works are of a trimaran design. USS Independence (LCS-2) is the first of these ships. Littoral combat ships built by Lockheed are of a monohull design.

First launched on August 31, 2012, at Bali Strait, 63M Carbon Fibre Composite Trimaran Fast Missile Boat (Indonesian: Kapal Cepat Rudal [KCR]) named Klewang-class fast attack craft (Klewang- means a traditional Indonesian single edge sword), was the first stealth trimaran of the Indonesian Navy built by North Sea Boats at Banyuwangi, East Java, Indonesia. Designed by New Zealand Naval Architects LOMOcean Marine this ship combined a number of existing advance technologies into a single, unique platform; a wave-piercer trimaran hull from, constructed exclusively of infused vinylester carbon fibre cored sandwich materials for all structural elements, with external "stealth" geometry and features intended to reduce detection.

These are some of the main components of the 1:20 scale Elizabeth Swan technology demonstrator. We applied for part funding for this project from the Dti's TRIG marine technology competition. But, they said they were concerned about cleaning of the panels of salt caking at sea, as applied to ships. We have solved that problem, and were prepared to share that information in return for helping us with development costs. We considered the automatic furling and sun tracking to be an important feature for applications like cargo ships, cruise liners and ferries - not so the UK government. But then, we suppose that most governments around the world are in a pickle. Looking for ways to power ships to meet with the IMO's zero targets for 2100 without much modification of hulls and decks. The target for 2030 is a 40% reduction in GHG emissions. The Elizabeth Swann is a clean-sheet-of-paper design. Not flavour of the month with fleet operators, as well we appreciate. But then progress is sometimes financially painful. In the commercial world it is all about profits. Now, the planet gets a look in, but still has to wait for existing ships to depreciate. We have suggested a scrappage scheme is applied to induce ship operators to change out hulls earlier, as was applied to cars some years ago.

Dig for treasure with our A - Z or set a course for HOME shipmates

1:20 SCALE MODEL - WORKING RADIO CONTROLLED SOLAR & HYDROGEN POWERED SHIP - ELIZABETH SWANN - WITH SOLAR TRACKING BATTERY CHARGE CONTROLLERS AND ELECTRIC POD DRIVES

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