Alley
Cat
Design Proposal
by Jeff Gilbert
(click image to enlarge)
20ft Alleycat Concept
Alleycat is a pocket motorsailing
cat, for use in sheltered water. At the moment it’s a concept.
This means I’ve drawn some sketches, and done enough calcs
to be certain it will perform as expected in the water, be structurally
viable, be ergonomically OK, and not be a ridiculous cost. Alley
is not developed beyond this point, and needs a full plan set,
which takes me 300 to 500 hours. This will be done if interest
in the concept seems strong. There is one carrot – if someone
with the ability and time to progress it at a steady pace wishes
to build the prototype, I will provide them free plans as they
go. However this cannot happen till February 2004, as I have accepted
a comittment to supply build plans for my 28-foot Gumboots design,
with a full time build commencing October. Jim Townsend, builder
of Hot Chili
prototype, has opted to build the worlds first Gumboots, which
will be one of the very few truly ocean capable cats under 28
feet sporting a full (1,90m) headroom Galley. I’ll also
be fully occupied in Tasmania fitting out my retirement home in
which I wont live till 2008, but which requires both Galley and
Head, as well as access to the poop deck (in otherwords a ruddy
great staircase). It’s a stone house on 5 acres, in which
myself and a buddy named Matt Aylen, having failed to enjoy Urban
Growth and Married Life, are escaping from the city. He to mix
recorded Music, and me to draw multiple boat designs at a less
frustrating rate (I’m in my last 5 years of Wage Slave labour).
In imperial dimensions Concept
Alleycat is 20 x 8 x 0.75 x 2240 loaded (6 x 2.5 x 0.2 x 1000
metric). It may trail at half that – but the ton allows
for loading with water, fuel and food, books, fishing gear, a
guitar, stereo, cameras & clothes, a boogie board, and on
and on, and this is why below the foredecks will be all stowage.
The draught may be deeper if you are sailing with kick-up external
daggerboards/rudders, or are using the motor. You can travel under
sail on a quiet day in 2 feet of water, and moor in a foot, so
you don’t really need a dinghy, although you can tow one,
or carry an 8-footer on the foredeck. (I’d rather have the
foredeck for myself!)
Alley Hulls are full slab-sided
Dory with a maybe little styling curve. This is for ease of build
and interior comfort plus shoal ability. Daggerboards are Hot
Chili style (kicking up from behind side rungs not shown in the
drawing).
Aims of Alleycat
-
1/ Allow
a couple or small family a sheltered water holiday in comfort
regardless of weather.
-
2/ Provide
the pace to economically explore a decent area regardless
of weather.
-
3/ Sail
really well when conditions allow.
-
4/ Require
zero launch preparation.
-
5/ Be attainable
- not be a ridiculous cost to build in terms of a combination
of effort, toxicity and cash.
-
6/ Have
honest good looks.
How does Alleycat meet
these?
1/
Two big essentials- a private head with sealed door and ventilation,
and a decent stand-up galley with 6 foot headroom. There are two
bench-height food prep areas and a utility box on the back deck.
The back deck can easily be tarped over, and has 2 armchairs in
a traffic free corner, with an Aussie style gas-rigged ploughshare
BBQ plate fixed to the solid deck railing it would be a great
spot. I’d tend to use a camp gas cooker for hot areas and
paraffin full stove in for cold areas. The back rail will have
some rear support and a lift-up for boarding, plus an inboard
step. Under the deck is tankage and stowage.
The bridgedeck is for cooking and seating in the day, backrests
can be rigged from bed squabs, and an overhead hatch allows getting
across if you cant stoop to 4ft 6 inches. At night the bridgedeck
is the bed from which you can access the head or the food. The
good part is in bed the lady can have the head side and the gent
the other-out the verandah with him! The bed can be across the
boat if one organises the table that way – normally the
table can simply fold down. Forrd access is by side-decks which
clip into the external daggerboard rungs (not shown in drawing),
if you don’t want to clamber thru a swing-up window.
There can be inside steering wheel to the outboard or you can
leave that area open for access to the forrd in-hull stowage.
One hull could be a kid’s bed and two can sleep on the net/tramps
under the stars.
Also note that this boat can be used as a caravan if you trail
her a long way.
2/
I recommend a 15 HP Honda 4 stroke (or similar) because of its
ability to charge batteries (Voltage regulated 6 amp alternator),
its low noise, and also because even flat out it uses under 6
litres an hour and will push the boat to a calculated 14 knots.
Running at around an Aussie gallon an hour (4.5l) it’ll
get your fully loaded Alleycat along at 10 knots giving you the
range to really see some sights at economy comparable with some
4WD autos. I mention the Honda because it is the lightest 15 at
43kg (95lb) but best of all is available in long (20inch) and
extra-long(presumably 25 inch) shafts as well as the standard
15 which is too short for mounting over the tunnel. The extra
long would mean a completely clear bridgedeck tunnel and a sweet
mount straight from the rear of the deck.
3/
Sailing ability is largely up to what size sail plan you put on,
and no matter what I say people will have their own ideas. However
the design rig will be a dead simple sloop with an under 20 feet
off the water mast in a tabernacle so you can pop it up at will,
and it wont protrude too much when trailering. At only 20 feet
with only 8 feet of beam, and a bit more than usual windage in
the house, I don’t regard this boat as suitable for tackling
big winds and heavy seaways despite a bridgedeck clearance of
18inches or 7.5% -standard for offshore cats. You can’t
have it both trailerable, with a bit of windage, and safe in a
nasty swell. There are plenty of sheltered places to trail to
that are safe to sail it in, and with at least 12 knots motoring
at your disposal there are places where you can pop across the
bar for a spot of sea fishing then home at night. However on smoother
water with a breeze there is no reason why this cat cant sail
with the best of them, it has plenty of form stability and with
water tanks and fuel tanks full and low in the hulls you can set
her really flying. You just don’t want the added factor
of a seaway and a gust combined setting her on her ear. She is
a beast of many talents, but shes not a trailerable offshore sail-racing
houseboat! Nor is she meant to wave hulls about, or be raced.
She’s a motorboat that will sail darned fast in the right
wind and water. She will tack, she will go upwind under sail,
no fears there.
4/
The mast is in a tabernacle, and can be raised as you zoom away
under power.
5/
Alleycat is to be made of Plywood, 6, 9 and 12mm mostly, and will
be designed with a lot of right angles – it wont need a
lot of tools. It will need epoxy and quite a lot of ply sheets
30 at a guess. It only needs glass on the outside of the hulls,
and its only essential to safely above the waterline, as with
Hot Chili plus scale factor 15 square meters of cloth will do.
It will need a bit spent on fittings to make it comfy. A decent
motor is essential. Second hand rigs are a possibility, but no
winches will be needed for the standard rig. Its impossible to
estimate total costs for a project like this, but I don’t
think it could go over $15,000 US, and a cunning operator can
build it for a fraction of that. If you are planning to trip it
around you need to spend extra a good trailer, but it will fit
many second hand cat trailers. If you intend putting it in one
spot why not just truck it there. Remember with its range one
spot may do for years. Also remember the money you don’t
spend on entertainment while you are building her.
6/
The looks are oddly trad -there is no way to get headroom in the
galley of a 20ft cat using the usual sweet organic curves. Besides,
you finish up with a plastic box in which you can’t stand
up –no way for a week on the water if it rains. And many
of us take our holidays when we can, and must set them in advance,
so you could get stuck in just such a situation. So the interior
needs to be woodsy and cosy. Hence the looks are more in the way
of an old workboat - a long hull with a wheelhouse box. But in
fact the “box” from the outside is only 3 feet high.
Alleycat for sure doesn’t look like your regular sporty
cat. Nor does it look like a shanty boat. Alleycat is for the
comfort of the lucky people on board, and maybe that’s bad
for the onlooker. As a designer I hope not, but if I were on board
I wouldn’t give a hoot!
This is a project that won’t
be too daunting, and could have some attraction for people who
normally wouldn’t consider boating. I know a lot of lowly
paid single people are skilled with their hands, and could afford
a sheet of ply a week and a tarp to cover their work (for the
money they spend relieving their sense of helplessness), or borrow
a garage. I know a lot of highly paid people who are broke. They
may have just had a nasty divorce and lost the lot, gaining an
ugly rented flat and a lifetime bill. They will have minimal possessions
such as their fishing rod. Such a person is in despair of escaping
the renting cycle, or even owning anything. They may have a car.
Alley cat could be a good thing for them. They could build a real
viable exciting alternative to a caravan. Two pals on the dole
could do it. A couple just out of school could do it to see if
marriage would really work!!!. I know you get to wash up in a
bucket, chop-up food on a stowable plank left over from the build,
you have to assemble your bed (unless you decide on single beds
forrd in the hulls) etc etc. Hull stowage is awkward, everything
you want is on the bottom etc etc). But you can go where you want.
There is a great view, once you have selected it (this may take
some travelling). You can sleep on a tramp under the stars, too.
And you don’t need a furniture bill to move on board. Also
notable is that in Australia, if on a pension, you can reclaim
a good chunk Marina Fees as on-the-spot rental rebate.
So there it is. If you want one
badly enough to start building the prototype, let me know at jgilbert@webone.com.au
Cheers,
Jeff
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