Originally posted by dbs Hi Mark
Not being a engineering grad but just how is half a Tornado Catamaran your design ?
Interested thats all
My cousin put a 18 foot skiff rig on a 14 foot skiff it was quick
Dave
Taking a single Tornado hull, designing a framework to support it, support the hydrofoils and sail and rigging, not to mention designing and manufacturing the foils themselves kind of make it a new design, don't you think? And, as can be seen in the photos, the only significance of the hull is to provide a support for everything else when the boat isn't foil borne. Any hull would have done the same, but we had a Tornado at hand which cut the cost down significantly. The fact that it was a Tornado hull was irrelevant. In fact, a later iteration of the boat eliminated the hull altogether.
It's kind of like the Grumman X-29 Forward Swept Wing aircraft. It used the forebody from a Northrop F-5 and the engine and landing gear from an F-16. Still classified as a new aircraft, designed by Grumman. In general, if it doesn't look like the original design, it can be classified as a new design.
Since I designed the overall configuration and especially the hydrofoils, which are the most significant part of the design, I would classify it as my design. Feel free to disagree!
PS: I never said that I designed the Tornado hull, but that I designed this sailboat. There is a difference!