More than 3 hulls? Ever been done?

[TintedChrome]

Ok, so I was browsing around, lookin' at all my fav blogs and such, when a picture on one of them triggered something in me..

So we all know of the tried and true hull configs - monos, cats, and tris.. But surely there's been experimentation by some mad public-opinion-be-damned builder/dreamer in unconventional hull configs (more than 3 hulls for example? or asymmetrical hulls?), that while a failure for one reason or another would be fairly interesting to look at. Anyone know of anything unusual like that? My usually decent google skills are not turning anything up..

[QuickMick]

would this be asymmetrical?

[TintedChrome]

Heh.. yeah, i realized after I posted that Polynesian outriggers are asymmetrical. I meant something more extreme..

For what it's worth, "Quadmaran" doesn't return anything of interest on google

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by QuickMick

would this be asymmetrical?

That'd be a proa... there are two types of proas, Atlantic proas and Pacific proas... In the Pacific Proa, the ama is left to windward and it is used as ballast to help keep the main hull upright. In an Atlantic Proa, the ama is left to leeward and provides stability through form stability by extending the beam of the boat.

The only quad hulled vessels I've seen are large industrial rigs...

[JohnRPollard]

Originally Posted by TintedChrome

Heh.. yeah, i realized after I posted that Polynesian outriggers are asymmetrical. I meant something more extreme..

For what it's worth, "Quadmaran" doesn't return anything of interest on google

As a matter of fact, there has been a builder of quadramarans. I am going to have to noodle this for a bit, to see if my memory will jog itself. At the moment, the builder's name escapes me.

But one of the mainstream sailing rags published a favorable review of it. Essentially it delivered the cabin space of a narrow catamaran, with smaller hulls further outboard that provided form stability a la a trimaran.

That review was probably from the early-mid-90's -- before the internet age when everything become available on-line. It probably won't come up in search engine results.

[JohnRPollard]

Ah yes, the Quadcat 28.

Here it is:

YouTube - QuadCat 28

[TintedChrome]

Wow.. that's pretty nifty! Thanks John!

[Faster]

OK John.. nice find and good recall!... now, about that Quintamaran....

[TintedChrome]

In a bid to see more oddball stuff, let's open it up to just plain weird (whether successful or not) designs.. Crowhurst's Electron was oddball, at least at the time.. Then there's that dude in LA (i think?) that built an aluminum Tri with what can generously be described as suspect welding. IIRC his trans-pacific bid was cut short with either a dismasting or cracking amas a couple of miles into his trip.. or Plastikki made out of water bottles..

Let's see what you've got

[QuickMick]

this is certainly oddball:

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