Life on the (trimaran) nets

Sorting out some "raw footage" taken with the new DV cam during the summer. Above sequence is from a relaxing trip with Sebastian and family on SUI 1 during his visit in the Stockholm Archipelago with Henrik (a real pro Formula 18 Archipelago Raid sailor – the Seaon 96crb obviously being a real luxury for him……toilet, galley and food onboard. Henrik is also part of the “Seaon family”) and me as guests onboard. Weather was not as sunny as it could have been for a nice footage......but it was not raining anyhow. Wind between 12-16 knots, speed between 15-18 knots.

All in all a nice day with the captain and his family

/Jan

Aligning Multihull ratings?

More multihulls racing at Granprix 2008 found on http://www.gransegel.se/GranPrix-08/index11.html
(a rainy day with light winds - and people still smiled)

Having had the opportunity to race two consecutive weekends in a row, one realizes the efforts made by the rating committees to enable fair racing between different multihull models and to some extent also racing against mono hulls (even though the efforts are obviously not fair when results are not as expected……which is what a lot of the post race excuses and good stories are about).

In Sweden the LYS rating system is used for the majority of races which is more a fair assessment of the potential of the boat rather than a full mathematical formula. The rating can (and is) also updated if results are better or worse than expected. I have always pictured the golf handicap as a comparison......if you do better the rating will become more challenging. A single number handicap indicates you are good (at least on a good day..)....a high LYS rating makes you fight for “at least” the potential line honours).

Assessing performance rather than calculating means it is difficult to design a boat for better results in the long run, which obviously has two sides: One is that it decreases the opportunity to develop new models for better rating and results only; the other is that is both a challenge and an opportunity to design for the whole sailing experience, which for us to a large extent comes down to where to be on the performance scale, e.g. the parameter weight per sail area. Again our design philosophy is to reach comfortable high speeds quickly on the wind scale where the family also enjoys a good day “on” sea (which is where “Seaon” comes from….)
Obviously the experienced racing crew can be challenged with a different sail configuration (which will be addressed in a later blog entry).

For the rating it would obviously be good if we could have results and assessments from multiple countries……but it seems we are not there yet. Sweden, Denmark and Norway use different versions of the LYS system. In Finland, France, UK and other countries it seems to be a mix of Multihull 2000, Mocra and potentially other systems. Aligning rating systems in the Multihull community I believe would be a tough but good challenge that would pay off. I guess there is very little proof “protectionism” has paid off.


/Jan

About the races......pictures and results from the last race “Gran Prix”, organized by sailmaker Gransegel to be found at http://www.gransegel.se/GP08.html. A part of the centre of gravity for multihulls in Sweden is found at Gransegel.
And the excuses? A rusty helmsman on Seaon 96crb SWE4. LYS does not seem to accommodate rust….

Things you can do with a Multihull…..

In case one forgot - here are two reminders:


Your own cove…not having to compete (well, one disappointed kayak owner) with all the rest of the fleet. Can it be better? (including the “bag in box” at a convenient distance….)


The greater feeling of being close to shore….

/"Selected moments" - courtesy of Johan Grim and family on SWE 3

New aluminium mould for carbon “one shot operation” rudder

New rudder mould still in computer....

Unfortunately our rudder mould broke a few months ago. In order to get a longer lasting solution for preg and temperatures based curing we evaluated a few alternatives for smaller parts and finally choose an aluminium based mould. The advantages of aluminium are:

• Good thermal exchange capabilities (needed for pre-preg)
• excellent for CNC milling
• long expected life time of the mould (.....up to 50 000 parts they say – so now it is a job for the marketing department!)
• (almost) maintenance free surfaces (remains to be seen)
• reasonable price for raw material and routing

Obviously the above also is dependent on which aluminium alloy to choose.

One of the draw backs of aluminium is obviously the difference in weight to the traditional composite mould which forced to rethink the production process in terms of mould handling and equipment (lifting, rotating, sealing etc.). Also being forced to (....or having the opportunity) to make a new mould we included some other features such as routed areas for where to put bushings, screws etc.


New rudder mould "IRL"

Because of the high speed of multihulls the shape of the rudder is very important since almost any small deviation from the designed shape will be felt and/or heard. Early days we built the rudder in two halves resulting in quite a heavy finish job to get the perfect shape when joining the halves – not taking into account the first prototypes were in glass fibre and polyester which did not do the job.
Curing the whole rudder in a one shot operation (no joints to finish …and therefore also faster!) may sound like an easy job, but takes quiet a few tests, some moments of higher adrenalin levels, long nights, an initially “surprised” customer (but still very nice!) and finally a few tricks to do.
Having evaluated and tested for two months, the new mould is now ready for production.


...and finally the product


/Jan

Spontaneous trimaran get together – at minimal space

Greetings from a spontaneous (well..... it took a few phone calls to find out positions and agendas which left only a “one” day window) get together at Fåglarö in the Stockholm Archipelago.



At the dock (0,3- 1 m of water) FRA 1 (the Pagots on visit in Sweden), SUI 1 (the Reiz’ on visit in Sweden ), SWE 3 (the Grims) and SWE 4 (the “Jan-Erik Palmkvist” (co-owner together with “Mr Seaon Sweden” Mats Leader original owner of first Seaon SWE1) just having crossed the Baltic back from Finland in quite harsh conditions – the Baltic can offer nasty conditions with varying and quite steep and short wave patterns). To “glorify” the “get together” the Mr Designer Stefan Törnblom with his wife May accompanied SWE4 the last miles to the rendezvous.

Obviously the three Seaons heading north the day after engaged themselves in a spontaneous race .....with the usual discussions and explanations about spots of no wind, vacation load, sails etc. (Who won? Rumours say “the Reiz’)




A lovely day and evening in likable company and weather – it did generate energy for more!

/Ulrika (assistant organizer, big fan and supporter) and Jan

More about trimarans in the news

Just a reminder for the Scandinavien readers - there are two recent articles out in the press. In Swedish magazine “Segling” nr 6 2008 there is an article comparing the Seaon 96, Corsair 31 , Seacart 30 and Dragonfly 920. In Danish Bådnyt June edition there is test of the Seaon 96crb.
As always we will work to be able to publicise the articles on the blog.

Wishing everyone favourable winds and a "decent" weather!

/Jan

Seaon trimarans in the Stockholm Archipelago

There will be six Seaons sailing in our beautiful Stockholm Archipelago this summer, four “natives” and two visitors. Of course one the visitors is our busy sailor Bernard from Bretagne who is sailing here in June and July in his Eureka with his wife Michelle. The other visitors are Sebastian and Kerstin from Lausanne.


Ready for Stockholm Archipelago

The Stockholm Archipelago offers fantastic sailing conditions (and we hope also nice weather for visitors). A multihull offers major advantages since many mooring places are crowded with monohulls needing draft enough to “dock” the bow to the cliffs – which is how it mostly is done in the Archipelago. With a multihull you can in many cases get your own bay or even an island due to the shallow draft needed. Also multihull custom in the Archipelago is even mooring one float to a flat cliff instead of using an anchor (there is no tidal water and in principle no currents).


Moored for midsummer (not at a cliff but very shallow water...)

If you are a permanent resident here, the speed is highly appreciated since there in many cases are quite long “transport passages” to get out of the inner Archipelago. Also many of the fantastic nature experiences are in the outer archipelago some 25-30 nm to sail. With a multihull you can leave for home after lunch (+ coffee) on a Sunday afternoon.


Michelle and Bernard celebrating traditional Swedish Midsummer

Come and visit us - it absolutetly worth it (article about Stockholm Archipelago in french Magazine Voile et Voiliers mentioned in our blog earlier this spring)
Midsummer regards from Stockholm Archipelago!

/Jan

Seaon “at work” – a guest blog from Norway

Report from Seaon NOR 396 M and “With course for work”

Seaon NOR 396 M is now sailing. The sailing characteristics of the Seaon 96 are spectacular! We logged 19.5 knots in 8-10 m/s (with self tacking jib and main sail) on our first training session with the race crew. The sails from Gransails are beautiful, and this week we finally got our gennacker. We have already tried it out with big smiles on our faces.

Seaon NOR 396 M has been named Liv after both the Norse goddess and the only woman surviving Ragnarøk and we hope that her name will keep her safe and sound in all weathers.

I, Anders work as a clinical psychologist and my co owner Arve as a social worker and family therapist. Liv will mainly bee used in our project called “Med styring mot arbeid” which directly translates as “With course towards work”.



Anders and Arve

In society today with higher and higher demands from the labour market, some young people have problems finding and keeping employment. The reasons can be multiple. Often they come from non functional homes and have had upbringings marked by lack of loving relations, drug abuse, and violence. Sometimes they have just been plain unlucky or made the wrong decisions during their teenage period.

We believe that sailing is an excellent activity for both vocational- and social training. Vocational: if you don’t do your part on a sail yacht the boat stops and you get a direct feedback of your commitment. Socially: you can exchange rolls and if you have a conflict there is nowhere to run. You are forced to face the conflict and deal with it

We combine this with group therapy were we address personal problems that prevents our clients from keeping relations over time, be happy in everyday life and keeping employment, because this three things are tightly knit together.


Therapy session

We have chosen Seaon 96 because we hope that its explosive performance characteristics shall give our clients the continues kicks that we think is needed for catching and keeping their interest. Or with other words: If we start were they are, then maybe they will follow. Another reason for choosing Seaon 96 is that it is a small and big boat at the same time, small to handle but with big outside spaces, so it won’t feel crowded with 4-6 clients. We also believe that coming out in the nature and at sea have a healing force in it self.

So every Wednesday Arve and I change offices for Liv and go sailing with five young men who have not been able to establish them self on the labour market. We have now had four sail sesions and so far it has been going excellent. “Guttarna” as we call them are catching the sailing very fast and we are really enjoying sailing with them.


Lunch break at Oyenkilen

But the bottom line is as usually economics. Will we be able to continue the project for next year? The economy is tight and we work this year without wages. So if there are any sponsors out there in cyberspace who like our project, it would bee fun with a screacher and we do need a trailer.

Happy sailing from Anders and Arve



Blog editors comment:
To avoid confusion – yes, there are now three yellow Seaon 96crb sailing.

Same procedure as last year… same procedure as every year - but more! 62 multihull entries ranging from Orma 60 foot trimarans to Hobie 16 catamarans.

Second Saturday of May there is The Round Lidingö Race which is the “famous” Stockholm season opening race. This year’s edition had the typical light winds increasing a little during the day with quite a few restarts due to spots and times of now wind at all.


20 min into race……SWE 3 still ahead (very small on left side of picture…) of two Orma 60 foots…(My apologies for picture qualities. Problem found to late - no other camera on board)

All can agree conditions were tricky……however there are different opinions on the results. Those who made well obviously are proud of their strategic decisions on the course……those who where not satisfied obviously agreed there was a big portion of luck involved in the results.


SWE-4 with new their genacker


SWE-3 on strategic course!


SWE-4 on beat action

The results? A very well sailed Dragonfly 25 (“reborne” and fine tuned by Gransegel Mats a few years ago) on first place, a modified A-Cat on second and Johan Grim, new owner of Seaon SWE3 on 3rd place (with Gransegel Mats (again!) as trimmer on board). Mats Leander’s in Seaon SWE-4? Obviously they were unlucky since they picked the wrong end of track at the start and got stuck ….

/Jan

Trimaran saling - spring signs in Stockholm!

Time to launch SWE 4

Finally spring arrived in Stockholm – weather and the launching of Mats and Jan-Erik’s new Seaon 96crb included. Actually it is Mats second Seaon, he was also the owner of Seaon nr 1. Thank you Mats for the continued trust in us - Jan-Erik obviously included!


Mats and Jan-Erik unpacking (sorry for the bad angle Jan-Erik!)

First days in water there was still some thin ice to crush in the mornings at the mooring, however now things really picked up and even the "hang arounds" managed to get some air under their wings.....






Mats the sailmaker, Stefan the designer and Noel (previously Gransegel now becoming multihull guru) even managed to have some nice “lunch sailing” in 8-10 knots of wind during a beautiful spring day


We are boosted with trimaran energy! Not only because it is spring and we can get out on the water again for that long missed feeling, but also because one can really feel the change of sentiment in the sailing community. For a substantially larger group it is not anymore about "if" but "when"…..!

/Jan

Trimaran beam (aka) design

As mentioned in an earlier blog I promised to high light a few issues on our choice of beam system design. Amongst others, from time to time, we get questions on why we do not have water stays.

When defining the Seaon 96 we had to make decisions on the different parts of the boat. First of all we were very clear about using a folding system that would allow us to optimise performance and functionality “in the water” Yes – it was a conscious decision where we were aware of the added time needed for assembly/disassembly for trailering by not using the Farrier principle.

Having made this choice there were quite a few other parameters to consider:

• Folding operation – considering fatigue and maintenance of included parts
• Structural safety aspects and ease of assembly/disassembly operation for trailering, i.e. potential structural risks related to assembly need to be minimized
• Water resistance and spray
• Performance – considering energy consumed by movements in the beam system
• Comfort – beam system should be experienced as rigid possible, preferably as if the boat was non folding
• Calculation, construction and testing aspects
• Ease and cost of production

A large part of our consideration was about the safety and complexity of the folding and boat assembly where we wanted to eliminate as many “unknowns” as possible – basically this implied reducing as many parts as possible.

Obviously Stefan’s experiences from glider productions with modern construction methods for wing constructions also led us to evaluate a stiff construction which we valued would add to comfort and performance. For the boat to be rigid, the beams need to be stiff in both directions. An added benefit of this is that in (worst case!) case of a mast failure this construction adds to security due to beams not being dependent on shrouds to take care of excessive “negative loads”.

Another requirement was to make calculation, construction and testing as straightforward as possible. Again, reducing the number of parts very much supported this objective in many aspects. This requirement also allowed us to verify our calculations and constructions with experts from the marine and aviation industries.

So – in the end all these requirements led to a construction without water stays.

The beam system is constructed to take all loads on the front leeward beam during CE category B conditions. To verify this construction and also production variances, load tests were defined using hydraulics, a load cell and quite a sturdy test jig. (We almost tore a roof down due to lack of calculation of….the supporting pillars to which we initially connected the beam.)

A few production changes, testing and three beams later the construction was set. To monitor any potential material and production variations we also decided to set up a continuous load testing program in production, i.e. each beam is tested individually.





All research, evaluation and testing, as explained above, made us convinced this was the solution we were looking for our Seaon 96crb….and as mentioned before, it is not as “unorthodox” as it may seem at first, considering modern aircraft and Orma 60 designs.

/Jan

Beautiful Stockholm Archipelago by trimaran

Living in the Stockholm Archipelago we sometimes take it for granted, however every now and then we get a reminder that it is something extra ordinary like this beautiful report by Hervé Hillard when he and his friends explored the Archipelago in a Seaon.

Please enjoy (the marvellous pictures for those of us who do not read French and yes, we are looking for assistance to translate it into English…) the article (link) published in Voile & Voiliers:

Text by Hervé Hillard
Pictures by Jean-Louis Gury
Map by Francois Chevalier
Voiles & Voiliers n445, March 2008




We can only agree to this beautiful report and add - "It should be experienced it IRL - in a trimaran.....!"

/Jan et all waiting for the spring in Stockholm (now having had snow for three days)

Trimaran tests

In the last issue of “MULTIHULLS WORLD/MULTICOQUES MAGAZINE” there is a test of both the Seaon (this time the article also in English! (English PDF version ) , article in French (French PDF version )) and the Seacart.

Obviously such tests are valuable both for customers and ourselves. Amongst others it also gives us an opportunity to highlight a few issues listed in the article which may not be obvious for everyone.

Philippe Echelle, the author of the article, highlighted amongst other the “lip at the deck/hull joint” (we call it “flange”. There are few ways to handle the joint of deck hull. Weighing the alternatives we finally choose the solution for two reasons:

When docked the flange protects the float from chafing against the dock. Also it is quite a strong point should one attempt a “hard” docking manoeuvre. To repair the paint (if not choosing a rubber protection like one customer has) on the edge of the flange is a simple operation, rather than having to repaint a larger area on the float. On the main hull the flange is used as a strong point for attaching the nets.

Furthermore, at high speeds the flange protects the water flow from each side of the float to join on the top of the float which under certain conditions will create a downward acting force.

Philippe also highlighted “The absence of waterstays(martingales on the arms)…”. This is probably not as unusual as it may seem, comparing the aviation industry moving away from wing stays quite some time ago. It is probably worth a separate comment (and potentially other issues) well which I will address in a future blog entry.

Finally, our company history is probably not the usual “start a company” story (if there ever is a “usual”!). The team behind Seaon has sailed together for over 20 years (and known each other for more than that!) and Stefan having optimized all the keels and rudders of the team’s racing yachts. Even though input, wishes and requirements for the design (Jan being very fond of the curves and lines of ………(anybody figured out?)) came from the whole team, Stefan is the designer in the team.

/Jan

Let the show begin! Trimarans at the Copenhagen Boatshow

Having fulfilled the usual "pre-exhibition stress" (this time maybe a little more than expected), the stand finally was ready for the "grand opening" hosted by Brian's and Alan's new started operation "Multihull" in Denmark exhibiting a Seaon 96crb and a Corsair 31.




And the show began!

Exhibition opened 10.00, at 10.30 there was a line up. It seems the Multihull interest in Denmark is big.



/Jan

Seaon 96crb on Copenhagen International Boat Show 2008, February 23rd to March 2nd

A Seaon 96crb will be exhibited on the Copenhagen International Boats Show 2008 ( http://www.baadeibella.dk/English/Visitors/), February 23rd to March 2nd in co-operation with our Danish distributor “Multihull” (http://www.mulithull.info/)

For further info please contact Multihull (for Danish visitors) or Seaon AB (for international visitors).


/Jan

Archipelago of Minquiers (Bretagne) by trimaran

There is quite a lot of Seaon in the press. Attached (link) you find an article (unfortunately only available in French) in “Voile Magazine” where our very active Seaon 96crb sailors Bernard and Michelle together with Voile Mag's Bernard Rubinstein explored the Archipelago of Minquiers off the coast of Bretagne.

Coming up is also an article where Philippe Echelle from “Multihulls World” test sailed the Seaon 96crb. After that (March) there will be an article in Voiles et Voiliers (French again! They are active sailors indeed!) by Herve Hillard who explored the Stockholm Archipelago in a Seaon....and then there will be an article on Seaon production by Henrik Hansen from “Bådnyt” in Denmark.

So watch the newsstands!

Below a photo on Bernard’s friends coming along when he goes sailing…..



/Jan

Testing, testing and testing – Trimaran dagger board

Challenging productivity and weight further, we now build our hollow dagger boards in one piece which takes a few tricks …and (hard) experiences. One of the tricks is to decide how to test – what kind of test jig, test procedures, test loads, what to look for etc.
In our test procedures we quite frequently use a load cell, in this case testing a load of two tons. Clearing the design load however is not enough, at the same time we need to check for amongst others leakages that only show under severe load, which is another challenge. And yes – we found some in the first tests which forced us to go back and rethink laminate cuts, vacuum bags placing etc. Step by step potential problems are removed. The conclusion? Testing, though time consuming, is very rewarding not only from the point of view of saving our customers (cannot be a strong enough expression!) as much as it possible from surprises, but in many instances it also reveals critical variations in the production process which then can be stabilized and this in itself is productivity rewarding.

/Jan