Hi there,
I’m hoping to gather info on the Ghost Train which are currently assembling but want to get more info on the Float dagger boards and possible wing rigs.
Any help would be great,
Cheers
Hi Tony -
First off - where are you located? (and to others - it helps to know, since there may be local contacts we can point you to)
Second - the GHOST TRAIN design is first in a series done by Andy McCullouch of the UK done about early 1990s. His FREIGHT TRAIN was his latest offering and is from the mid 1990’s. Most current design I am aware of is PULSE which was a late 90’s national champion (UK) boat.
The cross section (teardrop) shape for GT makes it a bit sticky in light air. Adding additional boards to floats in addition to main hull will add extra drag. I think (as I recall my drawings) it only had a central board and a “T” rudder. Also, in high winds, the increased lateral resistance may cause heeling quicker with possible capsize. [just a thought/speculation]
Check this forum, as under “sailmaking” (I think) there has been some discussion about wing masts, solid wings, etc. Also look to the Land/Ice Yacht topics, as there also is some info. Not a lot of people into multihulls, fewer into wing masts, and even fewer into solid wings.
Stay on the board here and share your process and findings, please.
Send me a message with your email address and I wil send you a dwg file of a wing mast for the GT as designed by Andy McCullogh
Alan,
I would also be interested in receiving this plan & will PM you with my email address. Have any of these been built? If so, I’d love to see some images posted.
Regards,
Bill K
I have now posted the file on my site along with the rest of the plans for the GT, it seems there’s a bit of interest out there!
If anyone actually gets around to building one I would love to see some pictures.
Hi Alan -
it looks like this is going to be …“You show me yours, I’ll show you mine” kind of things! :smile_gre
-
I didn’t blow those up yet on our big printer, but it “looks” from my small viewer, like a wing sail - not a wing mast. Mainly because of the ability to change camber. Let me know if I am wrong.
-
Since it is only fair to share, here is the wing “sail” that I have been working on and off for some time. Because of size, I had to reduce to a small image of the thing. Mine only as one moving element unlike yours.
Thanks, Alan. BTW, what ever became of Bruce Ewing’s “Wing Thing” ?
Bill
Guy’s,
Thanks for the replys it’s beenreally helpful.
Im currently based here in Valencia with Team Shosholoza and their AC challenge. We had a couple of guys with the plans so we have decided to start up a fleet.
So far we have float and hull female tools virtually finished and we plan to start production in the new year.
Our aim here is to have them all one design so to speak which is why I wanted to get our ducks in a row with all the tooling, even crossbeams and wing masts.
Thanks for all the help and I’ll keep you all posted with progress.
Cheers for your time
Tony
I know a couple of guys that have now left your team that told me of this project. I am very interested in getting one.
I will be back in Valencia next week, so if you could keep me updated on how everything is going, it would be much appreciated. I have some info on wing masts ie. prices etc. for foam blanks.
Cheers
Martyn
Tony -
if you come up with the tooling - and a not-outrageous profit margin - I am positive there are folks willing to order. Shipping a tall mast that is one-piece might be difficult, but I would encourage you to look at the idea of some semi-production “kits”.
When you add the shipping (based on size) it seems this type of boat always gets mighty expensive for a not-yet-recognized class here in the US. Perhaps going with glass and polyester resin instead of carbon and epoxy might help reduce some costs - and the size and time is still the major component of cost. A few boats were considered from the UK - but with the Pound versus the dollar, cost of freight and added profit for the builder, and most interested just faded away.
Here in the US as often noted - we are in a “Catch 22” where folks won’t buy/build to a rather small (but growing) class, and the class can’t grow if folks don’t show up with boats (home-made, second-hand, or whatever).
I can in no way guarantee buyers, but once the tooling is available, it will at least address “WHO” might be willing to build. Over here we simply need to get boats on the water. Over there, the French, Brits and a few Spanish and Italian owners have a pretty decent group and activity. If you can’t sell them here in teh US, you may be able to sell them over there.
Good luck - and give the idea some thought.
Hi Guys,
Thanks for the info, we are currently back in valencia and the team are doing mods to the AC boat, the tri’s are all part of the package and we hope to pop out the first prototype main,outer hulls, crossbeams by the end of the month.
Taking into consideration of your comments we plan to make it easy and get boats on the water so a run of polyester boats will be the plan.
As for production we only just have enough time to fit a normal working day in, but once we get started momentum may keep the kits going.
We havent thought of selling them off, as for now we shall get a fleet going here first and then worry about producing kits later.
The hope is to get 6 boats running by May, depending on Cup commitments and a wednesday night series going. i’m sure the interest here in the basin will increase if we can keep it all going.
Martyn, just get in touch, tony.evans@sachallenge.com
Dick, thanks for your ideas and the approach just to get people sailing sounds like the right one to start. There are enough people around here who would take these boat a little too seriously with materials and budgets.
We can have great fun just getting a good fleet together.
There are enough sailmakers around to supply development and I’m sure we will have to place a few tight restrictions for the first season.
Looking forward to getting things moving here,
keep you posted
Cheers
Tony