I spent four days last week working at the St. Petersburg Strictly Sail Boat Show, as mentioned in my previous post. Practically all of that time was spent on board the Boatsmith Tiki 30, Abaco, as David and I were busy each day from open to close answering questions and showing folks around on the only Wharram catamaran in the show. I did manage to take a few quick walks around and see some of the other boats on display that caught my interest. First, the photo below is a look into the cockpit of Abaco. I took many more photos of the details of various parts of this boat. For those who are interested in seeing more, I've posted them in an online gallery here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/teaksmith/BoatsmithTiki30AtStPetersburgBoatShow#
Below is a Com-Pac Yachts Sun Cat. I've always liked the high quality trailerable pocket cruisers offered by Com-Pac.
Below is an Aere' Inflatable Catamaran developed and marketed by Dan Kunz, a long-time Wharram cat enthusiast based in the Keys who currently owns a Tangaroa. The Aere' catamaran stores in three bags and can be taken anywhere. More info is available at:
This unusual catamaran looks like it would be more at home in space than on the sea. It looks like it would be fun to sail. It's called a Spydra Cat 21. More info and photos at:
http://www.starshipcatamarans.com/html/spydra_21.html
The Sea Pearl 21, of course, is one of the better known trailerable beach cruisers built in Florida. These boats have a huge following and many have been used for long distance expeditions.
On the upper end of seaworthy trailerable monohulls, the Seaward 26 is a good-looking and well-found shallow draft yacht that can be taken most anywhere.
The Rhodes 22 is another highly-regarded pocket cruiser that has a devoted following.
Among the prettiest boats at the show were the Norse Boat trailer sailors with their lapstrake hulls and traditional wood trim. Custom cockpit tents turn these small boats into camp cruisers.
There were many others, of course, mostly the larger models offered by Catalina, Hunter, Beneteau, Island Packet and other production builders. The trend among these builders is as always to maximize the accomodations for a given length and isolate the crew from the elements of sea, wind and sun. Despite the popularity of these concepts, our open deck Tiki 30 with its low freeboard and rakish lines attracted a lot of attention from folks who could just sense that it was a good seaworthy boat at first glance.