Study Plans 1 - S-16 N S-19
Study Plans 1 - S-16 N S-19
Study Plans 1 - S-16 N S-19
The ‘Slingshot 16’ is a 1-2 seater trimaran, and the ‘Slingshot 19’ is a 2-3 seater trimaran. Both boats been
developed to sail in perfect balance. With the 2-seater setup, but boat can remain in ideal helm balance
whether soloing or carrying a passenger, thanks to a unique sliding seat arrangement. You can also rig
them both with several very different kinds of sail rigs, and with either folding or fixed amas.
NOTE: The Slingshot 19 plans include full details to build both the folding akas and 19’ amas. NOTE: The
basic Slingshot 16 plans include construction details for the standard 14’ cruising amas and one-piece
(non-folding) akas. Supplementary plans are also available that include full construction details for the
larger 16’ performance amas and also for folding akas for the Slingshot 16.
NOTE: Plans for the 2-seater version of the Slingshot 16 are not yet available, but are in the works.
About the speed of these two trimarans: You may not want to go 14 mph, but it’s nice to know your boat
can safely do that. (It could probably do more, but somehow that seems fast enough for me.) You can
choose among 5 different sail rigs, either stayed or freestanding (unstayed). And you can initially build
the Slingshot 19 with fixed akas, then later convert to folding akas (for easy trailering) if you wish.
This design flexibility (as well as the super-shallow draft, the very light weight, and the ability to turn on
a dime) is the key to enjoying your boat the way YOU want it.
And of course, the foot-pedal steering allows you to have both hands free to eat, drink, take off your
jacket, apply sun glop, or whatever else you’d like to do while at full sail. And the remotely raiseable /
lowerable rudder will come in handier than you can imagine. Same with the leeboards that stay exactly
where you put them - up, down, or anywhere in between - with no lead weights involved.
In short, these are tested and proven designs and, if built carefully and solidly, will give you years or
decades of very enjoyable sailing!
Upon purchase, the full building plans for the Slingshot 16 and 19 trimarans are delivered to you in
multiple documents, some of which contain constriction photos and explanatory text, and others that
contain excellent detailed drawings by my associate and CAD expert, Jerome Delaunay.
In the same way, these study plans are condensed into two documents:
Manual #1 - Construction
Manual #2 - Drawings
My goal is to provide you with a clear sense of what both of these small trimarans are all about, to
help you understand how they are built, and to help you decide if these boats are a good 'fit' for you.
Enjoy!
- laying out and cutting out the main hull side panels
- installing the bottom panels
- hull interior details
- mast step & interior details
- misc. hull details
- leeboard construction and installation details
- sliding seat details
- rudder construction details
- steering line and foot pedal details
- ama construction details
- one-piece, non-folding aka details
- folding aka with longitudinals details
- folding aka without longitudinals details
- details for setting up unstayed / freestanding sail rigs
- details for setting up stayed sail rigs
- build dimensions for five different kinds of sails
- build details for two kinds of goosenecks
- build details for a freestanding tubular aluminum mast
At every stage of construction, I have done my very best to take photos that make the build process
clear, and to provide genuinely helpful explanatory text.
We’ll get started on the next page with some information about the “Hull & Amas” (outriggers, floats)
Section
NOTE: Most of the photos and text in this Study Plans Manual
are about the Slingshot 19, but the construction process
for the Slingshot 16 is essentially the same.
– Frank B. Smoot
Option One
Option Two
Option Three
Lumber:
8 linear ft. of 1” x 6” (3/4” x 5-1/2”) clear or nearly so
80 linear ft. of 1”x2” (3/4” x 1-1/2”) clear or nearly so
110 linear ft 1/2x 3/4“ molding (shoe or rectangular)
Aluminum Tubing:
Akas: (2) 3” x 12’ x .065 or .083 wall thickness
Optional Freestanding Mast: (1) 3” x 12’ x .083 wall thickness and (1) 2.5” x 12’ x .065 wall thickness
Boom: (1) 1-3/4” x 12’ x .065 wall
Fiberglass cloth:
13 yards of 6 oz. x 72” wide (main hull exterior and deck, and cockpit floor)
20 yards of 4 oz. x 30” wide (ama hulls and deck)
Hardware:
All imaginable sizes and types of stainless steel bolts are available online from Bolt Depot
www.BoltDepot.com
All aluminum tubing specified in these plans is available from Alro Metals
www.alrometals.com
© Frank Smoot 2016
Photo 132 - Here you can see some 1x4” supports that
have been screwed (very lightly) to the tops of the
amas. The first layer of 1x4 is about ¾” narrower than the
width of the ama top on both sides, so that fiberglass
applied to the bottom and side panels can be
trimmed off.
There are three basic ways to set up the akas on your Slingshot 19 trimaran for sailing. Selecting the right
option is important because different options work best for different sail rigs. So it’s important to
understand how the construction methods differ, and why. Let’s look at each one:
This is the simplest, lightest, quickest, and cheapest to build. It consists of two 12’ 6061-T6 aluminum
tubes bolted crosswise to the main hull, 8’ apart. Each tube is 3” O.D., and the wall thickness should be
.083”. You can also use .065", but it will cost more and not be quite as strong.
This setup allows you to bolt the amas directly to the ends of the aka tubes. It’s quite strong once
assembled, and is much less work to build than the folding akas. But the downside is that you will need to
assemble and disassemble the akas and amas each time you sail. You will also have to set your trailer up
to carry these parts separately. But I did this for years, so it works just fine.
Eventually, I got tired of assembling and disassembling my boat every time I wanted to sail. The obvious
solution was to make akas that would fold, so the amas could be brought in close to the main hull and
opened to full width without doing any assembly. After substantial experimentation, I arrived at the
design shown here. It has been tested on 5 different boats, and is very functional and even sturdier than
the one-piece akas.
The original design did not include the longitudinal supports shown in these plans. These were added
when I decided to experiment with sloop rigs, which almost always require stayed masts with shrouds
and a forestay. The 5/16” eyebolt mounted to the breasthook provided plenty of strength for attaching
the forestay, but I also needed to be able to attach shrouds at the right locations.
This meant I had to have a strong attachment point where none existed in the original folding aka design.
Ergo, the longitudinals were added - allowing an almost infinite range of locations for the strong point. I
settled on points that are 30 degrees aft of athwartships at the mast base, giving ideal triangular support
for the mast. If you want to use a conventional sloop rig, or even just a main without a jib on a stayed
mast, this is how you will build your boat.
As I noted, this was the original style I designed. Since there are no longitudinal supports to connect
shrouds to, you will be restricted to using only unstayed / freestanding masts. But that’s what I personally
have ended up doing. After years of experimentation, I have concluded that unstayed sail rigs have so
many advantages over stayed ones that they’re all I use anymore. The 14 mph top speeds I have seen on
all my boats were all achieved with unstayed sail rigs. And the 128 sq ft vertical batten sail I now use on
my Slingshot 19 delivers all the performance I could ask for.
If you would like to use a stayed sail rig (be it sloop, cat-rig, or whatever) on your Slinghsot 19, the
following section will show you how to set your boat up accordingly. Many people do want to use sloop
rigs, and I used one myself for a while.
As you will see a bit later you also can sail with an unstayed (freestanding) sail rig. As it turns out , this is
my personal preference. The boat weighs less, is easier to get in and out of, and to my eye, looks better
as an unstayed rig. And of course, the simplicity of an unstayed rig along with the fact that there are no
shrouds in the way of the boom has always appealed to me.
On the other hand, a stayed rig can be bigger in terms of overall square footage of sail you can carry. It
may also be easier to reef, and may also 'point' higher into the wind (though my personal experience
hasn’t confirmed this widely-held belief).
The pros and cons could be discussed endlessly, but in reality, either sail rig will work just fine. So,
respecting the chronological order in which these sail rig variations were actually tested, we’ll start with
setting your boat up for a stayed rig.
NOTE: You will ONLY be able to use a stayed sail rig if you have already made the conversion to the
folding ama setup as described above. Maybe there’s some other way to do it with the “solid aka” setup
described earlier, but that’s beyond the scope of these plans.
The Longitudinals
In terms of what you will need to build, the principle difference between the stayed and unstayed sail rigs
is a pair of 'longitudinals'. These are sturdy members that run 'longitudinally' (fore-and-aft) well outside
of the main hull, and are connected to the aka pivot bolts on both ends. A bit forward of the middle of
these longitudinal members is a place where you can attach the shroud that holds up your stayed mast.
Some trimaran designers like to attach the shroud to the ama. I have tried it both ways, and feel the
approach used here is both sturdier and easier to rig. Additionally, if you ever want to set up a 'trapeze'
(or anything else to sit or stand on while you hike out), these longitudinals will give you something to
attach it to.
There follows a series of photos of the finished longitudinals used on the prototype Slingshot 19. While
there are no photos of the actual build process, the images in the Drawings Manual are fully detailed, and
all measurements are taken from the actual longitudinals used on this time-tested rig.
NOTE the little black dot near the 2x4” spacer block on
one of the aka sections. This is actually a plastic
“through-deck pad eye” or “fairlead” (depending on who
you ask). Its function is to both guide the rope that will
be used to open the aluminum aka tubes and lock them
in place, and to minimize friction while this is being
done. (Front aka only.)
It's always tricky trying to pick the 'best' sail rig for a boat. Why? Because there's no such thing! Like every
other aspect of boat design, sail selection ends up being a compromise between various factors - in this
case, power vs. ease of handling vs. cost vs. situational flexibility vs. reefability vs. set-up / take-down
time and difficulty. You get the idea.
So with this in mind, and based on my many years of sailing small trimarans in a wide variety of
conditions, I offer you the following thoughts about selecting the 'right' sails for your Slingshot 19. You
will find five sail rig options below, along with my thoughts about the advantages and disadvantages of
each option.
You will find detailed drawing of all five of the sail rigs discussed here in the accompanying 'Drawings
Sails and Rigging' manual.
NOTE: All of the sail rig options below except for the Sloop Rig are designed to be used with freestanding
/ unstayed masts. Having tried out SO many different rigs over the years, I have reached a few
conclusions: Sloop rigs, (or any rigs with jibs) are 'supposed' to point higher (sail closer to the wind) than
'cat-rigged' (a single sail on a single mast, placed well forward) boats.
But in my experience, that just ain’t so. Or if there is a difference, it’s too fine for me to measure. And of
course, virtually all sloop rigs require a minimum of a forestay and two shrouds - the latter of which
seriously interfere with sail placement. Plus, they are a pain to rig and unrig, and all those wire
attachment points are potential accidents waiting to happen. So for these reasons and more, all of the
sail rigs I personally use any more are unstayed / freestanding.
If this is the only sail you ever use on this boat, you
probably won’t miss a thing. This is the sail that I
was using when I went 14 mph in this boat. (I may
have gone faster other times, but I seldom
remember to bring my GPS.) In any case, it’s an
easy sail rig to assemble and to set up for sailing.
With no battens, it can furl and reef around
the mast.
Option Three
118 sq. ft.
Radial Batten 'Fan Sail'
Photo 3
118 sq. ft.
Radial Batten 'Fan Sail'
© Frank Smoot 2016