Radical Bay 8000

 Home-built from plans or kit

Brand:

Schionning

Designed by:

Schionning Designs

Description:

The Radical Bay 8000 sports cruiser, unorthodox with her biplane rig, is fast, fun to sail, and very cheap to build. She is small enough to be easily demounted and towed on a trailer, yet she has sufficient accommodation for light-weight cruising. The two mainsail rig keeps the centre of effort low and is safe and easy to manage. The halyards are external and the masts unstayed. These spars are simple carbon tubes with a pre-bend and are cheaply and easily built at home. The two battened, square-headed mains have a sleeve in the luff which fits around the mast to form an aerofoil similar to a rotating wing mast, but much cheaper and simpler. Only one winch is needed to manage this setup, further saving weight and cost. The booms are fixed beams clamped to the mast, and therefore no downwards force needs to be applied to the mainsheet, and mainsheet loads are light. The angles of both booms are controlled together or separately through a single sheet system with a simple 2:1 purchase.

The Radical Bay 8000 has an open bridgedeck, so the permanently covered accommodation is all in the hulls. The width of each hull is broadened by a generous champher to the freeboard between the floats, which creates a lot of useful space below, especially for the galley (starboard) and table with seating (port). Cruising essential requirements are completed with a double bunk and a head and shower aft and two singles forward.

When lightly loaded and suitably equipped, the 8000 will be competitive around the race course. Schionning Designs are making her a one design class with the expectation that 8000 racing could become popular.

This boat is also available professionally built.

Type:

Sports cruiser

Multihull type:

Catamaran

Construction:

• Strip planked Durakore
• Sealed with epoxy resin and glass
• Alloy tube cross beams - reduce cost and ease demounting

Construction images:

Sails and rigging:

• 'Biplane' rig. Two unstayed masts with external halyards
• Fixed beam booms
• Two fully battened mains with luff sleeves that enclose the mast and halyard

Sails and rigging images:

Deck layout and gear:

• Hard bridgedeck, can be omitted from the design to save weight
• Twin cockpits
• Booms can be controlled together or independently
• Tiller steering

Deck layout images:

Keels, boards and rudders:

• Tiller steering
• Kick-up rudders
• Daggerboards

Accommodation:

Port hull: Head and shower aft; table and seating midships; single bunk forward
Bridgedeck : Open, optional awning
Starboard hull: Narrow double bunk aft; galley midships; single bunk forward

Accommodation images:

Systems - Power, Navigation:

• Single outboard which can be lowered to the best operating depth depending on conditons
• The frame supporting the engine is also the fuel tank

Performance and handling:

• Very safe and easily managed rig
• Competent racer and fun cruiser
• Sufficient cruising facilities
• 6.5 kts cruise, 9.5 kts top speed with the motor
• 8 - 12 kts cruise, 20+ kts top speed under sail

Performance diagrams:

LOA (length overall):

8 m (26 ft 3 in)

Beam:

5.76 m (18 ft 11 in)

Hull length-to-beam ratio:

14.5:1

Draft minimum:

0.3 m (1 ft)

Windward sail area:

41.0 m² (441 ft²)

Mast height above deck:

8.5 m (27 ft 11 in)

Daggerboard / centreboard:

2

Displacement, lightship (empty):

800 kg (0.79 tons)

Displacement at design waterline (DWL):

1100 kg (1.08 tons)

Payload:

300 kg (0.3 tons)

Bridgedeck clearance:

0.68 m (2 ft 3 in)

Number of berths:

3-4

Cabin headroom:

1.7 m (5 ft 7 in)

Outboard engines:

1

Fuel type:

Petrol

Fuel capacity:

20 lt (5 US gallons)

Water capacity:

50 lt (13 US gallons)

Trailerable:

Yes: requires demounting

First introduced:

2004

In production:

Plans available

More images:

Degree of customisation:

Several options

Cost to home-build:

$33000 AUS (approx: £14632 Sterling / €19768 / $29026 US)*

Time to home-build from plans:

2000 hours

Time to home-build from kit:

1500 hours

Designer's/manufacturer's website:

• Designer's website

Other useful links:

• News of the Radical Bay 8000 in BoatingOz

Used boats for sale:

16 boats of this brand currently available!

* Exchange rates last updated: Sunday 27th January 2008 19:27 GMT