Engineering:Houdini (sailboat)

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Short description: Sailboat class

Houdini
Houdini sailboat sail badge.png
Welsford Houdini sailboat Feisty 8376.jpg
Houdini lug sail yawl
Development
DesignerJohn Welsford
LocationNew Zealand
Year2011
Builder(s)amateur builders
Boat
Boat weight187 lb (85 kg)
Hull
Typemonohull
Constructionplywood
LOA13.45 ft (4.10 m)
Beam5.91 ft (1.80 m)
Engine typeoptional outboard motor
Hull appendages
Keel/board typecentreboard
Rudder(s)transom-mounted rudder
Rig
Rig typeLug rig
Sails
Sailplanlug sail
Mainsail area115.17 sq ft (10.700 m2)
Total sail area115.17 sq ft (10.700 m2)

The Houdini is a New Zealand sailing dinghy that was designed by John Welsford as a cruiser and first built in 2011.[1][2][3][4]

The boat's designer intended it as an "escape machine" and so named it in honour of Harry Houdini.[3][4]

Production

The design is supplied in the form of plans. It has been built by amateur builders and also by some professional builders on a custom basis.[1]

Design

A Houdini, showing the transom. This boat has a Minn Kota electric motor.

The boat was designed for camping on-shore and provides stowage space to take a large amount of camping gear. It can accommodate four people for camping-cruising or up to seven people for day sailing. The design has sleeping accommodation for two adults under a boom tent.[3][4]

The Houdini is a recreational sailboat, built predominantly of wood, with a plywood hull and wooden spars and trim. The prototype used bamboo spars. It has a lug sail rig and can be fitted with a mizzen mast and sail as a yawl. It has a pronounced sheer, a plumb stem, a vertical transom, a transom-hung rudder controlled by a tiller and a retractable centreboard. It displaces 187 lb (85 kg). A cuddy cabin is optional.[1][3][4]

The boat may be optionally fitted with an outboard engine for docking and maneuvering.[3][4]

Boats have also been completed with gaff rigs and sloop rigs.[3]

See also

Similar sailboats

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 McArthur, Bruce (2020). "Houdini sailboat". sailboatdata.com. https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/houdini. 
  2. McArthur, Bruce (2021). "John Welsford". sailboatdata.com. https://sailboatdata.com/designer/welsford-john. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Houdini by John Welsford". boatplans.cc. http://boatplans.cc/john-welsford/houdini/. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 John Welsford Small Craft Design. "Houdini". jwboatdesigns.co.nz. http://jwboatdesigns.co.nz/plans/houdini/. 

External links