I have been plagued with doubts about this project. To tell the truth, it is not really what I had originally wanted to do. I wanted to make a nice outrigger, proa or catamaran under 20'. Preferably it would have been cartoppable. Something that would sail sweetly and look nice, just sitting there.

What I have is an old trimaran hull with a 4 foot hole in it, and another hull from a catamaran that no one seems to have ever heard of. I have a large pile of scrap parts. I have no idea what the sailing characteristics may be, and don't even have a clue about trying to figure them out on paper.

How will the hulls line up? where should I mount the cross arms to the ama? How should I mount the crossarms to the ama? Will the two hulls float leve together? What do I do if they don't? Where will the center of lateral resistance be? Should I put in a daggerboard, leeboard, or reinstall the hacked out centerboard case?

The list of questions is growing at an alarming rate with no questions being able to be answered without answere a score more first!

My trusty circular saw helped get me out of this funk today.

The only thing I did know is that the metal cross beams attached to the Kis Kat hull needed to go. There was some delamination at the hull deck joint so I initially just tried to peel the deck off. No go there.

I ended up setting the saw blade to cut at 3/8 inch and cut as close to the aluminum as possible. Then I was able to take a small pry bar and pop the deck off the hull by each tube. The first 2 popped off great, leaving the upper part of the hull intact. The third busted up the hull a bit, but nothing a little glass won't fix later on.

The commotion in the wharehouse summoned my bro-in-law Ron. And he came out to find out why his computer guy was running a circular saw instead of developing the ecom project I'm supposed to be working on. After relating some of my issues to him and discussing some of my proposed solutions, we were able to lay out a decent plan of attack for the next phase of the project in about 15 minutes.

After plugging the aforementioned 4' hole in the Vaka, the next largest structural dilema is where to mount the crossbeams to the aka and how. I have no clue where the best placement will be as the hull shapes are vastly different, and I want this boat to float as close to the respective lines of each hull as possible. We figured out how to make temporary mounting brakets that can be adjusted while test launching the project (after plugging the big hole that is)

Once the deck to the ama has been removed, I will add 2 permanent bulkheads, one fore and one way aft. Between them a temporary 2x4 can be mounted, kinda like a strongback. I can then attach temporary mounting posts that can b slid fore and aft along the 2x4 and adjusted up and down while the hulls are floating. I think that this method will allow me to find the optimum spots to mount permanent bulkheads and support posts.

So in the end, my frustration led me to taking random action. From there, a little collaboration showed me a way forward. Who knows where it will end, but I am determined to get this Outrigger Project floating and then sailing.