I've searched for this on the forum a variety of times, and don't believe any threads have really dived into it.... Can you sail an Expedition Wherry??
I know i know... CLC makes a HUGE variety of great boats, all suited to their own little niches just fine... But yet I'm always asking for more. I get it, every boat is a compromise... A great paddling boat doesn't mean its great to row, or sail, vice versa. But if its a light easily driven hull, it should be able to sail, right?
Don't get me wrong, i love the Waterlust Sailing Canoe concept. But I have no desire to use the Hobie drive thingy... And I don't think at 36" wide it would be a great paddling boat, so at that point its just a sailboat to me. So I ask myself, can a sliding seat be rigger into the Waterlust Canoes and them be sailed...? And I think the answer is yes, although the daggerboard might need to be moved a couple inches over to make way for a dropin sliding seat... and the dropins get in the way of maneuverability, so maybe something more like the rig for the Oxford Shell would be better...
And then i get to looking at that Expedition Wherry and I ask myself... how would that sail? JCH designed to handle rougher water, but perhaps it would need a little more freeboard near the bow if it was be driven hard by a mast up front. But I just don't know enough about sailing to really answer those questions. I'd assume the Waterlust hull would be better driven with more volume in the bow... but I don't actually know that, because i don't design boats.
So in my head, thats what I want. I want an Expedition Wherry that can sail. It could probably paddle with a longer double bladed paddle just fine, although I'd rather hike out a little with a single bladed paddle. There is no way it could be worse than pushing a rubber raft or dinghy around. So if it could sail, I think it could be the triple threat boat of my dreams.
And what else do we have to hold on to in 2020 than dreams?!
So thats what I have been wake dreaming about of late, dropping that Waterlust Sailplan on the Expedition Wherry, with a bolt on rig ala Oxford Shell, which you might be able to set a plank on for hiking out like an IC... Or moding a Waterlust canoe to do similar... <sigh>
Happy Thanksgiving everyone~
~Johnathan