The strangest sailboat design I ever saw

[RussC]

I'm sure not in the market for another boat, but still can't help browsing CL once in a wile. I did own an Alcort Puffer at one time, and it was a really fun little daggerboard dinghy so maybe this Alcort design also sails better than it looks.
http://redding.craigslist.org/boa/55652947uffer

Ever seen one stranger?

 

[Siamese]

Hey, I wonder if those windows open up.

 

[Jackdaw]

This type of design (high free board, fixed hull Windows, semi-flush deck) was sorta popular at this time. On 23-30 foot boats it fixed the problem of having to scamper around the house on tiny side decks created by trying to maximize interior space. In my opinion it is a MUCH better solution (both in terms of esthetics and function) than making the house hull wide, creating NO side decks and having crew go over a hull-wide house to get to the mast and bow. That's both ugly and dangerous. If a sailboat has a house it needs proper sidedecks.

A well known example if this style is the Dufour 27 from around 1980.

 

[Bosman]

Agreed. Here is another example, Tango 780S, mid 80s design.

 

[zeehag]

del rey are stranger but i havent pix

 

[Karyon]

Now this is a strange looking boat, looks like the they put an old bus on a hull.

 

[Skipper]

View attachment 122836
Now this is a strange looking boat, looks like the they put an old bus on a hull.

I have those same windows. I knew I had seen that style before. Just couldn't figure it out, till now. An old bus

 

[Jackdaw]

View attachment 122836
Now this is a strange looking boat, looks like the they put an old bus on a hull.

Oh come on. That's photoshopped. I know because the REAL BusBoat has sidedecks! ;^)

 

[jimmcgee]

Not a sailboat but you can't leave out the Cosmic Muffin

http://inhabitat.com/the-cosmic-muffin-a-boat-recycled-from-howard-hughes-plane/

 

[frankies56]

love the ac unit on the side I wonder if it has an emergency slide

 

[marke14]

Ok ... I think the BusBoat and certainly the Cosmic Muffin have me beat here; and technically this is a cat, but it IS sail-powered.

I actually looked this up just now in response to this thread. In Wilmington (Los Angeles Harbor, CA), at a neighboring marina, there is a boat that has been on the hard near Newmarks / Pacific Yacht / whatever over at the end of the spit out there, in front of one of the marina offices. It is a twin hull cat, whose width is impossibly narrow given the length of the hulls and the un-stepped mast. I have concluded that it must be in "trailer" configuration because there is simply no way the thing would be laterally stable otherwise.

EDIT: according to this link, they do indeed shrink down from 14' beam to 8' for trailering: http://sailingtexas.com/201101/sstiletto27100.html

Anyway here you go, it's called a Stiletto and evidently they are around. I've never seen any other example except this one - never seen one in the water.

http://www.stilettocatamarans.com/stiletto_27_gt_spec.htm

I've attached a couple of pictures. I will have to take one of the example near our marina, the next time I am down there.

I think it's the jet fighter tinted canopy things that really make this an odd in my eye. Check out the interior shots! Very strange configuration if you ask me.

Interior shot:

Here's an unfortunate fellow with a capsized Stiletto (love the file name on this one, BTW):
EDIT: the file name ended with "also_not_me"