RARAKA 16M CRUISING TRIMARAN -THE CONCEPT
For Jase and Clo Raraka is more than a gorgeous tropical atoll. Its a real experience lived on board their 54' LOA Chris White designed trimaran Spirit XL.
Jase and Clo rested over on the Raraka Lagoon mid passage on their voyage from Panama to the Australian East Coast in 2024.
Jason documented the stopover in high resolution drone footage It's is well worth a look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4F91vdJQ1Q&t=19s
The video is called Collecting Experiences not Things. The photography is brilliant.
The impetus for the design project came from Jase and we nutted out the design together while Jase and Clo were last in Thailand a couple of years ago.
Not long after we wrapped up the concept work Jase and Clo bought their second Spirit (A Chris White Hammerhead 54), did a major refit and went cruising again.
So the design has lingered in my files for a couple of years. I tripped over it while looking for something else and I thought to myself "we should do something with this".
I contacted Jase by email. Jase and Clo were fresh into Australia from their transpacific crossing on Trimaran Spirit XL and Jase was keen to go another round on the design work.
What shall we call it I asked Jase. Response was unhestitating and blindingly obvious in hindsight. "Raraka"
RARAKA 16 LAYOUTS
The layout above is Jason's ideal layout for short handed live-aboard cruising. Just one bathroom, and an aft cabin with a double berth and a big wide opening glass hatch that swings open at dawn to welcome the panorama of the day.
Layout with two double cabins and two bathrooms. The saloon is open to the cockpit and all on one level. The saloon can be closed off with clears if desired.
HULL DESIGN
For Raraka we increased the freeboard in the floats, kept them reasonably fine and gave them a nice deep V especially in the forward sections.
The deeper V'd float section shape means less slamming on a short steep sea. The wider overall beam that we normally use on racing trimarans has been moderated to further subdue rocking motion in beam seas.
DAGGERS, SWING KEELS, FIXED KEELS
Fixed fins on the floats?
Yeah I think its an option worth thinking about. No lifting mechanism required and less draft than a single fixed keel in the main hull.
It would put more load on the beams and so would have to be accounted for in the engineering program.
Getting the dagger case out of the main saloon is a big advantage to opening up the accommodation
Curious about what your own custom Raraka might look like? Trimarans are not a cheap solution to cruising. Engineering and build quality are critical. But there's a beautiful world to discover out there and why not discover it in a beautiful boat? We're an email away and there is time in my day, every day to talk about trimarans.
Tony Grainger
graingerdesigns@gmail.com
