A fresh approach - sailing the Windelo 50 fast cruising catamaran
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Plenty of ideas here from a new French brand building speedy spacious catamarans from volcanic rocks and plastic bottles. Toby Hodges sails the first to launch
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It started as hell no, then I was like hold on! This is quite brilliant.
Forward helm. Bloody brilliant.
I like the use of Basalt Fibers, the plentiful use of solar panels and the electric motors with the ability to hydro-generate. And at the same time: I know Covid has made it difficult to get a hold of one of the following, but anyone else that wants to see something about the Rapido 60 and/or the Bañuls 53 tri?...
Wow… great new design ideas and features…. Truly impressed!
Wow! Some really clever ideas in this boat! Thanks for another great video!
Great looking Cat. Great innovative approach. A few of sharp squared edges below decks that could do with rounding off.
How sailing has changed during my time. I started with a wooden Folkboat ended up saiing a mass production Beneteau with a couple of others in between. Never would I have thought that we would be sailing boats made out of volcanoes and bottles, far less powered by sunlight. I image this would be ideal for long distance cruising. A thing of beauty? I think not, but who wants to sail a Folkboat! It is interesting to see these new and different vessels, even though the time has come for me to hang up the Henry Lloyds.
It's never time to hang up the oilies Ian!
Its a wide deep sea ...and each traditional wooden boat has its worth and limits and teaches its own lesson's ..but
theres materials, form and function. This thing can probably sail at fast displacement motor vessel speeds.
The Dutch have known this for decades, building hulls in GRP and more so Steel in the style of their traditional flat bottom barge board equipped. Wooden vessels..right down to clinker planking details on the hull and painting steel masts to look wood.
So style and finish are items of choice...
But the Electric motor is just so small light quiet and efficient 98% and reliable its going to be a mainstay of private and commercial vessels. Watch this and see what they chose to do😉
ruclips.net/video/vniQN-aNnos/видео.html
The battery's and solar panels tech. will keep improving.
One idea is the combination of a permanent onboard rechargable battery - Lithium chemistry at the moment but adding a Swap out Aluminium Air pack . In cars a toolbox sized unit has the ability to provide a thousand mile plus range of charge. 🤔...
If I had the money, I would buy a Windolo 50 right away. The space allocation to the rooms is just brilliant. I fell in love at first sight. There's just a little bit too much straightness over the whole boat. The stern open space is a bit lame, maybe there is a better version in somewhat longer boats with nicely rounded benches and seats, useable for a comfortable socialising, a must-have! The inside bridge/cockpit workspace is the best solution I have ever seen on a cat or mono, it gives the feeling of a round the world racing boat. I would use that feature in the trimaran I am dreaming off. Thank you very much for your walk around presentation of the Windolo 50 Toby!
You are welcome!
It was a little unusual for me at first. BUT this turned out much better than most cat on the market especially for that price
I really like the cockpit and when they opened the rear bulkhead it was perfect
Love the thinking in this cat. Makes so much sense and no doubt one of the better sailing experiences in a cat. I do have to wonder about the seaworthyness of those very large slab windows.
If you are referring to slab windows as the cloth enclosures, their is another layer of protection between the front cockpit and the salon with sliding doors and an aggressive floor drain in front of it. Seaworthiness is not an issue given Barreau (architect) carefully thought this through.
its a sort of citroen approach, quirky, odd, but strangely makes so much sense. got to love the french.
Excellent video!
It's an interesting concept... but I'd like to come back in a couple of years and see the next iteration/generation of this boat when it's more... "rounded off and polished" so to speak. I own a 2017 Lagoon 630 power cat which is a magnificent machine. It's Lagoons first power cat although they've been building catamarans for years and mine is a variation of an earlier sail vessel. But as wonderful as it is, Lagoon have replaced the 630 with the Sixty 7... which is an entirely brand new machine, built from the ground up and drawing upon their experience with the 630 so improving it in every way they can to make it a superior boat. I've already got my deposit down for a 2023 delivery of mine lol lol and I can't wait. But... I look forward to seeing how the next gen Windelo 50 turns out and hopefully it'll be a step up like the SIxty 7 is to the 630. As always, a wonderful and no nonsense video from you. 👌👍
What an excellent idea for cats sailing above 35°N or below 35°S.
great space . Nice video thank you
This is a fresh approach indeed
Basalt fibre is interesting and I've not heard about it until now but being basalt it must have great fire prevention qualities (pending on resin). I've laid up glass, e-glass, kevlar, carbon and pre preg but not this, It would good to know it's strength/weight compared with carbon along with cost comparrison.
This might be interesting to you but its a few yrs old
ruclips.net/video/z7tvhl9rBNE/видео.html 🤔😲 The great thing is it doesnt involve Hydro carbons as a source of the raw material itself and its impervious to Corrosion unlike Steels or Aluminium Basalt is one of the most common igneous rocks .. associated with constructive plate margin volcanoes and smaller intrusions from depth.
Like glass and metal its requires high temps to form and extrude it but this can be done in quite small concentrated hopper fed forming nozzel's.
It still needs a bonding resin in this case...
Using bamboo hemp and jute fibers for internal panels is another way used by MercBenz and BMW of producing light, rot resistant stable material that lock up carbon faster than wood and without using solid plastics. That de-gas some pretty unpleasant chemicals.
Wow wow wow 👏👏👏
Love this boat, it's basically the Gunboat approach but built smarter and higher end (less the carbon fiber).
Would like to see more about that forward door / companionway. Saw the upper hatch of the companionway was slid into the roof, but didn't see what closes off the front. Well except that roll of canvas.
Love forward helms, I don’t get why people want to be out in the open in the back corner of a catamarans.
I think it's mostly because people are simply accustomed to that position. Old habits die hard.
@@jamesaron1967
Some years ago Toby did a review of a Broad blue Rapier 55 built in Cornwall ...it had a a fully enclosed Helm and Mast set up rigging set up as well a plug in tiller for those few days when your not going to get soaked froze or skin cancer and heat stroke and emergency problems.
It didnt have a E power option as it was seven years ago..
I think it deserves revisiting as it
Was clearly ahead of its time. Yet it ran into a lot of flack.
This is where things are going to have to go especially if more families and older sailors are to be able to continue their life styles in the face of the weather
Changes and extreems.
@@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665 I recently viewed videos of the Rapier 55. Excellent design and yes, way ahead of it's time. In some respects still is.
@@jamesaron1967
I need to see what the newer power cat is like they launched.
LOVE that solar array and electric drive, love the forward helm position (though it's taking up a bit much space? and it probably takes away from star gazing as you do a passage - one of the pleasures of sailing. Love the shower and toilets being separate. Not sure about the master bed being side on, and the lack of any seating in sun, plus the lounge/dining space looks somewhat haphazard.
Promising aspects on this design for sure.
Great video! Fair winds, and following seas. - your friends aboard Avocet
Best cat ever...
Very nice avant-garde concept. You can probably add even more solar by installing a panel above the davits.
Very smart design, there are 2 points to make (which don't weigh up to the positives):
-there's a lot of sharp corners
-Hakuna Matata is only used in the movie because the correct hamna matata / hakuna shida didn't work in the song
Beauty, expensive one, but real smart beauty.
I want this boat
Nice cat.❤️👌👍
Considering everything on a boat breaks I'd like to see how long for that massive back door to have a problem - my guess it would be when you need it shut when a sudden squall hits :)
I really like the idea but I would actually miss all these seperate living spaces to spread out to on long passages with many people. Just to have some diversity in livingspace with large crew. Imagine it being maybe not claustrophobic like on old monos but in the sense that you have 8-9 people stuck on maybe 20sqm of one singular livingspace because you cant even properly use the backporch under sail. They should work on the davits (best is probably to do it like brian will with their new cat, elongating the roof aft and hang the dinghy from there gives also more solar space and shade/protection) so that there is the possibility to leave the transom down and mount a railing for constant use under sail. A really low profile flybride like on the new neel 52 would be also a good option for the next model.
ok, its a great design idea, love the front helm, but that rear cockpit...nah, can't imagine an ocean crossing, or wanting to fish, get some outside air and its that really small area, no rails...nah. Needs another 3m. Will be interesting to see the second version
Please bring us more cats to look at . Thanks
I really like the concept of the Windelo. But i am worrying about the seaworthiness. A breaker from the front could enter the boat and flood it. Also the garage door could be smashed by a breaker from aft....
I could definitely see this helm setup if you sailed regularly in harsher, cold climates, but not equator or any other sailing. Cabins and all that solar is nice..
This may surpass the Gunboat
Definitely
And the main advantage is the price
Niiice, top comment 👌
"This is a modern catamaran space" Well said Toby…
I like the design, similar to the H&h or gunboat, but hopefully cheaper, the salon wall raises like the seawind, is there a door from the helm to the bow opening?
Thanks for your comment. Yes, the helm station can be totally closed by a textile closing.
this is very inovative toby.just love it.may i ask what the jazz track was.;)
❤❤❤
You’re bumper is down :-)
“Is the main trimmed?”
“One hopes, as I can’t see it to be sure!”
Lol... they need an over head port hole just for that.
7,500kg of ballast on an 11T cat. That's one strange typing error. But yeah, this is one vessel that starts out fugly looking and then grows on you. Although it doesn't look like a million dollar space in finish and details the interior makes a lot of sense, as opposed to so many cats these days. Very cool boat overall that deserves a true sail test.
Fiber for construction comes from Russia .... is this going to be an issue? Other sources?
must be close to 80 deg in the cabin when not sailing !
This is the way. How many kw of solar was that? Has to be around 8000kw. With the addition of the two hydro generator props its a full on power station. I'd like to see the battery banks on this one. Hope there's 100 linthium 80ah 12v 31 types. Doesn't seem weighted down by lead acid at all. That gas gen is going to stay nice and new.
Thanks for you comment. The Windelo 50 is equipped with 1120Ah (2 x 560Ah) 48V lithium LFP battery bank (53,8kWh).
I think the only thing that kinda makes the forward helm in here not as attractive as the usual rear on deck one's, is that people are still not used to the sailing lines being inside what still looks like the boats living space. It kinda looks like a mess with the lines lets be honest, but when you think about it, so are the usual rear, on deck helms. I think people just aren't used to these kind of designs, but for us regular land folks who aren't well knowledgeable about sailboats, this boat sure looks like it's a nice and beautiful home.
I love the idea but it looks like it's one breaking wave away from disaster with those huge sliding glass windows.
this boat grew on me. initially the squareness turned me off a bit.
👍👍👍
Another ocean plastic creation let's be a self sustainable recycle planet no dump and junk yards when the dead return they will be annoyed❤❤🎉🎉
How thick is the hull ... Compared to a glass hull BTW?
It is an infusion maid with the same building process as fiberglass. So, sickness can be compared but resistance is better.
@@windelocatamaran6969 sickness? LOL
@@windelocatamaran6969
Thickness ...but predictive txt gets us all. Thankyou.⛵
I assume the motors are brushless?
I just wandering if someone is ordering a full carbon fiber build for this boat, that would probably cut down the weight of the entire the boat greatly ??? 👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️❤️
1 kw of power was that incl the solar ?
No ...
This goes into more detail re the power/drive system ruclips.net/video/JemR9BKw6FU/видео.html
Can you walk on the solar panels?
Yes definitly, they are flexible.
I like the whole boat the bigger hull windows are the best feature good riddance tiny round portlights
Fantastic forward thinking but not a fan of the driving station cats are about space and how are the saltwater lines in the driving station to much moisture
whsts the price
This could be great for the likes of me…wheelchair users….I am sure a head could be provided on the main deck…
Take a look at the Broad blue Rapier 55 and the Neel Trimerans they both have potential ive linked to the Rapier Toby reviewed some time ago. But the Trimerans have heads and bedrooms all on one level.
Theres a channel Sail oceans a Polish familly have an older 65 ft one and it would be an easy convert. 👍🏼
Bit Boxy for me, not a fan of the electric motors which have to have backups.
There are sailing cats then there is this type.
kitchen interior awful ! looks like a cheap apartment ! lay out horrible ! all other amazing ! garage ! ingenious !
BUT THIS IS NOT SECURE SAILING !
Splitting the head from the sink like that seems to miss the point of when one would need to wash hands. I'd always want toilet and sink in close proximity. Makes precisely zero sense to have to go through two doors to do your business and then clean up.
copy idea a Gunboad
I dont like it.. I get its the greener option but its not for me.
Seems quick, but too narrow. These builders always want more beds, I want room. Air flow. Nordic men are again not invited. Thanks for showing, but I need a live a board. Cheers.
We prefer a Monohull, but appreciate this design.
What on earth are you talking about? It’s a fifty footer with only three cabins and the owner’s bed is quite massive with plenty head space. The airflow in this boat second to none…there are giant openings in the front and the aft to let the wind blow thru, and on port and starboard all the windows can open and there are hatches…nordic men never needed an invitation to barge in so go for it…
Meet my next wife…..
I love the concept but absolutely hate the double helm cockpit design. The raising roof also screams future mechanical failure and costly repair in foreign locations to me. Great concept poorly designed for real cruisers. No, just no!
Nice ideas, low quality. No thanks.
Absolutely brilliant solution to a problem that does not exist. No open area outside of the saloon and therefore no area to meet and greet guests or deal with visitors boarding from the transoms, without letting them into the saloon. Easy to see why no other manufacturer has gone down this route. Plexiglass doors keep water out of the interior.... really? I`m sure they do.
You said, "full of really interesting good ideas as well'.
Possibly not.
If this cat is the answer, I have to ask what the question is.
Sorry Tobes, I love your reviews, but Windelo won`t have the same sales volumes as , say, Seawind with their 1370.
Windelo need to have a word with themselves.
To be fair a lot of performance cats dont have large aft open areas and if they do they loose interior space. At least this one has a decent amount of living space.
The solution might be to produce a shallow depth forward cockpit 🤔
Ropes can run into the buckets or bags flooring aggressively non slip.
They have been testing and tuning this design for at least a year..probably two in home waters. You might find a more cruising orientated version would come next with increased waterline aft..at the scoops and rear cockpit. 1.0-1.4M
What’s the problem with letting guests in the saloon ? Maybe you’re the one seeing a problem that isn’t there😂
Toby this catamaran is total junk for 800,000 euro’s, I’m supremely surprised you advertised this on your channel.
Recycled plastic and Basalt🌋 ...topical ⛵ .. the basalt fiber and rods were developed as an alternative to steel rebar in concrete structures especially domes.
Im supprised its that much lighter than grp and should be more affordable than Carbon fibre.
Love the fact that its a muti source S.SMR (Solar. Sail- Motor regen) input rechargable hybrid electric power system.
More power system info ruclips.net/video/JemR9BKw6FU/видео.html
Even at night it can recharge under sail and it will burn less fuel and produce less noise as an efficient D.E Hybrid.
Longer term if they pushed a rigid fore deck out a little,a meter or two to create a forward sitting out area for use at anchor or underway, it would make a great seperate external area it could reduce the amount of chop spray hitting the front of the Helm ...
It would only need to be shallow so not generating pounding and increasing the x bracing oportunity forward of the mast base as well.
A minor Safety point safety rails aft on the fold down davit deck when down might be useful especially to families with kids pets or those on an enhanced Rum ration and rigid windows in the front of the helm would be a helpful option in high/low latitudes or just facing new weather patterns of out of season storm's elsewhere.🌊🌅
Deffinately a Cat heading in the right direction at speed.
E motors are low maintainance ..the solar panels performance and lifespan like most would be substantially boosted if they were water cooled beneath. Especially if you can use that damaging excess heat and to preheat your hot water system. PVT Hybrid panels.
Interesting comments, thanks Clive
@@tobyhodgesUK
Thanks im science trained with an interest in design, transport and those that choose to live aboard full time or for extended Periods.
I can put up a link to give details on the solar efficiency comment...but a few sailing channels I follow have taken to fitting corrugated plastic sheet, Correx or Corruflyt under retro fitted flexi panels to allow air to pass underneath and limit the worst effects of panel overheating.
ruclips.net/video/vzRTtaDVVW0/видео.html One of the clearest insights into the Silicon solar panel problems and how to get more for less.
NB there is a HD 15mm+ thick form of Correx twinwall that has a sheet of Aluminium built in ..if its on one side it would act as a heat sink.
BTW RRoyce chose natural cork to insulate their battery pack in its Electric flight speed record holder. Its amazing how many expensive yatch's dont use any noise insulation to manage the energy loss ..condensation and overheating of their vessels.
I know it has multiple uses in maritime applications and is safer than plastics in event of fire as well as being a renewable resource. Fire proofed cork.
ruclips.net/video/YdSWJypDSbI/видео.html
Agree with idea of more comfortable seating and lounging in the forward cock pit, if they can without add forward weight.
@@alexfuller818
Alex were you thinking inside or outside? I thought outside like the leopards. Barefoot doctors found it a great place to sit out before their Fire disaster.
@@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665 thinking outside as it doesn’t have an aft cockpit,