When I began playing around with sailing my Revolution, I bought a set of the Hobie Sidekick/Amas. Frankly, they worked a lot better than I thought they would, although I decided that I liked them on the front of the boat better than towards the back. However, it also seemed to me that it would be possible to use two of the Amas kits and from there fabricate a sort of “Revolution Island.” Above is what I came up with.
Right off the bat I wanted to keep the Amas up out of the water. Frontal drag is far worse than total surface drag. I don’t like the bars submerging. So I’ve set these in the high position.
Of course, having said that, my “outrigger” design tends to create a lot of frontal drag as you submerge and more and more of the curved float. A straight outrigger float such as what comes with the real Island boats will submerge further, but probably offer less frontal drag. Still, with the size sail the Revolution can handle, I haven’t been able to submerge these far enough to make any practical difference. Plus, as they are, they’re simple and reliable.
Anyway just something I was tinkering with before I bought my new AI. I may play with it some more this winter. In the meantime, perhaps it’ll give another Revolution owner some ideas to mess around with. Happy sailing.