Navatek, Ltd.

Lorne Frederick Campbell

Mealani Parish

Steven C H Loui

An engine-powered watercraft includes three parallel hulls, namely a center hull with two or more transverse steps, and two smaller outer hulls or amas on either side of the center hull that are configured to form two vent ducts on either side of the center hull, disposed between the center hull sides and the amas. The amas, steps and vent ducts are disposed along the length of the watercraft and are configured to enable high speed capability and to facilitate pressurization of the vent ducts. The pressurized vent duct maximizes ventilation of the running bottom of the watercraft so as to improve efficiency and to reduce drag thereon. The pressurized vent duct creates an area of lift at the widest, aft-most points of the running bottom, which thereby results in improving the transverse and longitudinal stability of the watercraft and in reducing the trim for better seakeeping.

Watercraft with hull ventilation

An entrapment tunnel watercraft vessel having three hulls consists of a main hull and two amas arranged outboard of the main hull with the keels of the three hulls being parallel. The main hull is a narrow, vee hull with variable, rearwardly decreasing deadrise. The amas have very fine bows and narrow, asymmetric deep-V hulls, with nearly vertical slab outboard sides above their keels and variable reverse deadrise on their inboard sides with the reverse deadrise angles decreasing from bow to stem. The tunnels on each side of the main hull are formed by three distinct surfaces, the sides of the main hull above its chine, the reverse deadrise inboard sides of each ama upward from their keels and a ceiling surface transversely spanning the aforementioned sides and having rearwardly increasing deadrise and rearwardly decreasing width. The tunnel ceilings slopes down from the bow to a section aft of midship where the ceiling height above the keel remains essentially constant. At speed the craft generates substantial amounts of lift and positive trim, thereby reducing the forward wetted length of the immersed tunnel ceiling and the apex of the ceiling is approximately at the craft dynamic waterline. As a result the watercraft vessel has improved seakeeping, stability and weight carrying ability.

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Dorset, United Kingdom

Lorne Frederick Campbell