Tri Hull

I have a 1972 sail bird tri that is being restored.
Length:18ft
width: 12.5 ft

the stock mast height is 24 ft.

With the L/W measurements above,... can anyone give me a max performance mast height.

 

I ..of course would also appreciate any info provided on the pedigree. I do not want to make this a "starship enterprise". I look at the hull config an think: SLUG,...however I would like to make this the best it can be. Take a good look at what pre computer generated thought can provide.

 

Welcome to the forum strvng2. That's a very open question with no single answer. Do you want max performance upwind, top max speed, or fastest across a range? What wind strength? How heavy is the boat? etc etc.

But 24' is about right (1.5 * length is a reasonable rule of thumb) and I would stick with that. I wouldn't go above 26', but I see no real need to even go that long. There are several folk who have designed trimarans on this forum, but there is no definitive answer.

 

I don't mean to hijack your thread strvng2 but there is a question I've been meaning to ask and this seems to be quite related.
I want to build a small saling tri for general purpose use (fun and even fishing). The reason I'm going for a small tri is that I can buid it light enough to carry the induvidual parts down to the beach from my house. I am a high speed motor boat designer by trade and know dangerously little about sailing. I would like to try use a "square-rig" or Dyna-rig, kind of like that used on the Maltese Falcon to minimise sailing effort to be able to fish etc.
What sort of sail aria should one be looking at? Any good literature on sail design?
Thnx
B