NZ Trimaran - Demon Tricycle

G'day Guys,
I've followed this site for some time and have really appreciated the excellent input from a wide variety of knowledgeable people.

I have a question for the Kiwi's out there, does anyone know the current whereabouts of a trimaran I used to own in the mid 1980's, the Malcolm Tennant designed DEMON TRICYCLE? The last time I saw it, it was parked on the beach at Maharangi, Northland in the mid 1990's looking very sad. For those who don't know this excellent little trimaran was the prototype for Tennants 40 foot WILDTHING tri's. If the boat is still around I believe it would still be very competitive with most 7-8 metre multi's.

As an aside at one stage I also owned the Buccaneer 24 Capricorn which I believe is being discussed somewhere else on this site
Tony

 

Don't know where it is currently, but saw it for sale in trade and exchange maybe 5 or 6 years ago. Cheap too only about 3-4k IIRC.

I think gary Baigent knows a bit about this boat maybe he'll respond.

 

Demonic and rapid 23 foot trimaran

Garth Tapper built and owned the Tennant designed Demon Tricycle before selling it presumably to you Basildog. A truly excellent design in its original form and ahead of its time; later the cabin was enlarged and among other things, weight went up, boat sank lower in the water and lost its sparkle. I sailed on it in its original form and remember winning one multihull race by a very large large margin; the boat was really sweet to helm and because of its very light weight, its quite wide beam (for those days) and its long and powerful floats, accelerated like a Ducati when the gusts came through. Here was this 23 foot boat beating multihulls almost twice its size and yet, to my knowledge, no one built any others. I saw it sailing after it had been altered, when we came back from an Auckland/Tauranga in Mokihi (Newick 36), off Coromandel, and it was pretty fresh and that little boat seemed mostly underwater .... were you aboard then Bassa? We were impressed by the courage/insanity.
It was originally a day boat with minimal sleeping accommodation - and should have remained that way IMO. I know nothing of the boat's recent history but have some old photographs somewhere, will post them later.

 

The guy that I sold it to lived on the boat. This boat only had sitting headroom in the cabin and yes originally it was an open day boat. He sailed it around the top of the North Island down the west coast to New Plymouth an back. Then I was in Napier - North Islands east coast and there it was. The same guy. When I bought the boat Garth didn't want me to sail it to the Bay of Islands where I lived. He was happy to dismantle it transport and re-assemble it for free. The bottom of the main hull had been bulked up with more rocker, this must have been so it would carry the extra weight of the cabin. It was still extremely fast.
If I thought I could buy it for a few thousand dollars I'd freight it over here and renovate it back its former glory.

 

Gary I've just re-read your comments. When I owned it the cabin was open at the aft end and only about 2 metres long really was only any good to sit in and maybe keep your lunch dry. I say maybe because water used to shoot up the centrecase and flow out the of the stern drains. So everything had to stay on the side seats.

 

demonT

Couple of jpegs of Tennant designed Demon Tricycle, building image with Garth Tapper in 1980, and the tri posed outside Richmond Yacht Club for Micro-multihull symposium in 1983.

 

Gary,
Thanks for the photos. I often wonder why the forward float idea hasn't been used in other designs. I've read numerous discusions on this forum about foils in floats etc. While I appreciate the lift they generate the float forward idea goes a long way to stabilising the boat and generates loads of power. I beleive the concept 25 years on still has merit.

 

Thanks guys I've tracked it down. It's in a shed in Auckland.
Tony

 

What year/years? any idea? any old photos?

Did the Capricorn ever race the Demon Tricycle? Thats a pretty insane looking tri!

 

hi i tyhink have the discussion here:http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/multihulls/buccaneer-24-trimaran-25159.html#post241138

 

No, they are 2 completely different boats. I believe that Demon Tricycle would run rings around the Buccaneer 24. I believe that even today Demon Tricycle would compete with most of the current designs. As Gary has already said DT could comfortably beat much larger boats. I owned Capricorn around 1990 for a few years. While I owned it I installed the vertical centre board.

 

no this boat

 

What boats/designs did Demon Tri Beat?

 

DemonT

There would have been two or three GBE's, Crowther Buccaneer 33 Legato, a couple of Farrier 680's, one Buccaneer 24 (Gulf Chariot?), Brown Searunner 25, Brown Searunner 37, couple of Piver 33's (Stormbringer), Crowther cat 40 (Whiplash), Mitchell 36? cat (Isis), Nicol 38 (Drumbeat) , plus a few others I've forgotten, Kraken 40 Krisis wasn't there.
Sorry Sam, Basil is right, lightweight Demon Tricycle with its sophisticated rig would eat a stock Buccaneer 24.

 

Oh a stock Buccaneer 24! anything would eat a stock Buccaneer 24...

Drumbeat still races, hes a loooong way behind!