Reviews and Designs

Hm. The 50 isn't quite as awful as the 45. I don't know that I'd hurry to buy either though...

Unless it was cheap which I doubt...

There has been no mention of budget. I suppose if you've unlimited funds a gunboat ?

 

The Neel trimarans may not be perfect, but hopefully it may point the way for more cruising trimarans in the future. As to usable space compared to a cruising catamaran.

 

They do not point a way to the future, in fact they point back to the past.
They are first generation designs straight out of the Piver era.

Crowthers larger tris are second generation designs and even these are considered out of date.

 

Care to explain you're thinking here ?

Just because they have near float to float accommodation ?

Those hull shapes look pretty modern to me with much higher buoyancy than the old school.
Cant say I'm a fan, but I like the "genre" all the tri's these days are of the cruiser/racer ilk which I think is a shame, would love to see contemporary designers do a modern rendition of the Horstman/Chamberlain Cirrostratus type.
RR

 

What I was meaning was more the combining of newer hull shape with a part or full wing deck. Along the lines of the Cirrostatus type with a latter style hull / float shape. Or would it be possible to improve upon the Dick Nerwick style of trimarans for cruising.

How ever it all depends on what some expects from their boat, some want speed some want interior space.

 

I think what is 1st, 2nd, or 3rd generation needs to be redefined. Is a 1st generation design built with modern material a 1st or 2nd generation boat? Rick

 

May be a possible definition for the trimarans could be 1st generation having veed floats and full deck. 2nd generation having a chine added part way up the float,
and then for a third generation being an open wing deck trimaran.

How ever this could be open to debate as to where various boats fit in.

Then throwing in construction material can add to the confusion.

Such as the new Hartley sparkle on the small trimaran web site, or is it a cross over.

 

I always think that 1st generation multihulls were the ones designed before the first World Multihull Symposium, held in 1976 and organised by Patrick McGrath, better known here as oldsailor7

This was a major milestone in the history of multihulls, as it was the first time so many designers met to discuss multihull design.

But I'm not sure that there has been such a similar defining moment since, so it's hard to say whether there are any 3rd generation multihulls, or whether they are all 2nd generation

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com

 

I agree with your comments Richard, is because it may be only now that we want to define things and put things into boxes these days. Not just letting them stand on their own record.

 

And many of the older designs stand very well on their own records. Thanks to the Oldsailor,s of the world.

 

This very good article by John Shuttleworth defines what he thinks as far as multihull "generations".

http://www.john-shuttleworth.com/Articles/NESTalk.html

 

I suppose with the OP not providing any more information it's to be expected we've veered off the subject.

Personally I don't care about "generations". To me it's all about deciding what you want then finding a boat that will tick those boxes.

My issue with the tris on that site is they don't do much well at all to my eye.

Athwartships bunks should be unnecessary on a 45' trimaran. I would hate to take either over a big sea, windage looks to my eye to be excessive. They aren't quite as awful as many a french condomaran, but comparing them to the beautiful balance of a Chamberlain, White, Newick, Horstman, Brown...

I am prepared to believe I'm wrong, but they just don't look like good sailboats to my eye. I just think if you start with a labor and materials budget and the three hulls concept you can end up with those accommodations in a much more seakindly boat. Would a White be more expensive to build for example in a size that delivers that accommodation ? Or a Hughes ?

As I say I've obviously not sailed on one and maybe I'm totally wrong, they just don't look great and IME if it doesn't look right it probably isn't.

2c.

 

John's article is about 25 years old, so how many more "generations" have we had since then? or are we going in circles??

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com

 

Thats a fair question Richard do you think there have been further "generations" since that time on production multihulls?

 

From the Shuttleworth article.

3. Third generation trimaran. Light weight (due to the use of composite materials). Large Sail areas. Wide beam (L/B < 1.5 to as low as 1.0 in smaller boats). High buoyancy amas (up to 200% of displacement). Pitching very well controlled by use of different hull shapes on main hull and ama. Sailing attitude well controlled on all points of sail. Low windage.Dramatic improvement in structures due to use of Computer aided design, and better understanding of composite materials.

So what recent trimaran design has gone beyond this description ? Even the wing sails on the AC boats has been done in the C class decades ago.
I think there are "cross over" designs in that some contemporary designers use "first generation" materials like plywood but thats okay with me if it gets people building a modern design.
Again I would like to see more modern renditions of the Room-marans ! Essentially what I would like is a 28ft-30ft Cirro or a Horstman with modern hull shapes and a fractional rig !