Small trimarans under 20'

Small trimarans 20' and under

Note thread title should have been : "Small tris 20' and under" but I didn't catch it soon enough- it's what I originally had in mind.....
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There seem to be more and more. So I'll try to put them in this thread so we'll all have a place to look for the latest tri designs-I'll add everyone that is actually sailing that I can find. But it seems like more and more of the same thing: a trimaran that looks nice but simply doesn't have the power possible with a trimaran platform. And oh yeah: lets see A class cats, C class cats, Nacra 20, Nacra 17 Olympic and more all make use of lifting foils but-not one single trimaran under 20'!! Why is that??
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Here is a nice looking new tri from San Diego-just discovered on the "multihulls" forum at SA:
•Length of hull: 5800mm (19')
•Beam unfold: 4455mm (14' 6")
•Beam fold: 1800mm (6' 11")
•Mast length: 9115mm (29' 10")
•Weight: Under 300kg (650 lb)


http://www.searail19.com/p/images.html

 

Looks like an interesting boat and more capable than a hot beachcat of taking a small family on a daysail in comfort. I guess not every boat has to be a race boat as keen as I am on my performance multis there might well be a place for a small multi daysailor like this.

http://www.searail19.com/p/about-us.html

We also have to define the meaning of performance to some degree, would this boat be faster than a slew of performance monohull daysailors? Well almost certainly, so it is a performance sailboat by the standards of daysailors and would still be fun to sail. Apparently the Magnum trimarans sell quite well and they are far from a flat out racing boat. If anything a lot of racing equipment would be more offputting to many recreational sailors than a selling point and there are far more recreational sailors than racing sailors.

I think this is one area where monohull sailors are much more mature they accept that performance in terms of speed is only one factor that defines a boat and have more of an acceptance of a variety of different boat designs and how they can integrate into mixed racing fleets. They in general have more of an appreciation of all types of boats and their uses.

It's also a different pitch with this boat they are not touting it directly as a performance/racing boat like the Motive trimarans but more as a balanced multihull with good performance.

I agree that it would be nice to see some more focussed performance small trimaran designs and it would be great if they could go all out and really pull out the stops but really as far as I'm concerned the more multis out on the water fitting well into different market niches the better.

 

Small trimarans

My frustration stems from the fact that ALL the existing small tri's are daysailer types. No performance tris at all. By "performance" I mean like a A cat is to a Hobie 16 or a Nacra 20 is to an F18. Seems to me that its not too much to wonder why this state of affairs exists....
A design that uses all that a trimaran platform has to offer would be real exciting, for once.....

 

I think the problem is that every one has a different idea, as to a high performance. Which influences the prospective use. I my self would prefer effortless speed, easily driven.

 

Ian Farrier said it best when he said there is a limited demand for boats that are single purpose racing designs. He has designed a lot of cruiser/racer style boats before designing any race only designs. My feeling is that the more trimarans that get out and are experienced and enjoyed as daysailors and in multihull mixed race fleets the more interest by a limited group of people there will be in dedicated racing designs.

Look how few monohulls are genuine performance boats in a racing sense (and the compromises it brings) it must be less than 10% of the whole? I'd also argue that most racing dinghies are far from top performance boats they are just fun to sail and race in close quarters. Marinas and mooring grounds are full of larger monohulls and yes cruising multis that would exhibit slow to moderate performance under ideal conditions they "perform" the task of being good boats to liveaboard and cruise.

As an example most people who join MYCV are not dedicated racers and most that step up to higher performance designs only do so after catching the racing bug at a club level and wanting to be faster and more competitive. Embracing all types of multihulls from flat out racers to cruisers is crucial to growth and continued success something that I think we ignored in the past it's all too easy to get bogged down running regattas and forget about being encouraging and inclusive and yes even having fun activities for families.

 

I think fast "daysailing" in a foil assisted oversquare tri while sitting on the side of a comfortable cockpit and not having to run side to side with every tack or gybe while you pass the beachcats would be a blast. I'm just not sure some people think that is even possible......

 

Oi, I'll take no bad words against the Legendary Hobie 16

DAVE

 

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I had a lot of fun on a 14 and a 16....

 

Quite a few are mentioned here;
http://www.nauticaltrek.com/35-trimarans

 

Good topic Doug.

Thanx for the link HASYB.

sal

 

I really am impressed with the low $27,990 price with only $3000 in extras, without the trailer base.
650# for a 19' multihull with no cabin also seams reasonable. 100# Amas seem like they will be a real hit when folding.
Just from looking it seems the amas will be less displacement than the boat and crew? So no flying the main hull - this is a question. Pity the advertisement doesn't discuss this important issue.

What I can't understand is why it is DOUBLE the weight of a Tornado. Additionally old Classic Tornado hulls (20' and much deeper than the ama) only weight about 60# each.

Probably I am just too old all of a sudden, but $30K is more than I have ever paid for a car.

A home built Kurt Hughes Trikala 19 will probably be more my speed at 100# lighter.
Looks to me like a good highpowered homebuilt daysailor design is really needed. Perhaps "mosquito" from the Florida Ultimate Challenge could be released as plans. I wonder what that could be built for.

I would like to see everything you collect around 20'.
Great idea for a thread.

 

Speaking of flying the main hull-from another thread: ( Note that it is about the Sea Cart 26 and not about the "Wild *** 18 Super Tri"-why? because the WA18ST
just does not exist.........)

 

Does it need to be a production boat?

I'm building one of these - should be on the water this fall if I can get some time to work on it...



http://www.teamscarab.com.au/scarab18/design.html

 

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Absolutely not! I really like that design -roomy and small- a great performance daysailer. Who designed it? Best of luck!

 

The Cross 18 is another small homebuild tri. Kinda dated in design, but still probably a fun sailer. I've sailed around the same lake as guy locally who owns one. Seemed like a nice little daysailer tri. Certainly not a race boat.

I kinda think it's the trimaran version of an i550. Should be simply and very quick to build and offer pretty solid performance.