Recycled Tri?

I have taken a bit of time to think about this question---and do some research.

Chris, that was not a dig at you. I think your little beach-tri is just fine for the design objective.

Rather I think that PortTacker said it all with:-

"For many, it's simply ignorance. In other words, not being knowlegeable or experienced enough to know what's been tried, what works and what doesn't, what the real costs are (in the case of thinking building from scratch will be cheap) and some understanding of why. So often they make the mistake of not looking at what exists, and yet again reinvent the hull/rig/structure that's been proven to not work. The basic information and answers are easy to obtain.
The thing that often bothers me is the guy who wants to build a sailboat, having never built anything, nor ever sailed before. Rare would be the talented visionary who would succeed at this. How would you know what to design, how to build it well, and once built, how would you know if it was your design or your sailing skills that "aren't working well," or even know it was or wasn't working well in the first place?

At least today, on these forums, he can get some excellent advice. All to often, he won't take it. So yet again, the cycle begins anew".

Some sage man,(I can't remember who), said "Those who have not learned from the mistakes of the past are condemmed to repeat them in the future".

I would change that, for our purposes to:-"Those who have not learned from the LESSONS of the past---- are condemmed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Most people think Nat Herreshoff fielded a Cat in a race in the 1877 and was subsequently banned, and that was that.

Herreshoff actually persevered with Catamaran design for several years and a number of designs were developed and sailed.

His first Cat the "Amaryllis" had universal-jointed crossarms to allow the lee hull to stay horizontal when hard pressed downwind.
He abandoned that one becase of the effect the twisting had on the rig and sails. He also found, by experimentation, that increased freeboard in a cats forward hull had no good effect on preventing pitchpoling. Rather he designed the displacement of the hulls such that when the cat was pressed sideways the sterns of the hulls were depressed--not the bows. (Current day Trimarans). He also featured very long bowsprits, so that the angle of the forestay caused the sail to have a large vertical thrust component, which helped to lift the bows on downwind courses. (Modern "Prodders").
He also espoused masts much farther back in the boat, and didn't approve of unnessarily tall masts, in order to reduce the pitching moment of the rig.
Of course he didn't have the advantage of the enormous improvement in sail and rig materials and technology, which we do today.
He also recommended slim hulls, light displacement, high sail area to displacement ratios, and minimum windage. He particularly abhorred boxy and ugly superstructures just to provide more sleeping accomodation.

That was over 140 years ago. It seems , that in the words of the old song, "Everything Old is New again"

 

Here is an example of such a craft.
http://www.sailingtexas.com/scustom20trimaran100.html
Beautifully built, cleverly thought out, successfully executed, then utterly a dog under sail, they were disappointed with its performance but had no idea why. (I have seen it with my own eyes.)
They even copied aspects of some successful boats and and systems, used parts of existing boats (a Hobie 18) and completely missed the mark with the final product.
Now for sale for probably less than half what it cost to build.
(But I do think it could and should be "fixed." Raise those amas. Perhaps a bit more sail area.)

 

Looks beautifully built with attention to detail BUT ..... referring again to oft forgotten mutlihull basics that if not adhered to produces failures: looks heavy, three dragging hulls (needs dihedral) and too small a rig for its weight - forward ama looks overbuilt to me. May require the introduction of a powerful grinder to the boats laminates. Make those changes and strip out the beautiful interior and maybe, performance would appear; you could even keep the Hobie rig if the platform was stripped of fat. In a multihull, if you haven't got speed, you haven't got much.

 

http://www.sailingtexas.com/scustom20trimaran100.html

Couple of nice MacGregor 36s on that site.
Considering it was introduced in 1976 it was way ahead of its time.

I sailed and raced on one in Santa Monica Harbour and found it a very nice boat to sail as well as being fast. A bit too narrow for todays design parameters, but still the ones which were fitted with a bigger racing rig went like stink.

Those two shown for sale----even I could afford.