Small trimarans under 20'

If you can find one, you might consider an old aluminum 505 mast. I used the top 21' of one for my trimaran (Broomstick). It weighs about 16 lbs - not nearly as good as carbon (~10 lbs), but a lot better than a Hobie-14 (>28lbs).

 

Yes, I think i will do some work on that, but they definitely have to preserve the wave piercing nature if they hit some serious chop, I don't want to rely on beam flex, especially on a stayed rig. They must have at least 200 lbs bouyancy, be under 20 lbs, and be able to handle steep short chop without a problem.

As for the mast, that sounds perfect! I'll do some research. I probably won't have the tri on the water again until next year so I have some time to find stuff for it.

 

under 20

Interesting proposed tri from Chesapeke Light Craft: (2012 article)
http://smalltrimarans.com/blog/?p=8343

“If you’ve read this far and wondered what it would take to compete with the fast cats in a stitch-and-glue design that you could still cartop, here it is. This soon-to-be-prototyped CLC kit is 15 feet long and will manage 15 knots. Alas, we don’t have a release date. We may need to break a few of them before letting this little racer go free in the wild!”
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Doug,

That "proposal" has been out for about 2 years.
Last year I called to ask about it and was told other work had pushed it to the back burner.
So I asked if they wanted someone to build a "beta" test version.
They wanted to get the build manual completed before they considered letting anyone try. I can understand all that, since good quality build guides takes care of their major customers.

I just want to know when it will be out, or if more information is available so I could decide between that, the w17, the Woods 15 or 18 or 20, or just slap something together.

 

That's a very positive statement for a boat not yet designed/built/sailing. Not "the computer says" or even "we hope" but "will". A bit risky, I'd think CLC would be liable for money back compensation if it doesn't go that fast. Although it will certainly feel very fast, facing forward that close to the water, but with no crew assisted stability I think 15 knots is unlikely. That's about as fast as, say, a Hobie 16 flat out, twin trapezing.

Obviously surfing off wind and instantaneous gps spike speeds may give higher speeds for a few seconds. But that's a bit like riding a bicycle downhill at 25mph. Doesn't make you a Tour de France winner.

To Upchurchmr. I wouldn't put the Strike 15, 18 and 20 in the same sentence like that. They are very different boats, designed for different markets and sailing conditions. So I think you really need to work out exactly what you need from a boat.

Do you want a home built Weta, a boat for "geriatric dinghy sailors". If so go for the Strike 15 (or W17)

Do you want a boat for the family to sail, that can be built very easily and cheaply, and is probably the first boat you have ever built? If so go for the Strike 18

Are you an experienced multihull sailor that wants a bit more of an coastal sailing, offshore boat that is sailed with 2 -3 crew and races in coastal races? If so go for the Strike 20.

So as you can see, very different boats for very different situations.

As an update to my designs. I am currently redrawing the Strike 15 outriggers to give them more buoyancy so the boat relies less on crew stability and more on the outrigger. Should help attract less athletic/skilled crew and those who primarily singlehand their boat

The Strike 19 is progressing. This is a open, round bilge, rounded deck, no cabin, boat to be built in foam sandwich and hopefully will soon be a production boat. Rig will be based on the standard beach cat 30ftish mast length but with bigger genoa and longer boom to increase sail area.

As I have said before, I have no plans for a bigger trimaran with a cabin as I feel the Wizard/Sango/Strider etc offers more speed/interior comfort/useable deck space than any trimaran in that size range

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com

 

Clc----

Just for the record, the quote Richard used with my name on it was not me-it was CLC.........And I think they have a lot of potential with that boat.
I just noticed the other night that they are offering W17 trimaran kits now or very soon.

 

The HSP had a stayed rig and handled some fairly serious chop well - I sailed it in about 15-20 knots in an area that the 2000 Olympics sailors called "the washing machine" because of the sloppy chop generated by ocean swells hitting sheer cliffs and bouncing back.

The planing amas are probably less efficient than 'conventional' amas if they are going to hit the water frequently in light winds, but in my very limited experience (about ten sails on half a dozen small tris) they were better than older conventional amas in large chop. However, the planing ama approach does require the boat to be moving quite fast.

 

I think I will be going with a modern wave-piercing shape for the topsides, and a planing shape for the bottom. I don't expect a lot of speed most of the time due to light wind sailing, but if I can keep them small and high, they won't be in contact some of the time, and if so, only one at a time, very lightly.

 

Wave piercing planing ama:

click-
Pictures- 1-5=Version 1(small), 6-7=Version two-larger,8-9= high dihedral cross arms-ama clearance:

 

Yes, that's the right idea, but it must displace at least 200 lbs so I can stand on it. Otherwise docking would be a pain.

 

wave piercing planing ama +....

I hope you do get it because there may be more there than meets the eye. So: Large ama=268lb buoyancy+ large curved piece about the same-total=around 536lb.
Small ama + curved piece=208lb total buoyancy.

 

Richard,

Your 15, 18, 20 and others are all together because I don't know what I want.
I understand many of the differences.
The first question is if my wife will sail with me. Single or double hand.
I'll primarily be in lakes, maybe a bit of costal cruising (doubtful).
I also would prefer to build in strip plank.
Thanks for the description.

 

Doug, I'm thinking something like what is shown below. Also, I would definately be building them in Skin-on-frame construction to minimize weight. Infact, the more I look at Sizzors, the more I like those amas, but I think they need a little bit more flare on the forward sections. Maybe I should contact him in regards to them and see what suggestions he has.

 

Remember, you said wave piercing. If you add flare forward you'll defeat that.
Randy Smyth has a sailmaking business in Ft. Walton, Florida. The second boat you showed is tank testing of Yves Parlier's 60' stepped planing cat.
On my hulls above I stopped the in the water part of the ama at the step(or where one would be). But I continued the buoyancy above the ama hull.

 

Yes, I looked up that boat, definitely way too much lift. I wonder if it would be wiser to just go with full wave piercing, and just make the belly flat, a lot like the Alinghi Catamaran, so that in very light wind, it just 'skims along' and when the wind kicks up, it acts more like a typical trimaran hull?