Trimaran fiberglass vs aluminum

Hello everyone,
I planning to buit a sailboat in the near future and i like trimaran for the simple fact its a stable platform, and it will be beach very often du to tide and shallow bay. What would be the best materials for building a sailboat aluminum, composit, or maybe a alternative materials? Thanks everyone for your answer.

 

Sylvain. What materials are you capable of building in? If you are good at aluminum welding, it is a fast build material but in smaller designs ( less than 40 foot) is difficult to do due to thin section thicknesses which can distort. Plywood and timber is relatively easy but has resale issues even if very well done, also in larger than about 45 foot they start using a lot of epoxy for full saturation (read up about the West system in the free book (8 meg upload 400 pages).

The Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction
https://www.westsystem.com › wp-content › uploads

The best compromise is foam fiberglass for most sizes of trimarans. You can learn the techniques easily and the materials are relatively light and easy to use. BUT there is big differences in build time depending on which techniques you use. Flat foam glass panels that are finished on 1 side as you make them is a lot faster than doing a panel then finishing off after you have made it. Before you make any decisions research the options as you can save literally a 1000 hours of work if you choose the right design and build method.

Good luck

 

Thanks for your imput i am a fabricator by trade do you think if i fab the main hull with a frame and plate it to be water tight would work or would had to much weight on a 30 ish long trimaran we could always build the amas out of composit.

 

Sylvain. Something to inspire you. There are very few 30 foot aluminum tri's but they exist. Here is one example.

"A one-off maverick multihull at the show was Patrice Frinzi’s silver C329, Tardis, a folding trailerable 29ft 6in aluminum trimaran with a carbon rudder. Patrice says he took the features he liked best from the Corsair, Dragonfly and Telstar trimarans and combined them in his own design–hence the centerboard is offset so it doesn’t intrude on cabin space; the mainsheet is on the stern, freeing up the cockpit; and the shrouds all attach to the main hull. When folded the boat’s beam reduces from 20ft to 8ft 4in, with a draft of 2ft and 5ft 10in with the board down. Below she has 6ft 2in headroom, and Patrice has squeezed in two double berths, a table that seats six, plus a separate head and shower, a galley with fridge, sink and two-burner stove, plus a chart table."

Look at Page 33 Multihull Structure Thoughts thread about half way down for more jpegs. Multihull Structure Thoughts https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/multihull-structure-thoughts.62361/page-33

 

Not a sailing Tri, but still worth a watch.

Time lapse videos like this make it look so easy…