Are You Possibly Interested in Building a Small Trimaran From a Plywood Kit?
Aside from cost concerns, the biggest challenges to building a small trimaran out of plywood, especially for those who haven’t got lots of wood-working experience are often … Read the rest of this entry »
Jim Brown has just released 2 videos about “the Multihull Pioneers” of the 20th century. There is a good mix of both trimarans and catamarans in these 2 videos, which you can view right here. (These videos are short versions of much larger ones).
This stuff is priceless! And it’s pure fun regardless of whether one prefers trimarans or catamarans (or even proas). Every multihull enthusiast should take these videos and promote them far and wide on the web. Small trimaran fans will especially enjoy the section on Arthur Piver, and his circa 1950s-60s trimarans, such as the Piver Nugget. Read the rest of this entry »
In my opinion, the Cross 18 trimaran is one of the most attractive daysailing small trimarans you’ll find on the Internet. With its sleek hulls, folding crossbeams and roomy cockpit, it certainly offers an appealing package to guys who are thinking about building a boat with its features.
Jeff Turner is the owner of CrossMultihulls.com. As the custodian for multihull designer Norman Cross’ plans, this website is the go-to place for information and building plans for each one of the well known Cross designs, including the Cross 18 trimaran. Read the rest of this entry »
Windrider trimarans are designed especially with camp-cruising in mind. A lot of guys think about using a small trimaran sailboat model such as the Windrider to enjoy both inland and coastal adventures.
So what does such an adventure entail? Read the rest of this entry »
This past October (in 2009), I attended the Annapolis Boat Show in Maryland. A few small trimarans were represented: The Telestar trimaran, the Weta Trimaran and the Corsair trimaran.
In addition, there was a large (and quite nice looking) Dragonfly trimaran yacht. Naturally, I wanted to make a few videos of these sailboats because I’d just purchased my first video camera … ever … and it was my new toy! It’s one of those “pocket video” things. Read the rest of this entry »
Sailor Doug Green shares these classic “Supernova Trimaran” brochure images, inserts and pictures (from the 1980s) with us in this post. He also asked a knowledgable friend about this model, who shared some more info. These images (and info) are a great follow up to the first blog post regarding the Supernova trimaran.
The designer of the Supernova trimaran was Ib Pors Nielsen. Among the Supernova trimaran’s advertised features/benfits are: Read the rest of this entry »
The TriStar 18 trimaran is truly a classic small tri model. It’s designer Ed Horstman is a well-known 20th century multihull pioneer. Read the rest of this entry »
Amateur boatbuilder Tom Raidna sent the following to me this past week regarding a new boat he is building – a model designer Chris Ostlind refers to as the “Solo 16 Trimaran.” Tom’s boat will be the prototype for this model, and I think a lot of would-be builders are going to be interested in his project. Read the rest of this entry »
Geoff Holt is a sailor and multihull enthusiast. After suffering an accident that left him partially paralyzed, he has continued to enjoy the sport of sailing, especially with his Challenger Trimaran. The Challengers are noted for their size, speed and ability to be rigged and outfitted in a variety of ways. Read the rest of this entry »
Chris Ostlind sent out word a few days ago that he has just completed plans for a new beach trimaran. He is calling it, “The Europa 20.”
His inspiration for the Europa 20 comes from one of the fastest sailboats in the world — the 105’ French racer named Sodeb’O. Read the rest of this entry »
Is the boatbuilding method John Marples and Jim Brown called “Constant Camber,” which was used years ago to build slender hulls for trimarans and catamarans, still a viable method for boatbuilding? You bet it is. Read the rest of this entry »
Here is another great homebuilt trimaran from Spain. More specifically, it’s a trimaran sailing canoe. This speedy canoe with outriggers once again shows what can be done with a little bit of money, ingenuity and sweat equity. Read the rest of this entry »
The Ulua and Tamanu sailing canoes, which are based upon Polynesian outriggers, can both be set up as very capable small trimarans. These models are creations of boat designer Gary Dierking, who is known for boats that are both efficient and cost effective. In other words, Gary’s designs offer “a big bang for the buck.” Read the rest of this entry »
Multihull designer Jim Brown is releasing a new design very soon. He and his partner John Marples have officially named it the Seaclipper 20 trimaran. The name “Seaclipper,” of course, is associated with a famous line of trimarans Jim has produced over the years. Jim’s original name for this rugged new small tri, however, was the “Janganda.” Why? Read the rest of this entry »
For the last few weeks I’ve been working on a brand new Small Trimarans book (book #2). I tried hard to come up with a creative title for this one too — and I think I got the creative juices flowing and maxed out to a boiling fever pitch. As a result, I finally settled on a name for this new book on small trimarans. It’ll be entitled, (drum roll please) Read the rest of this entry »
Derek Kelsall designed the Tango 23 trimaran. Derek Kelsall, of course, it much more noted for his big catamarans. But like many multihull designers, he is obviously very familiar with trimarans. Read the rest of this entry »
In a follow up to the last post about the coming W17 beach trimaran, here is a fuller description of this new “beach tri made with wood.” Michael Waters has posted a detailed description at SmallTrimaranDesign.com on the boat’s development. Read the rest of this entry »
Designer Mike Waters is currently working on a new design he is referring to as the “W17 beach trimaran.” ( Mike is the fellow who offers lots of great information at www.smalltrimarandesign.com ). He said this beach tri began as a project for his own personal use. Read the rest of this entry »
Would you be willing to rebuild a trimaran in order to achieve your sailing dreams? How about re-building five trimarans … including 1 Cross and 4 Farriers? Read the rest of this entry »
Multihull designer Richard Woods recently introduced a brand new small trimaran to the world. He calls it the “Strike 18.” The Strike 18 trimaran is designed to be an economical, simple-to-build, yet efficient daysailer. Read the rest of this entry »
One reader sent me a Austrian website featuring a unique, home-built sailboat designated the “Soling Trimaran.” This small tri is a great example of what somebody can do with a dream, lots of drive and a little ingenuity. It proves, once again, that a guy (or gal) who really wants a trimaran is a guy (or gal) who is probably gonna somehow get a tri. Read the rest of this entry »
Want to see a “do-it-yourself” type of guy building his own super-fast, high performance trimaran? Then check out Mike Shappell’s The Man Shed. I’ve come across this website several times in recent months. Mike is building a Kurt Hughes 20-foot model … but with some modifications. Read the rest of this entry »
I received an email from one reader a few weeks ago who saw some molds being advertised for the Seawing 24 trimaran. Had I ever heard of this sailboat before? Yes, but in name only. Read the rest of this entry »
This kayak is a Kestrel 140 — a well known 14-foot “sit-on-top” model. Its owner, Dirk Ouellette, decided to have it refitted as a trimaran in order to have even more fun with the boat. Read the rest of this entry »
Can anyone possibly convert a commercial aluminum canoe into a fast, well-performing small trimaran? No! Really? Are you sure? Well, check out this homebuilt aluminum canoe trimaran conversion for yourself. Read the rest of this entry »
Back in 2004-5 the Discover Channel featured a homebuilt small trimaran on a reality TV show called, “No Opportunity Wasted.” Apparently, the premise of the show was that anybody featured would be given $3000 (and 72 hours) to achieve a particular dream/goal. Read the rest of this entry »
Several weeks ago, a reader sent me a couple pictures of a small trimaran from France. He asked me if I knew what it was. I didn’t. As a matter of fact, I’d never seen or heard of this particular sailboat before. Read the rest of this entry »
What do you do if you own a Windrider trimaran and live in/near the State of Colorado during the month of June? Well, you get together with other Windrider trimaran enthusiasts and hold your own “Regatta” … filled with sailing races, of course! Read the rest of this entry »
When I first corresponded with small trimaran enthusiast Kellan Hatch a couple weeks ago he shared that he was also working on a design referred to as the XCR trimaran. Kellan had written, “My current project is an 18.5 foot expedition canoe trimaran that was designed by Chris Ostlind. I have attached a photo of my wife and I sailing the XCR on a recent camping cruise on Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park. Chris did most of the construction and I’m making some mods and finishing up the details.” Read the rest of this entry »
This post is an update on the Aluminum trimaran being developed by sailor Valery Gaulin. As you can see if you read his first post about the Aluminum trimaran he is building, Val has made quite a bit of progress on his very unique small tri / sailing canoe. Read the rest of this entry »
Chesapeake Light Craft offers boatbuilding kits for many kinds of small boats. One of their models is called the Mill Creek Kayak, which comes in a couple of sizes. But another thing they offer is an additional kit called the “CLC SailRig.” This rig can effectively turn one of their kayaks into a sailing kayak-trimaran. Read the rest of this entry »
The following small trimaran tale comes to us from Stefano, who lives in Italy. Stefano found our site and offered to share about the challenges (and fun) of taking his homemade proa and converting it into a trimaran. He provides some excellent details too. (I get the impression he is a sailor who enjoys having a bit of experience under his belt). Read the rest of this entry »
Did you know that plans for the Chief’s Tridarka Raider trimaran are now available? What’s that? “Chief,” you ask? “Who is Chief?” Read the rest of this entry »
New Zealand multihull designer Graeme Delaveau has created a great looking sailboat he refers to as the “Nicky Cruz trimaran.” His original design (and subsequent versions) are close to 30-feet in length. I thought they’d be a wonderful inclusion on this blog though because Graeme’s Nicky Cruz is especially geared for homebuilders. Read the rest of this entry »
Sailor, do-it-yourselfer and small trimaran enthusiast Jeff Singer sent me the following information and pictures. I personally think this concept would be a great application for interior lakes … especially when camping. Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday, sailor Dan Andersen introduced me to his lovely “mini Fleuret” small trimaran. Dan lives in the gorgeous Scandinavian country of Denmark. (Can you imagine the coastal views he gets to enjoy while cruising in his trimaran there?) Read the rest of this entry »
Here is the second homemade trimaran sailboat Eric sent me info about. Now this one is cool! I mean, it not only looks cool, but as soon as I saw it I thought to myself, “I bet that baby can HAUL!” Read the rest of this entry »
Small trimaran lover Eric Marechal, who lives in France, has shared info about several small tris he’s come across. And now he’s done it again. Here is the first sailboat (below). Read the rest of this entry »
Now here is a homemade trimaran project that is bound to make a few of small tri lovers smile :-) And why shouldn’t it? It displays all of the creative ingenuity and fortitude that would be required to build just about any boat. Read the rest of this entry »
In this post, Frank Starkweather shares a bit out the pages of his friendship with the Gougeon Brothers. It’s hard to imagine any family that’s impacted sailing in recent decades as much as they have. And imagine their special connections to the entire multihull world. Wow! Read the rest of this entry »
I received the following from small trimaran enthusiast Frank Starkweather last week. Frank once worked for the Gougeon Brothers. As you’re about to see, he’s enjoyed many sailing adventures, and has known a few tris over the years. Read the rest of this entry »
Would you be interested in a very light, cartopable small trimaran for 2 sailors? If so, then you’re going to love this tri. I contacted boat designer Don Rypinski yesterday and asked him a few questions about a model of his called, “TRITON Tandem Sailer. (I’d just discovered it the day before). Read the rest of this entry »
Ronan Quin-Huard contacted me the other day to tell me about a production-made small trimaran from France called the “Bandit 800.” Ronan is the sale manager of the boatyard Multid’o, which builds the Bandit 800 for customers. Read the rest of this entry »
Tom Raidna is an amateur boatbuilder, sailor and most importantly … a small trimaran enthusiast :-) He contact me the other day to show me an economical project he’d recently completed — a small tri model designed by Jim Michalak called “Trilars.” Read the rest of this entry »
Here is video of the Hobie Adventure Island trimaran from one enthusiastic hobbyist. I received the following email from small tri sailor John Chaires the other day. John has become a big fan of the 16-foot Hobie tri and he’s been having some great fun with it down in Annapolis, MD. Read the rest of this entry »
Astus trimarans, made by the French company Chantier Astusboats, are a commercially successful brand of small trimarans. The following article (which I link to below) contains a very good summary of these sailboats. But it also contains some great pics of these boats, along with the following video. Read the rest of this entry »
Ian Farrier sent me the following “press release” on the F22 today. Since it contains a lot of information, I’m running it word-for-word because I think many small trimaran enthusiasts will appreciate the details.
There are some events/webpages referenced in this release that may have links to them via the F22 info page on the Farrier Marine site. Aside from the info on the F22 itself, it’s interesting (to me, at least) how well Farrier Marine is doing with this model despite the current recession. So below is Ian’s F22 Press Release. Read the rest of this entry »
I like dreamers. But I LOVE those who dream and then DO something to pursue that dream! This past week small trimaran enthusiast Valery Gaulin shared his current boatbuilding project with me — an aluminum trimaran.
The following pictures represent one of the most unique concepts that I’ve ever seen for a small trimaran … which is actually a trimaran sailing canoe made with metal. Valery designed it and his building it himself. Read the rest of this entry »
Boatbuilder Oleg Zelinskiy recently built a new Dudley Dix Threefold 6 trimaran in Russia. He was also kind enough to provide me with some pictures of his Threefold 6 so I could include them in a new bonus chapter for Small Trimarans: An Introduction.
Oleg recently sent me the enthusiastic update (below) and I asked him if I could share it with SmallTrimaran.com readers. As you will see, he is very happy with the performance of Dudley’s trimaran design. Read the rest of this entry »
It appears the Weta trimaran is gaining some more fans. Sailor/blogger David Anderson wrote about his recent tryout of this beach tri on the following webpage. Read the rest of this entry »
