Best Guess Trimaran Sailing in Puget Sound
Here is a great update from sailor and self-builder Jim Gallant, featuring the trimaran named BEST GUESS. Jim has added some more pics to his webpage, along with some fun, short videos.
Jim writes that BEST GUESS is now in his garage being retro-fitted with some improvements for Spring. He is adding “lifing planes to the amas” as one of the improvements and is looking forward to seeing how they’ll work.
Thanks for sharing these new pics and vids with us Jim!
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Jim writes the following on his webpage, linked to at the end of this post …
BEST GUESS is a 17 foot plywood/epoxy trimaran that I desgned and built in my garage. It uses amas (the outer hulls) from a 14 foot Hobie catamaran, and a main sail and jib from a Hobie 16 catamaran.
My goal for this boat was to be safe, dry and fast. Sailing in the northwest can be cold and dangerous. Water temps average in the mid-50s and swells can be large in Puget sound and Hood canal.
My canoe trimaran was not dry and was marginally safe. Its amas provided floatation, but the aluminum canoe wouldn’t, even though there was some foam in the bow and stern. Click here to continue reading about the BEST GUESS trimaran at Jim’s webpage.
Check out the seat’s on Jim’s small trimaran … pretty neat, huh!
More on BEST GUESS can be found on Jim’s webpage.
Update (04-08-13): Video from Jim G. showing experimental ama planes in action …
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December 25th, 2012 at 6:00 pm
Love it, Jim. A great job by a man after my own heart. Build as much as you posslbly can, only buy what you absolutely have to. What do you end up with? A boat that gives you 90% of the performance of a pricey tri – at 10% of the cost!
Thanks for the great photos, too. I’m sure I can “borrow” several of your ideas.
- Frank
http://www.DIT-Tris.com
December 25th, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Oops…my correct web site address is http://www.DIY-Tris.com
- Frank
December 28th, 2012 at 9:51 pm
It looks like a great boat. I live in Seattle and can relate to comments about how the boat should match its environment. Many small sailing tris built off kayaks or canoes are just too wet for our waters, heck even sailing a Hobie cat on L. Washington in August can be a wet and cold experience. I’m thinking about building a boat next winter and would love to see Jim’s boat in person. Robert at rkdjones AT gmail.com
December 30th, 2012 at 9:52 pm
I’ve never sailed in the NW, but I’ve stood on the bridge at Deception Pass watching this from above…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B3sd0XRFBE
just to be clear- that is not a river, but a narrow straight between two islands that sees double digit current speeds and class 2/3 rapids…it would be potentially deadly even if the water were 80º F.
What’s the best hull form for sailing through a 15′ diameter whirlpool? :)
December 31st, 2012 at 6:38 pm
Great video link Ian! It really shows what a sailboat (or any boat for that matter) is up against in a waterway like that.