The following is a group of small trimarans sailing in waters along the shores of Russia. I’ve never heard about, much less seen, these wonderful little homebuilt plywood boats. But sailor Nail Sadykov was kind enough to share about them with us, including links to the following photos.

Just so you know, Nail refers to the designer of these boats, but is fairly certain there are no “building plans” available for them. It’s a shame because there is little doubt that at least a few guys would love to reproduce these smaller tris. Read the rest of this entry »

Trailerable trimaran enthusiast Abel D. sent me the following 4 photos of the Argonauta trimaran he is restoring. The Argonauta is certainly on the larger side of “small” tris. But since it can be trailered (because of its folding amas) we include it here.

It’s hard not to be amazed at the ingenuity of the Argonauta’s designer, Dick Newick. At 27′ LOA, the main bunk is directly behind the sailing cockpit. And the sailor gets to face straight ahead and steer the boat with a wheel instead of an aft tiller. Read the rest of this entry »

Sailor and self-boatbuilder Lenny H. is almost finished with his Seaclipper 24 trimaran building project. As you see in the photos below, his new sailboat turned out beautifully.

Kudos to him on the completion of his new craft! Read the rest of this entry »

The following photos of both the Threefold 6 trimaran design and the Multi 23 trimaran were sent to me by Eugene Burusov, who is a part of the Chernomor Company (boatbuilders and dealers) in Russia. They built the Threefold 6 a couple of years ago. And they recently became distributors for the Multi 23 — a production trimaran that we’ve also seen before.

We saw their work displayed in this previous article about the Threefold 6 trimaran, which is designed by Dudley Dix. Read the rest of this entry »

This 12-foot folding trimaran is a self-designed, home-built sailing package created by sailor Mark Gumprecht. (It’s the very first one he designed).

If you recall, I interviewed Mark about his newest trimaran last year. And he is taking that boat with him from Massachusetts to California, where he is moving. Read the rest of this entry »

A new small trimaran may be in the works from the guys at Chesapeake Light Craft. It’s an idea that John Harris, President of CLC, has had for awhile. (I know this because I first spoke to him last year about it).

Actual development, however, sounded far off. So I was really appreciative when one of our readers here at smalltrimarans emailed me a link to the following webpage that he’d recently discovered on CLC’s website. Read the rest of this entry »

Wavelength 780 trimaran designer Bob Forster recently published another newsletter. I always enjoy reading it and he let me excerpt a part of it for this post.

As you’ll see, a bunch of multihull sailors from New Zealand and Australia have made these trailerable tris their boat of choice. The following short story was written by Bob’s friend, Tony Murray, who helped crew Bob’s sailboat for a recent outing. (Please also note the photos I’ve posted are all taken from the newsletter and a couple of them feature a boat named “New Horizons.” … thanks for letting me post these guys!) Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a short but genuine treat … Jim Brown talking to Richard Woods about small trimarans. As we noted a couple of weeks ago, Richard has spent the better part of the past couple of years drawing up several new small trimaran designs (he refers to these as the “Strike trimaran” models).

It’s always interesting to listen to guys with so much multihull sailing, designing, and building experience talk about this sort of stuff. But it’s not hard to imagine Jim’s conversation with Richard about the benefits of sailing small tris, along with building them in wood/epoxy, inspiring a whole lot of listeners to take the plunge into this area in the world of small boats. Read the rest of this entry »

The guys from Silent Bay Charter services in Italy are still sailing their Muffolo Trimaran … and still having fun. Check out these 2 YouTube videos (below) to see how these guys are enjoying their small tri, which they built using plans from multihull designer Kurt Hughes. Read the rest of this entry »

In this post, I have the pleasure of introducing the Spirit 422 trimaran — a brand new model from Italy. It’s the creation of a couple aspiring and creative sailors who obviously love small, trailerable tris.

The designers, Daniel and Paul, contacted me a couple of weeks ago and provided the following photos. They hope to have a website put together soon, in addition to some YouTube videos. Read the rest of this entry »

Sailor and self-boatbuilder Bob Trygg notified me last week that he is selling his beautiful (and still practically new) Seaclipper 16 trimaran named TRINKET. He wants to sell this beauty to someone who’ll enjoy her so that he can move on to another boat project.

We first saw Bob’s Seaclipper 16 Trimaran in this post here at smalltrimarans. The official ad for TRINKET is appearing in the classifieds at Duckworks Magazine. Here is how the listing there reads: Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to Piver trimarans, the “Nugget” model is arguably the best designed and most successful one. In this post I link to a webpage at OutRigMedia.com, which features Jim Brown talking with long-ago-friend Mike Eaton about some of their work with Piver trimarans (plus lots of other stuff too). Read the rest of this entry »

A prototype for the new Strike 15 Trimaran is now underway. A few days ago, designer Richard Woods sent me a webpage showing the first Strike 15 Trimaran under construction.

(By the way, the photos below are taken from this page, and are used with Mr. Woods’ permission). Read the rest of this entry »

The new Searail 19 Trimaran is a brand new, 19-foot trailerable sailboat designed (in large part) by Nigel Irens. The entrepreneural force behind this production boat, however, is sailor Phil Medley, who has worked in the marine industry for many years.

Phil’s experience with multihulls really stands out with the development of this new boat too. As you read his comments and description of the craft, it’ll be evident that he has probably labored countless hours in order to bring it to market. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been awhile since I last posted about Lance McIntosh and his Dragonfly 14 trimaran. It was my fault, not Lance’s … he sent me these updated photos of his self-built beach tri months ago and they somehow got put in “the memory hole.” (Sorry about that Lance). Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a totally unique, self-built trimaran sailing canoe in Brazil. The short story of this boat comes to us from Alexandre — its builder and sailor.

As you’ll see, Alexandre appears to have some natural talent when it comes to wooden boatbuilding and working with epoxy. Some of the ways he beefed up the canoe configuration in order to make this 14-foot craft into a trimaran are worth noting. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is another sample audio clip from the “Multihull conversations with Jim Brown” audio series. In this recording, Jim speaks to sailor, self-boatbuilder and marine entrepreneur Mike Leneman.

Mike is the owner of MultiMarine in Venice, CA, which can be found on the web at www.multimarine.com. In this segment, he shares some out-of-the-box thinking on how to build wood/epoxy boats (including small trimarans) quicker by doing certain techniques differently. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a very interesting story about a project involving solar energy and a trimaran canoe. This unique craft is going to be navigating the Mississippi River this summer. Both the opening text and photos are linked to from brightsideofnews.com – the publisher of this story. Read the rest of this entry »

Chuck Leinweber, the proprietor at Duckworks, sent me the links to 2 new small trimarans this week. Duckworks is offering the building plans for both of these sailboats, which were designed by Paolo Lodigiani and Matteo Costa, who hail from Italy.

Chuck said these fellows mostly design other kinds of boats but they’ve also created these two small trimarans for self-builders. He also noted that he was impressed with the thought that went into these two boats. Read the rest of this entry »

Small trimaran enthusiasts Tom Raidna & David Kagan both sent me the following information about a new self-designed & built trimaran featured at Duckwords.

It was launched this year by Jason Nabors “just in time for the 2012 Texas 200.” Read the rest of this entry »

Here is another audio clip from Jim Brown’s Multihull audio series. In this segment, Jim speaks to Andy Zimmerman (who developed the Windrider trimarans) about his recent ride on a Hydrofoiler in Florida.

After listening to these guys talk, it becomes obvious (once again) that there is no substitute for experience. And both of these guys have decades of it under their belts when it comes to their particular expertise in boats. Read the rest of this entry »

Graeme Delaveau, designer of the Nicky Cruz Explorer Trimaran, sent me these new construction photos. As you can see from our last Nicky Cruz Explorer post, it takes awhile to finish off a boat.

Thanks for the new pics guys! Read the rest of this entry »

Two new beach tris – under the brand name Motive Trimarans – are now under development. Sailor Dan St. Gean sent me word about these boats a few days ago. I’ve contacted the manufacturer for some more info.

The smaller Motive trimaran is going to be 15-feet in length and the bigger model will be 25-feet. If any more information is given to me about these craft (apart from what is already listed at their website) then I’ll post it. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is the link to a very unique story featuring a trimaran rowboat. This little homemade craft was created with wave-piercing bows and is also said to be “self-righting.” The following link, which is from the online newspaper article in New Zealand, also shows a couple photos of the boat. Read the rest of this entry »

I had the pleasure of reading about another Wavelength 780 trimaran launch recently. Multihull designer Robert Forster shared the story, which came as part of his “WAVELENGTH 780 Newsletter – Issue No. 11.”

With Robert’s permission, I am re-printing the account (and photos) of this boat’s launch, which was written by, Neil Holzapfel, who is the owner/sailor. (Thanks for letting us share this with our readers Robert & Neil!) Read the rest of this entry »

Here are a couple of DIY self-built sailboats referred to as — Tricote Trimarans — from France no less. The story behind these boats is a classic response to the question, “What happens when an ingeneous (and frugal) French monohuller gets bit by the small trimaran bug?”

He uses his ingenuity to build a low-cost one, of course! Read the rest of this entry »

Jim Brown interviewed small trimaran sailor and self-boatbuilder Frank Smoot on the topic of small trimarans last week. In this audio clip featured on YouTube (below), Frank shares how he got into building and sailing his own homemade trimarans. Frank even started his own website so he could post free information about them at www.DIY-tris.com.

In the full audio interview (in MP3) from which this clip is taken, Frank talks about some of the techniques that he uses to create boats that are both lightweight and strong … yet inexpensive (as compared to typical boatbuilding costs). Read the rest of this entry »

In this post, Frank Smoot shares another update on one of his DIY Trimaran models. And it’s very cool.

Wait until you read about how this new small trimaran handles :-) Some new photos of the hull are included below also. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve been following the building of the Uffa 10 Trimaran in a previous post here … and in a follow up post here. And now we get to see the Uffa’s launch in these new photos. Read the rest of this entry »

Richard Woods sent me some info about the latest model he is working on — the Strike 15 trimaran.

“This summer, I plan to build my next small trimaran — my Strike 15. The long awaited “geriatric dinghy”. I attach a provisional study plan, please feel free to post it on your site. I have the rig already, I just need 6 sheets of plywood and I’m all set. Read the rest of this entry »

The following YouTube video features a kayak trimaran in Europe. The video shows the process of setting it up, along with some of the sailing that the 2 guys in the video got to enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »

Multihull designer John Marples, from Searunner.com, sent me the following photos of his newly built Seaclipper 10 trimaran a few days ago. As you can see, it’s appropriately named BANANAS.

I love this little design. (Wish I had one myself). Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, smalltrimarans.com reader Uli Kerner sent me the following link, which features a design called the Seagull Trimaran (thanks Uli). Oh, by the way, if you check out the designer/builder’s website, be sure to click on the British flag in the upper right-hand corner for an English translation. Read the rest of this entry »

Kudos to sailor (and self-boatbuilder) Tim Elay, who just launched a new boat he refers to as the E15 Trimaran.

Pretty neat Tim!

He shares some photos with us, along with a little bit of the story behind this new craft (which he personally designed and built himself) in this post. Read the rest of this entry »

In this sample audio clip, Jim interviews Lyles Forbes, who is the chief curator at the Mariners’ Museum, in Newport News, Virginia. During the entire interview, Lyles shared about an exhibition that is (at the time of this recording) about to be opened at the museum. It encompasses some incredible stories of survival … after sailors had to abandon their ships at sea. He also talked about Read the rest of this entry »

Sailor Eric Marechal sent me the following link to a trimaran named MOSQUITO, which competed at the Everglades Challenge this year. I’d love to find out more about this boat. (Perhaps I can do an interview with the builders/sailors :-) Read the rest of this entry »

As a follow up to last week’s post, Jim Brown narrates this short video featuring the launch of a SeaClipper 20 trimaran. This one was built in a class that Jim and John Marples led at the WoodenBoat School last summer. (Be sure to check out how this craft really “takes off” when hit by a gust during the last few seconds of this clip … Whoosh, and she’s gone :-) Read the rest of this entry »

In this short mp3, Jim Brown shares a bit about the performance of the Seaclipper 20 trimaran. This particular sailboat was built by the class he conducted last summer with John Marples at the WoodenBoat School last summer.

Most of the participants from this class joined both Jim and John on a recent trip to Florida (the Keys). Jim starts off by talking about their friend’s place in the area popularized by novelist Earnest Hemingway. Then he gets into a little bit on what they found out about the Seaclipper 20 in both light and heavier airs. Read the rest of this entry »

Richard Woods, the designer of the Strike 18 Trimaran, sent me links to these new videos. He said that in February, he trailered his Strike 18 to Lake Havasu (a 2800 mile round trip) in order to participate in the HPCC sailing event. Read the rest of this entry »

I found this interesting, 26-foot long, trailerable trimaran on YouTube. I’ll let the video speak for itself.

Posted information about this boat (at YouTube) says the following … Read the rest of this entry »

How easy (or hard) is it to make an inexpensive, homemade sail for a very small trimaran? That’s the question sailor Danilo Veleirok asks (and answers) in this post.

Danilo lives in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As you will see, he encourages frugal thinking and DIY ingenuity in order to beat high costs and put a sail on his little trimaran kayak. Thus, he is sharing his concept of “recession-proof” sailing. Read the rest of this entry »

Today we hear from sailor Frank De Block-Burij, who shares the story of his beloved Ocqueteau Speed 770 trimaran. All I can say is that Frank really took time to write both write it down and supply the featured photos. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a very small folding trimaran (collapsible amas), designed and built by a small tri lover in Italy. Perhaps I can get some more info about this small trimaran. But for the moment, I want to thank Peter Evans, who publishes http://tacking-outrigger.com/ for sharing the below link with me. Read the rest of this entry »

The new Adventure Trimaran named Osprey has been tearing up the water for months now. Mark Zollitsch, who is one of the guys that put a great deal of time and energy into this 23-foot multihull, emailed me when he announced its launch.

I wanted to feature it immediately, especially since we talked about this new boat in a previous post.

But I wanted to feature Mark in a short audio interview … along with showcasing the tri. And instead of pursuing that plan with some vigor, I dropped the ball. (Sorry Mark!) Read the rest of this entry »

Steve Roberts, inventor of the Microship Trimaran, sent the following info to me the other day. Basically, he is making his one-of-a-kind sailboat available (to the right individual) for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure this coming summer.

I’ll let Steve explain below. Read the rest of this entry »

I’d never heard of the Arrowhead Trimaran until a few days ago. It’s a vintage craft from the 60s. And its unique name is superseded by its unique look/design. Read the rest of this entry »

Jim Brown and I have been working on a new Multihull Audio Series featuring conversations between Jim and other multihullers. We’ve got a bunch of these pre-recorded … with more planned and (hopefully) scheduled to be recorded this year. Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Smoot send me the following DIY trimaran photos and video the other day. They feature the most recent modification on his small tri.

I think it’s awesome because … Read the rest of this entry »

The following press release, from the folks at TRIAK Trimarans, is truly a great, genuine story. I contacted Thayer Ridgway, the owner of TRIAKsports and asked him how it all came about. His explanation (below) precedes the Press Release. Read the rest of this entry »

Below are photos that feature a Discovery 20 trimaran being built in the Philippines. The images are linked to directly from the following post at PinoyBoats.org.

This boat is regarded as a high performance small tri, especially for its size. See comments from a former Discovery 20 trimaran owner in this post here. It’s pretty neat to see it being constructed within the tropical outdoor setting of this island nation. Read the rest of this entry »