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.

We want what we want, don’t we? ;-)

I contacted Jörg Mairer, the builder, and asked if he’s share a little about his homemade creation. He was kind enough to send me the following (Jörg’s native language is German, so I slightly edited the following … he did a pretty good job though). He also gave me permission to publish a few of the pictures from his website:
……………..

Aloha Joe,

The story behind the construction-idea is that I was a young student with dreams of unknown islands and endless water, ….but less money.

I was always fascinated from multihulls, but they was too expensive for me. So I thought, “There must be a cheaper way to find a boat like a dragonfly 800 or F-27.” I didn’t want to build a whole ship, because that took too much time. So I searched for finished-parts to mix them together for a trimaran. I finally found the Soling and Tornado hulls to create my own low-cost multihull.

The Dragonfly and the F-27 trimarans were my inspiration for the proportion. I knew that my new construction wouldn’t be as fast as them … but fast enough to have a lot of fun.

I don’t know if anyone else ever built a “Soling trimaran” for themselves. Many people have asked me how to build this trimaran, but I never got feedback if any other Soling trimaran was ever build.

The ride was normally fairly dry. I used the boat as a cruising-trimaran and not as a sport-trimaran. But sometimes, during stormy weather with high waves, it was a good idea to wear a surf or diving suit :-) But riding in the Soling was very, very comfortable!

The top speed, with cruising-equipment, was 17-18 knots. But I think that speed was not recommendable in the offshore sea. The best cruising speed was ~ 12 knots, which was fairly dry and fast enough. The wind in the Mediterranean Sea is not consistent all through the day, so the normal average speed at long distance was ~ 6 knots.

The Soling-trimaran project (and the homepage about it) is old. I build the boat 1994 and sold it 2004. The development is finished, but I still help people who have questions about the tri.

— Best Regards from Austria,
Jörg

Click here see many more photos (and even some very short video clips of the Soling trimaran.