I've got a hypothetical question for all you cat sailors.

Beach cats have done well through the years, from Hobie 16s to A class. Small trimarans have not. What's interesting is when you go above 24 feet, tris tend to be more popular.

My hypothetical question is, if a manufacturer came out with a 18-20' racing geared trimaran on par in terms of speed, quality of build, dealer network with a modern cat, would any beach cat sailors go that route? I haven't priced cats in this size but lets say realistically in the ball park of $17,000-21,000.

With all the beach cats sold through the years I think it would be a fair bet that as the body ages, the desire to sit on a tramp or in a trapeze looses it's appeal.

I think the combination of a sit down ****, modern design/rig and high speed would be desirable.

Thoughts?

One problem I see is that if you design a racing Tri in the 20-24' arena you are still going to have to hike on it. Just thinking that one would sit in the **** and steer is, well it ain't going to happen. Also having recently sailed on a Nacra 6.0 and comparing it to my F31R, I would neever go to a smaller tri than a 24'. The Corsair F24 is a nice boat, but still to heavy for pure racing, and the fear of capsizing a tri is much greater than capsizing a 20' cat. My question is why would anyone consider paying 10K more for a 20' tri when they can get a new 20' Cat for that much less. I know that if I didn't have a family I would be on a Cat in a heartbeat!

Someday I will have one, when is the question?

I would be interested in owning a trimaran like that but if I had that money to spend, I would probably buy a nice new cat too. I would, however, be very interested in home-building a 20 foot trimaran should I ever find the time and resources.

In my Tornado days in the 1970's I saw a 20-21' LOA with a beam about 16' folding tri that sailed quite well. It was kit made of some sort of wood and looked like a Shark finish. The problem was mounting on the trailer. The center section was basically a hull similar in size to the amas with no ****. The hinges required the center hull to be mounted pretty high. The amas folded almost underneath the centerhull completely. It took about two hours to put together. It had a daggerboard in the center hull and kickup rudder and about the same size as the sailplan as the Tornado. He made the boat from plans in Popular Science or Mechanics I believe. I haven't seen one since.

thommerrill

By your name, do you want to build Discovery 20's?

I presently own a D20 and enjoy the hell out of it. I was just curious what the cat guys and gals thought of the concept.

Surely 3 hulls just aren't enough, you want one of these
$3000 homebuild anyone?


Gareth
www.fourhulls.com

If you are looking for a small tri then how about this one.
It is designed so a person can sit constantly in a central seat. is 3m too small? it is from kendrick designs.

http://www.kendrickdesign.com.au/3_metre_tri.htm

although have a look at the other designs on the page. there is the scarab 6.7 which costs about Aussie $13000 to build and uses a rig off a hobie 18 (or tornado if you're game)

The most popular tri's seem to be these



They look like great fun


http://www.windride.com/

'sport' monohulls are quite popular like the Henderson 21 (SRMAX). I think I would really enjoy a 'sport' trimaran in the 20' range with enough under deck storage for some gear and a cooler but with plenty of performance to go. That would be a distance race machine! How about a scaled down ORMA 60? Oooooo. Yeah, I know...try to do that under $20k - huh.

Maybe this tri is too big for your garage and a beach landing would be hell.

Check these videos...
Sail Fa$t

Ah...beautiful. I can just never get enough of that boat

What about this double trapeze tri.




Looks like fun, but not as fun as a Tornado in my opinion


Found at: http://www.multihulls.org/forsale.html

Something like this?


Or do you prefer more cabin?


See Ian Farrier's site.

I have built 3 KHSD 12 foot (stretched to 16 foot) trimarans. Cost about $3 using a Hobie 14 rig and rudders with Sunfish daggerboard. http://www.multihulldesigns.com/stock/daysailer.html
these boats are not ment to be an alternative to beach cats. "Driving" position is seated in the center hull with foot steering and all controls within reach. I am trying to develop a sail boat for disabled sailors and elderly folks and building and sailing these three boats has been very enlightening.