Sailor Thom Davis shares info (and a video) about modifications he has made to his Triak. As explained in this post, his mods are geared towards making the boat a better sailer in bigger winds.

Thom also introduced me to George Yioulos, from West Coast Sailing, who is the new Triak distributor. I’ll be sharing some info George sent to me in coming days. I link to their website below for anyone who might want more info about the Triak.

— Joe

Major Triak Modifications
by Thom Davis

I’ve owned a Triak for four years, now. A Triak is a composite ocean kayak hull, single wing (aka) and two outrigger/amas that attach to a single post on the wing.

Out of the box, the Triak is a decent paddle (100 #s) kayak and a good sailing kayak as long as the winds are light (under teen strength). The reason Triak isn’t very good in bigger winds is the stock floats are minimal (85# floatation).

Since my sailing grounds are normally teens to 20s in windspeed, I had to do some modifications to the Triak. The most recent modification and the one which made a world of difference is the expansion of the amas to about double their volume. Fortunately, I had spare amas to play with.

The boat still sails and paddles about the same as before the ama expansion, but now in big winds I no longer have to reef nor worry about being capsized.

The Triak, as featured here on smalltrimarans, when it was a new production model, lists most of the pros (like being car toppable). I built a trailer for it though and that speeds my time from driveway to water (usually about 20 minutes).

Most folk with Triak beach launch, I drop it in at a local marina — the design allows one to get into the cockpit while alongside the corner of a dock (you have to be a little nimble).

It has a top end speed about 10 kts — limited because the main hull is a kayak hull and therefore a displacement hull.

I’ve done numerous improvements to the rudder, the mast, the mainsail to make it better for me and where I sail but like I mentioned before, it is a good boat out of the box. Speaking of which, after two years when you couldn’t get one, they are back in production and can be obtained from West Coast Sailing, which is their sole distributor.

Below is one of the more recent videos showing the boat in big breeze. (Elsewhere in my video list are additional videos showing the other modifications made to the Triak and some “how-to’s”)

— Thom Davis

This past week, I heard from George Yioulos, the President of West Coast Sailing. He sent me the following info and pics as they relate to the Triak.

George mentioned possible Triak upgrades and said he is excited to offer the current version of this paddle / sailing design to customers. His email is a nice follow up to last week’s post.

(We wish all Triakers everywhere every success!) Be sure to click through on the links to find out even more.

………….

New Triaks

We got a container of Triaks in this week … and we plan to do some modifications and upgrade to the stock Triak.

I think the floats are nicely sized for inland waters and protected sailing, but, agree that over a certain wind speed, bigger floats will help. We’re pretty sure we can increase the float size in time without adding much weight or drag.

Rudder system, we are upgrading this fall as well.

Mast furling in time will be upgraded, and we’re working to clean a few of the lines to lead them a bit more smartly.

In short, hundreds of Triaks are out in the wild … the product has been very well received over the years.

The plan is to grow sales in a stable and responsible way, make incremental improvements over time and get more people on the water :)

George Yioulos
President
WestCoastSailing.net

Sailor Thom Davis shared the following with me last week as pertaining to guessing the speeds of trimaran designs. I’d love to hear from others as to whether or not they feel this little formula reflects a general “accuracy” or not.

Thanks for sharing this with us Thom … perhaps this post will inspire input from others that have some thoughts on this topic.

…………..

Just in case smalltrimaran readers are interested in guesstimating the speed potential for different trimaran designs, here’s a formula that works reasonably well for a good guess.

1) Take the Length in Meters raised to the 0.3 power.
2) Take the Sail Area (main, jib, spinnaker all added together) in Square Meters raised to the 0.4 power.
3) Multiply those together.
4) Divide by the boat weight plus crew weight in KG raised to the 0.325 power.

… Numbers above 1 are fast boats.
… Numbers below 0.8 are slow boats.

I didn’t arrive at this, those Aussies developed it. It can’t be really accurate since you can’t tell how a boat will point (or fail to point) and hull shape will definitely slow some boats down more than others…but your readers might want to know if the boat they are considering is fast or slow.

The Aussies use it as the start for a rating formula. Basically, just take the elapsed time and multiply by “the number”. Lowest result wins. In friendly competition, numbers should be adjusted so the same person/boat doesn’t win all the time.

Respectfully,
Thom Davis

If what I’ve read in forums is correct, the Ostac is a later version of the Ian Farrier designed Haines Hunter Tramp. Sailor Wayne Holt is restoring one (see pics and info below).

Thanks to Wayne for sharing the following with us.

……………

Ostac Tramp Restoration
by Wayne Holt

Since buying my Ostac Tramp last year I haven’t completely finished everything I plan to do (than never ends) but am far along that I’m really enjoying my little Tri these days.

The following has been finished:

— Completely sanded off old bottom paint and put Petit Vivid on
— Repainted both amas topside with two part yellow marine Sherwin Williams due to there being two old repairs that looked ugly (My paint schemes are usually in line with the Blue Angels colors due to Pensacola being their home base).
— Closed off one side for more privacy at the porta-potti
— New Garmin 530 GPS in new closed off panel
— New Mini – Contest Plastimo compass
— New 130% Genoa that helps add about 1 1/2 knots to the average speed
— New Yamaha 6hp with alternator and integral tank
— Fabricated external tank holder under starboard side fold hardware attachment (can’t remember proper name)
— Sanded and refinished anti-skid with Kiwi Grip
— New electrical panel with circuit breakers
— Though not needed – unless an emergency – put in a bilge pump (this was probably a waste of money and effort as even with a hole in the hull these things still float and can be sailed)
— New interior cushions to replace the original 1992 ones.

I’ve attached some photos to peruse …

Jpeg

Our friend Algie Bennett sent the following to us this past week. It’s a hoot.

See if you agree :-)

Algie wrote:

I’ve not had much time to do anything to move my ISO dinghy project from being a proa to actually becoming a fully fledged trimaran due to horrendous work commitments but thought this might give your readers a laugh.

The boat is a bit awkward for me to move around by myself as the ramp at Lymington where we now sail from is very steep, so I decided to “repurpose and up-cycle” an old electric scooter courtesy of my old uncle Ron.

I removed the seat, added a simple little hitch, dropped the dolly on and scooted off:

it didn’t have quite enough power to take me and the boat up the ramp but it was possible to walk it up. However the tyres were very thin and didn’t grip on the wet side of the ramp very well.

I then managed to scrounge another scooter from a friend of my brother – a little more power but much better, bigger tyres. The same little tow hitch approach but this one managed to get up the ramp (just) and scooted around the car park very happily

This also shows the new GoPro mount that worked really when we got out sailing that day as well.

I now have a further motor from a much more powerful scooter – the 1st was 200W 4mph model, the next 280W 6mph model and final one is I think 400W and 8mph – it is simply a case of botching it into one of the frames (will need some cutting and welding) , but I may instead convert it into a little towing handle with just 2 wheels to keep it light an maneuverable.

They are also great for stunt riding:

The plan will be to leave it at the club connected to a solar panel for anyone to use – makes life a lot easier especially coming back when you are knackered from some tough sailing.

Hopefully the work issues will calm down by September (had 2 staff leave and replacements proving difficult to find…) and get back to building the other side and get the first hydrofoils on and tested…

Kind Regards,
Algie Bennett
www.smalltrimaran.co.uk (not much on here yet, just started sorting it)

Italian sailing friend Aurelio P. just sent me this pic of a new 10-foot carbon fiber trimaran. It fits the new boat class he has been promoting these past few years.

He said it’s a full carbon 10 ft tri, by Mario Falci, with new additional sail — a furling gennaker. It weighs just 40 kg.

Wow!

Chuck F. just sent me a few more pics of the DC-3 trimaran he is building. It’s looking great. And BTW, I LOVE those “bare feet” on the step!

We’re looking forward to seeing this thing on the water in the near future :-)

Remember that aluminum trimaran project we wrote about awhile back? No?

Okay, see here and here for a refresher.

Well, the builder/sailor Valery Gaulin just sent me the following short update (and pics below). How great that it got completed.

Valéry writes:
“I realized that I never gave you a follow up on my project. I finished my project probably 3 years ago. It was hard to complete, but I got it done! It sailed well with my final design good very easy to handle for even a single-hander. Here are a couple pictures of the finish trimaran.”

Here is to that wonderful “can-do” spirit of DIYers everywhere. Wow.

A gentleman named Don Kerr (from Fallston, Maryland) recently contacted me regarding the Seaclipper 16 trimaran he began building. (You can read more about the Seaclipper 16 on the designer’s website here and here.)

As you can read below, he is unable to complete the build. You may contact Don via email at kerrwoodworks AT gmail DOT com if you’re interested in using what he has acquired and completed thus far.

………………..

Dear SmallTrimarans Readers,

I purchased boatbuilding plans for a Seaclipper 16 trimaran from John Marples in January of this year. Unfortunately I won’t be able to complete the boat as I just had both of my knees replaced and my wife and I are selling our house and moving into a 2 bedroom condo.

I have the required watertight hatches per the plans. And I have also purchased a 14 ft. Hobie Cat Turbo with its mast, main sail and jib (which is the recommended rig for the Seaclipper 16), with its trailer, that has new 10 inch wheels, a new mobile stand, and new lights. (Neither the trailer or boat is currently registered.)

I have completed the SC 16’s amas as per the building plans but they are not fiber-glassed. (See pics below)

This would make a great project for someone that would like to build this boat as all the components are here. I’d like to get $900 for all that I have listed. I could deliver it if the buyer lives within a one way distance of 75 miles.

Please contact me via email if interested – kerrwoodworks AT gmail DOT com
— Don

Sailor Hien Ngo sent me an old magazine picture featuring a Yamaha Waterspyder windsurfer trimaran. This production windsurfer was once sold for a short while, decades ago. We’d love for someone who actually had one to tells a bit about how it performed.

We posted about one a few years ago here.

Anyhoo, here is the pic …

yamaha-windsurfer-waterspyder-trimaran

Looks pretty cool, doesn’t it?

Boat designer Bernd Kohler shared the following LITTLE TRI info and pics with me this week. Really neat.

I also look forward to the Sprit sail he mentions below. Click on the images to enlarge. (Thanks for sharing this with us Bernd!)

Bernd wrote:

Here some interesting photos from my most avid “Little Tri” sailor. There are now more sailing but not everybody is so communicative (or good picture-takers.)

He has now put an Igloo tent on the boat. I like the result. Here three pictures. The setup is quick and the result looks good. The space on the inside is surprising.

To get more sail area he is trying out a new lug sail too.

I will design a sprit sail as an addition to the plans — an easy-to-build rig with a twist. The sail will be furled by rotating the mast without interfering with the sprit.

LITTLE TRI with igloo tent

LITTLE TRI with lug sail

The Malabar trimaran pics below come to us from “Nic” who is offering his boat for sale. More info about the Malabar can be found here.

Nic writes:
“Joe, I remember reading a discussion on your website … about a malabar trimaran. I was lucky enough to find one a few years ago and I can confirm that it is a pleasure to sail on this little fast and light trimaran. I received many compliments and many find it very pretty … it turns heads.
Congratulations to monsieur chevalier, the designer. A very original design and very well built. But I decided to sell my boat because I just bought another small sailboat with a cabin. It would be nice to find someone who could appreciate this rare trimaran. Thanks!
Best regards, Nic”

Nic lives near Ottawa, Canada. He can be reached via his email address: baladi7277 AT gmail.com

Sailor Greg Kelly is selling his Scarab 22 trimaran. He bought this particular boat from the builder, who we posted about back in 2009, and has enjoyed sailing it ever since.

Greg writes:
“Joe, I’m getting back to you about posting my tri for sale. I’ve gone back/forth; do I sell it, do I keep it. I absolutely love it; unfortunately, I must sell it.

I sailed TriTiki on Lake Champlain in Vermont; day sailing, doing weekend trips with my kids. I set it up for easy single-handing. The builder, Olivier LeBlanc, did a fabulous job building it. It is very stiff, yet light. I loved going out in a fresh 15-20 knot breeze and flying along on a beam reach at 12-15 knots. In light winds, she glides along, just waiting for the breeze to kick up, ready to fly. The small tris are so much fun; I don’t know why anybody sails a mono anymore. She hasn’t been in the water for two years and needs a little TLC.

Location – Wareham, MA
Sale Price – $14,000.00

–Greg Kelly”

Anyone interested in this boat can contact Greg via his email address: vtsailor44 AT gmail.com

Kayak sailor Eric Light has created larger amas for his double outrigger sailing kayak. So neat! And he says they accomplished exactly what they were meant to do, which is stand up to heavier wind.

To get a complete understanding of what Eric has done, see the previous entries about this boat project first here … and then here.

Eric shares the below info with us. And be sure to check out his boat blog too, which features this boat and other stuff.

Eric writes:

I completed the larger amas for my kayak and took it for a sail. It sails great!

I built the larger amas because the smaller ones were submerging in a moderate breeze. The larger ones stand up well to a stiff breeze

If people want to know what the new amas are made of, and how, it’s all on my blog. Here’s a page where I show some of the layers going together. One can go to prior and later entries to see the whole process – https://golightlythroughthisworld.blogspot.ca/2017/01/gluing-up.html

Chuck F. just sent me a few more pics of the DC-3 trimaran he is building. It’s looking great. And BTW, I LOVE those “bare feet” on the step!

We’re looking forward to seeing this thing on the water in the near future :-)

A friend sent the following news to us last evening. Very sad news indeed.

This past weekend, on Saturday, the Bay City Yacht Club held its annual “Great Lakes Multihull Regatta.” This was a Gougeon Brothers sponsored event but Meade Gougeon was not able to participate this year because he recently became very sick.

The race committee moved Saturday’s start of the race from its usual point to the waterfront area at Meade Gougeon’s house, as a personal tribute to him. Meade was brought to the front windows of his home so he could see all the boats lined up and watch the start of the race.

The boats in this year’s race included Meade’s own famous trimaran ADAGIO and OLLIE, a trimaran designed by his brother Jan. One of Meade’s sons, and a son-in-law, were a part of ADDAGIO’s crew.

On Sunday afternoon (yesterday, August 27, 2017), at the award presentation, it was announced that Meade has just passed away earlier in the afternoon.

As my friend put it, “To us in Bay City, and to many others in the multihull movement, this marks an end of an era.”

Sailor Bill Atherholt shares the following with us about his F25 trimaran. His blog contains many photos of it and can be seen here: http://www.trigazelle.com

Bill appears to have a small cruising tri that could possibly make many multihullers a little envious. (Seriously, I’d love to take a short sailing cruise with him on this boat ;-)

Many thanks to him for sharing it with us here.

………………

Hi Joe,
I have enjoyed your website immensely on many occasions over the past year, as I researched and followed various projects relating to trimarans. Having been an avid multi-hull fan for decades and owned several larger multihulls. I was always envious of the community around folding trimarans specifically the Farrier designs.

So I decided to find an F27 or similar boat in need of TLC and a new owner. In the fall of 2015 I located and subsequently purchased a home built F25A trimaran. The boat was built using cedar strip planking, not carbon, and launched in Tacoma Washington in 1996 or so under the name GAZELLE.

If you have a moment please take a look at http://www.trigazelle.com to see the photo albums documenting her original condition, which was rough, the rebuild and finally our maiden expedition from Vancouver, BC to Southern Baja this past spring.

it was a 9 month labor of love but I’m pleased that the boat looks good enough to be new, and the design by Farrier stands the test of time.

Crossbeams were 100% OK; they were the only part purchased from Farrier and not “homebuilt,” which was required at that time I believe. So the only work I did to them was painting and seadek nonskid application. Knowing that they were manufactured made me feel much more confident in the structure at +/- 21 years old and counting.

The most difficult part was definitely removing the carpet “monkey fur” off of the interior surfaces (old contact cement sucks) and then prepping it for new headliner. A close second for me was refairing the ama surfaces that were not perfect enough to take a polyurethane paint without showing strip planking ridges or a print through look. Many days were spent applying hi build undercoating and sanding before I was happy the surface was close enough.

She sails as well as any boat I’ve ever sailed on. Responsive and fast without any bad manners that I have seen yet, Farrier is a genius in my book. We don’t push it above 12-13 kts because it is set up as a cruising Trimaran after all not a full on race boat. I’m told that getting this model to reach 18-20 kts is doable with the right crew and conditions, but we’re a bit more conservative. In fact it’s the light air performance that has really impressed us, we love sailing while everyone else is motoring.

I love the dinghy-like feel of the helm and its ease of acceleration in a puff; the boat feels ready to surf along with any swell action at a moments notice.

Our greatest sailing day on Gazelle has to be back in mid-March in the Baja when we left an anchorage at sunrise to faint breezes from astern and rolled out the screecher coasting downwind in 1-4kts of wind with the autopilot driving. For hours we glided silently along watching Gray whales blowing within 50 meters of the boat. That sail will be etched in my sailing memories forever.

As an FYI my previous trimaran was TROIKA a Crowther Buccaneer 35 (stretched 33) and the liveaboard cat was a Tek-35 by John Shuttleworth, which was home for 2 years as we circumnavigated the Caribbean. See it here: http://www.billatherholt.com

One quick note, when it comes to multihulls smaller is definitely better! Less hassle, more sailing is my mantra now.

All the best,
Bill

When our smalltri friend Hans Schipper sent us the following info I wasn’t going to post it. The craft is not, after all, a proper small trimaran.

Then I took a closer look at his ideas for daggerboard and rudder and it just seemed like I must post his pics and short vids. What he has created is very creative. And as always seems to be the case with Hans, they display an incredible amount of thought process when it comes to solving whatever the issue(s) at hand.

Pics … and even a short video below. And so, thanks to Hans for once again sharing some very cool stuff with us!

…………..

Hans writes:

I hope you will post this story of “nearly a trimaran”.

Before I start remodelling the centre hull of the cool finn I made a foam hull for a inflatable sailing kayak that I use as a dinghy with my motorsailer. I could not make it a trimaran cause I cannot mount a mast, rudder and daggerboard to a inflatable boat. So I put all the things for sailing on a board and added the kayak and the ama to it and it sails well for a dinghy.

The kayak is from dropstichmaterial, the same material as they make inflatable sup-boards. I am satisfied about how it sails and it gave me good practice for my next project.

It sails very well and comfortable, sitting on the inflatable chairs. With the ama at the downwindside, the boat seduces less and is a bit faster. up to 3 beaufort there is no danger of turning over when sitting on the lower side. With more wind you can sit on the shelf but it does not feel comfortable with more wind. The front passenger gets wet by the waves.

There comes a lot of power on the plywood shelf so I had to make it stronger. I used a piece of wood with a fingerjoint what was not strong enough. Maybe I make a new shelf and then I place the daggerboard about 5 inch to the front. The rig and rudder is from an old inflatable catamaran made in the seventies by Semperit, an Austrian tyre factory. You can see the age at the type of sail logo.

The furling jib, what is a part of holding the mast up, is one of my modifications of the rig but it needs some help by hand by rolling up. So there are little things to improve but I am satisfied with the result. We had a lot of fun with it to have the boat with us on holiday and sailing on Frisian lakes and the Wadden Sea.

Nearly all the material I used, I had somewhere in my shed so there is becoming more space in it!

I used couplings for drain pipe for the ama and the alu pipes and connectors I found at the scrapeyard.
The 10 foot ama has a weight from only10 kg. The kayak is mounted with two tires.

I call it “Briesje” , the Dutch word for Breeze because i think it is safe and useful on both sides for wind up to three beaufort.

I hope you will post this “strange duck in the pond” as we say in dutch.

I was thinking about the definition of a trimaran. Is it a boat in three parts or three hulls? When the center part touches the water in this case by the daggerboard and the rudder you might as well call this a trimaran ;-)

Warm regards,
Hans Schipper

An impression how it sails –

Sailor Jan Cudak put some nice outriggers on his small Bolger-designed monohull. Things may not always work out the way they did for him, but we love it when they do :-)

The outriggers, by the way, were designed by Michael Storer and can be purchased either at Duckworks or via Michael’s website.

I mentioned them in 2014 on this page. And Jan shares the following pictures and video with us.

Many thanks Jan!

……………………..

Jan writes:

Just wanted to share some good experiences…

Purely by chance, I saw Michael Storer’s outriggers on his website while I was looking for a bigger boat to build, and I decided to put them on my Bolger Teal. What a pleasant surprise that was!

The Teal takes a lot of concentration in stronger winds although it’s a lot of inexpensive fun on the water. With the outriggers, sailing it has become totally stress-free and longer trips are something my wife and I eagerly look forward to.

The Teal has (surprisingly) a lot of room for two people, and, with a little net suspended between the amas, there is now a little extra room for a tent and other gear.

Despite the humble 59 square feet of Bolger’s fantastic leg-o-mutton rig, the little boat moves along quite well. As a consequence, we are both hooked on building a real trimaran this winter.

Best,
Jan

Sailor Jim Gallant shares an update here regarding the mini-Hydroptere trimaran he has been building. He shares some great pics with us below.

Jim writes:

I’m hoping to launch my foiling tri modeled after a 1990s Hydroptere prototype this coming Saturday. I have landscapers coming to clear debris and logs from my beach so I’ll be able to roll my dolly from my yard into the water. See attached pics of the completed boat.

Note the close up picture of the rudder attachment hardware. There’s a sliding tongue for the upper gudgeon so the t-foil rudder angle of attack can be adjusted while sailing. Also the double rudders, one for non-foiling mode and then the t-foil. I’m a bit nervous about whether the whole thing will work or not after nearly 2 years of work on it. I’ve built adjust ability into things, so I should be able to tweak things as needed. Still…

Will update again after my sea trials.

Update 09/12-17: Jim posted his first results from sea trials in the comments area below…