Just received a link to the below video from the sailor who assembled this used kayak and with homebuilt amas. It’s an inexpensive craft, simply constructed, yet the fun factor is obvious.
Thanks to Rick (the assembler/builder) for sharing this with us.
Below are his comments, which are posted with this video as it appears on YouTube. He writes:
This is a Mini Trimaran I built using a 16′ Kayak and Amas made from pink insulation boards covered with “poor mans fiberglass”. The frame simply bungees to the deck of the kayak.
I use a windsurfing mast/sail with a straight boom. It’s the same rig used on our landsailing and ice sailing rigs.
One issue I ran into is the bow gets driven down when the wind kicks up. Since it is a sit in kayak I can’t move my body weight back to counteract this.
My thoughts are: add a few gallons of water ballast behind the seat, and move the amas forward. Raking the mast back a bit is also an option.
It’s been a fun project, both the build and sailing it. I have less than $400 in it so far. Picked up the kayak for $50. The tinkering and learning are at least as much fun as sailing it.
My goal is to have small fleet of these, a few of my landsailing and ice sailing friends are looking into doing the same thing. We picked up a bunch of 8″ aluminum irrigation pipe 9-10′ long that will be the next experiment. Each section of pipe only weighs 20# or so. One of my friends bought a 14′ canoe that we’re going to add amas to.