Sailor Aaron de Ruiter shares some info and pics of his 20-foot trimaran. He designed and is currently building this boat and it’s nearly finished. Sea trials are about to get underway.
Aaron describes it as a 6.0 lightweight demountable trimaran that separates into 3 sections; 2.4m bow section, 2.4m midships section + 1.2m aft section.
He is calling this design the RUDI 6.0. I’ll let him share the full story of how this design came about, plus some images (below).
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RUDI 6.0 Trimaran Nearly Complete
by Aaron de Ruiter
I’ve been sailing pretty much all my life (I’m 35 y/o), from 3 crew sailing dinghys when I was a boy, to regular Saturday crew racing a 37ft monohull around Sydney Harbour to paid crew on square and gaff rigged 100ft charter ships. Plus 7 years in the Royal Australian Navy as a Submariner — not sure if that counts as sailing experience though!
I’ve never built a boat before but I’ve repaired many a timber yacht. Last year I bought a Farrier 680 Trailer Tri for $500 with the intention of a restoration, however, the aka beams and amas were full of rot. Fortunately, I sold most of the sailing gear (mast, sails, winches etc) for a tidy profit.
It was this failed project that led me to the conclusion I wanted a smaller tri that didn’t require a trailer and was easy to store away and avoid exposure to rain and sun. I have a steep driveway that rules out a trailer but car-topping the boat is just doable. I have a ute (that’s a pickup for you yanks!) which can hold the main hull sections while the rest of the boat, Mk3 Boyer A class cat hulls for ama’s, mast and cross beams, are on the roof racks.
Time spent on this building project thus far? Total hours are probably in the range of 70-90 hours over the last 5 months. 3 kids and running a business don’t leave much room for Dad and his boat!
I’m not familiar with any of the CAD programs available so, to draw up the line for this boat I used Keynote on my MacBook Pro.
As far inspiration goes I think it would be fair to suggest nearly all designers are influenced by their contemporaries. I’ve read Gary Dierkings book on outrigger canoes and liked the demountable solution of his Wa’apa but not its lines or narrow beam. I like Frank Smoot’s foam hulled solution of his 24ft tri but felt his amas needed more buoyancy.
After all my reading I ultimately wanted a boat that I had designed myself to meet my exact needs; simple to build and stow away, reasonable sailing ability and can carry a 400kg load.
Specifications of this boat are as follows:
– A class cat 4mm plywood hulls for ama’s. Estimated weight each is 20kg
– 6.8m 22ft stayed aluminium mast from Hobie 14
– have at least 2 people on the tramps at any given time.
– estimated mainsail area will be 12sqm / 130sq foot
– jib 3.7 sqm / 40sq foot
– possible screecher will be mounted on a 600mm prodder
– main hull is 6mm ply, EPS foam and fibreglass/epoxy.
– estimated main hull weight 100kg, all up weight around 170kg
– main hull beam at widest point 603mm
– sailing beam 4.2m
– distance between aka beams is 2250mm
I am planning to sail this boat inside QLD’s Great Barrier Reef, Sydney’s Broken Bay, inland and coastal lakes … mostly daysailing and up to 7 days camp sailing for 2.
Hope to have the boat in the water in 4 weeks.
Cheers,
Aaron
Avoca Beach, Australia
