A trailerable, demountable, high performance multihull

 

 

 Regular visitors to this site know that in September of 2008 I got to spend an afternoon sailing out of La Trinite sur Mer, France on the 105’ French Maxi-Trimaran, Sodeb’O, with skipper, Thomas Coville.

 

Posted: January 18th, 2010 under Sailing Multihulls, Trimarans.
Comments: 7

On the bank at Lake Powell

XCR owners, Kellan Hatch and Ben Algera have been putting their boats to good use over the last couple of weeks. If you have been following this site, then you have already been introduced to both of them through previously posted pieces.

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Posted: October 14th, 2009 under Canoes, Paddled, Sailing, Sailing Multihulls, Trimarans.
Comments: 3

My friend, Kellan Hatch, has been busy this past year making his boat a lot more dialed-in for his personal adventure interests.

Kellan and Lily Hatch glide past Mount Moran in their XCR

Kellan recently returned from a wonderful, but all too short, cruise on Jackson Lake in Wyoming’s Teton National Park. Imagine a lake that is beautifully positioned at the foot of the stunning Teton range. Imagine primitive camping sites on the non-inhabited side of the lake with wilderness all around you in virtually the same state as it was when the area was visited regularly by the fur trapping mountain men of the early 1800′s.

Kellan had those images and much more running through his head when he joined his wife, Lily with their XCR, along with good friend, Mike Jackson and his Hobie Adventure Island, for a long weekend adventure of sailing and camping.

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Posted: September 18th, 2009 under Adventure Trips, Canoes, Power Boats, Power Tris, Sailing, Sailing Multihulls, Trimarans.
Comments: none

Checking-in with Ben Algera as he builds a boat for a future Watertribe event

With the main hull now successfully launched and then paddled briefly with his wife and kids, Ben has taken the first important step towards the completion of his XCR.

Sailing and paddling trips await Ben with this boat as it can seemlessly morph from a straight-up decked tripping canoe to a very nice sailing trimaran in minutes.

There are all sorts of photos of Ben’s build progress at his Blog site.  http://www.bensboats.blogspot.com/ 

Take a few moments to scan through his entries and you can see for yourself how easy it is to build an XCR of your own.

Posted: September 16th, 2009 under Canoes, Paddled, Sailing, Sailing Multihulls, Trimarans, Uncategorized.
Comments: 1

A safe, speedy solo cruising craft for adventurous souls

After a lot of input from readers of this site, I have completed the modifications to the Solo16 S design that reflect many of their
expressed interests.

The Solo16 S now has a bit more displacement as a direct response to suggestions for the use of a small 2 hp outboard and some spare fuel. At the same time, the vaka hull was given additional beam above the waterline and the shear was raised some to allow for mods to the amas.

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Posted: April 22nd, 2009 under Sailing Multihulls, Trimarans.
Comments: 5

Solo Trimaran Style With a Two Crew Twist

Perhaps the title, Solo16 Sport, is a bit of misnomer with regards to this posting today. While this trimaran is an extension of the design aesthetics and thinking that led to the other two boats in the series, the Solo12 and the Solo14, it takes a bit of a turn with the ability to carry a crew of two by design.

While the Solo16 was planned as a logical, next-step design path for the 12′ and 14′ boats, it was pushed a bit in its development by a request from the Sailing Anarchy Mulithulls Forum for a very stable trimaran for the posting member and his handicapped daughter. He was looking for a boat that would provide a significant degree of stability while sailing and still be able to give the two of them a lively degree of speed and performance. The copy below comes directly from the letter I wrote in answer to the query.

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Posted: March 5th, 2009 under Sailing Multihulls, Trimarans.
Comments: 7

Another Trimaran/Skiff … But With More Power

Well, you had to know this would happen…

When the Montage Skiff/Trimaran was introduced, the Lunada Design website was absolutely flooded with an ocean of page hits every day right after the article was posted. I received several dozen personal query letters regarding the boat and sizeable slice of them were directed at the potential of a bigger version of the Montage.

The concept of being able to build your own boat and rig it with a used mast and possibly even used sails, (if they are in good enough condition) had struck a chord with the homebuilding community. The creation of a larger version of the Montage would take the specified rig choices up into the much more commonly found beach cat rig sizes and make the business of finding a used rig in great shape, a whole lot easier. After pencilling a collection of thoughts and running some rough numbers on the potential, the idea came into focus as the 18′ Collage.

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Posted: March 3rd, 2009 under Sailing Multihulls, Trimarans.
Comments: 10

I’ve drawn a lot of small trimarans in the last seven years, beginning with my A18 for performance coastal cruising. During that time period, there has been an explosion of other small, daysailing trimarans on the market, most of them coming out of France. Recently, a new trimaran/skiff hybrid has been introduced from New Zealand called the Weta.  www.wetamarine.com

This boat has immediate appeal to beginning and intermediate sailors. It offers much of the speed experience of a high performance skiff in a stable and predictable platform that is really tough to capsize. The Weta is one of the first boats to encourage family participation and reintroduces the waterborne fun of the beach sailing culture, established way back in the late 60′s with the intro of the Hobie catamaran.

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Posted: February 21st, 2009 under Sailing Multihulls, Trimarans.
Comments: 11

I have a very serious passion for sailing canoes. Principally, I enjoy canoes that are designed as small, lightweight trimarans as I feel they present the greatest number of solutions for serious, expedition sailing with few of the compromise limitations the sailing canoe genre can represent.

I wanted to design a big boat; something out around 18’+ with a modest beam for the length in the 35″ neighborhood and the ability to carry a hefty expedition load without sinking the hull too much or hammering the freeboard. Canoes that long with beams of 35″, or so, have a real chance of being quite fast under paddle if the hull is shaped correctly.

There are some really fine boats out there that could, in the right hands, become very good cross-over sailing canoes when equipped with outrigger floats (amas) and a well thought-out rig setup.

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Posted: June 25th, 2008 under Canoes, Sailing, Sailing Multihulls, Trimarans.
Comments: 9