Sailor Travis Haggard shares an update here about his Macgregor Venture Hobie trimaran building project. This boat is looking really sharp.

Travis promises a report on its sea trials after it gets in the water. The boat is close to being ready. But as anyone who has ever built a boat can attest … a boat that is “close” to being done doesn’t necessary translate to being in the water “soon.”

Sometimes things work out nicely, of course. But at other times, as Jim Brown told me once upon a time, the boat just never seems to get finished no matter how close it seems that most of the work has been done.

So with that in mind, we wish Travis SPEEDY SUCCESS on getting the boat rigged and ready for sea trials.

(Thanks for sharing the pics below with us Travis! :-)

…………

Travis wrote:

“Here are some pics of the progress on my trimaran conversion. I dropped her in the water for the first time today to see how she floats. I couldn’t be happier with the results so far. Rigging and the rudder is next. I hope to have it ready for a test sail within the next month or so.”

… and …

“Here are a few more. The 2×4 post is a part of the pully system that makes the outriggers fold easily. I’ll eventually make a video of it in action.”

Personal experience is the #1 BEST way to learn anything. But the “2nd BEST” way to learn something involves listening to a true expert share their own insights, stories and know-how on the topic.

It’s priceless.

That being the case, I just wanted to let you know about 2 changes being made to the “Multihull Conversations with Jim Brown” audio series …

• 1st –They’re going to go “off the market” for a little while. How long exactly, I’m not sure. But they may no longer be offered as an “always available” information product on OutRigMedia in the future.
• 2nd – When these audios are re-released, they’re going to be priced higher — and Jim’s best-selling book, “Case for the Cruising Trimaran,” which is currently being offered as a “bonus” — isn’t going to be a part of the audios package anymore.

These audios are a super-fun way to make work-commute or leisure time more enjoyable. And you’ll be able to “get away” on a few great adventures as you listen too (quickly and easily, of course :-)

No pressure here at all … I just wanted to let you know in case you’re interested in having these audios. You can get them before they’re taken off the market in a few days.

If you’d like to know more about the audios in this series then feel free to check them all out on the following information page: http://outrigmedia.com/outrig/welcome-to-multihull-conversations-with-jim-brown/

And, as always, thank you for letting us be a part of your multihull experience!

— Joe

Sailing friend Hans S. alerted me to the following. These images come from, according to this webpage, an article from the May 1972 issue of Yachting World entitled, “Beware Low Flying Boats,” by R.E. Vincent.

The information listed on the above cited webpage is as follows:
Vincent, R. E., “Beware Low Flying Boats — An Experimental Hydrofoil Craft With an Ingenious Theory for Stability,” Yachting World, May 1972, pp 98-99, IPC Transport Press Ltd, London, publishers. Article by a post-grad student. Paragraph headings are: Design Objective, Apparent Wind Analysis, Propulsion Device, Transverse Stability, Longitudinal and Directional Stability, Resultant Overall Design, Predictions of Future Developments, and Conclusion.

Hans thought they might related nicely to the post about Tony Watermann’s Bazooka tri rigging project.

Sailor / boat designer (and long-time multihuller) Jim Brown shares some conversation with us in this post. (You’re in for a real treat :-)

I interviewed Jim a couple weeks ago about these 2 small trimarans, which were really among the first ones offered via plans for self-builders. Both were successful designs in that they really sailed well.

Speaking as a multihull historian, Jim offers a unique perspective that can only come from one who was “there” during the development of these classic boat designs. (By the way, time is running out to get a great deal on Jim’s collection of multihull audios — see here for details).

Also here also are a couple links to multihull sailor / boatbuilder Richard Fraser’s website, where he has a couple pages dedicated to Arthur Piver’s multihulls. The illustration of the “Frolic” is linked to from this larger image on his site. The first webpage is here … and the 2nd webpage is here.

The picture image below features both a Frolic (on the right) along with the larger Nugget (on the left).

Depending upon the PC or mobile device you’re using to view this page, you can listen to part one of my interview with Jim (mp3) either on the audio bar (if you can see it)…

… or by clicking directly on the following download link address:
Click here to download the audio to your PC or mobile device (Right click and choose “Save As” to your device.

Below is volume one of Jim’s memoir “Among the Multihulls” on Amazon…

This is part 2 of my interview with sailor / boat designer (and long-time multihuller) Jim Brown. This segment focuses on the Piver Nugget trimaran.

I’ve also posted a very short video clip of Jim (as a young man) sailing his old Nugget, which comes from one chapter of Jim’s video commentary of “Among the Mutihulls”.

Jim was “there” during the emergence of modern multihulls in the 20th century. His own Nugget trimaran was a sailing machine too … his description of it in the longer video is pretty neat.

His audio collection contains lots of fun, as well as insights into all sorts of multihulls.

Here are a couple old photos of Jim’s Piver Nugget …

And here is the short clip of him sailing it …

And here is the audio interview …

Depending upon the PC or mobile device you’re using to view this page, you can listen to part one of my interview with Jim (mp3) either on the audio bar (if you can see it)…

… or by clicking directly on the following download link address:

Click here to download the audio to your PC or mobile device (Right click and choose “Save As” to your device).

Below is volume one of Jim’s memoir “Among the Multihulls” on Amazon…

Here we feature one more short audio interview with Jim Brown talking about the Piver Nugget tri. In this audio clip, Jim talks specifically about certain Nugget design features that all came together very well.

Jim’s explanation really coveys how the Nugget’s design offered self-builders an opportunity to get out on the water and experience multihull fun … on a budget. And the word “budget” is key here.

Economy. Affordability. Accessibility.

Do-able. Practical. Achievable multihull boatbuilding (that enabled tons outdoor family fun). For just about anyone.

Once again, we hope you enjoy Jim’s short, yet practical, nultihull history oration. Pure fun :-)

You might also be amazed at Jim’s description of how well the boat sailed. (He thinks the Seaclipper series by John Marples (for self-boatbuilders) are comparable to the original Nugget. The Seaclipper 24, for example, can be seen here.)

Depending upon the PC or mobile device you’re using to view this page, you can listen to the audio bar below (if you can see it)…

… or by clicking directly on the following download link address:

Click here to download the audio to your PC or mobile device (Right click and choose “Save As” to your device).

Click on the book image below to see more about volume one of Jim’s memoir “Among the Multihulls” on Amazon, which includes the full story of Jim’s Nugget (along with lots of other great stories) …

Sailor Travis Haggard shares an update here about his Macgregor Venture Hobie trimaran building project. This boat is looking really sharp.

Travis promises a report on its sea trials after it gets in the water. The boat is close to being ready. But as anyone who has ever built a boat can attest … a boat that is “close” to being done doesn’t necessary translate to being in the water “soon.”

Sometimes things work out nicely, of course. But at other times, as Jim Brown told me once upon a time, the boat just never seems to get finished no matter how close it seems that most of the work has been done.

So with that in mind, we wish Travis SPEEDY SUCCESS on getting the boat rigged and ready for sea trials.

(Thanks for sharing the pics below with us Travis! :-)

…………

Travis wrote:

“Here are some pics of the progress on my trimaran conversion. I dropped her in the water for the first time today to see how she floats. I couldn’t be happier with the results so far. Rigging and the rudder is next. I hope to have it ready for a test sail within the next month or so.”

… and …

“Here are a few more. The 2×4 post is a part of the pully system that makes the outriggers fold easily. I’ll eventually make a video of it in action.”

Sailing friend Hans S. alerted me to the following. These images come from, according to this webpage, an article from the May 1972 issue of Yachting World entitled, “Beware Low Flying Boats,” by R.E. Vincent.

The information listed on the above cited webpage is as follows:
Vincent, R. E., “Beware Low Flying Boats — An Experimental Hydrofoil Craft With an Ingenious Theory for Stability,” Yachting World, May 1972, pp 98-99, IPC Transport Press Ltd, London, publishers. Article by a post-grad student. Paragraph headings are: Design Objective, Apparent Wind Analysis, Propulsion Device, Transverse Stability, Longitudinal and Directional Stability, Resultant Overall Design, Predictions of Future Developments, and Conclusion.

Hans thought they might related nicely to the post about Tony Watermann’s Bazooka tri rigging project.

Sailor / boat designer (and long-time multihuller) Jim Brown shares some conversation with us in this post. (You’re in for a real treat :-)

I interviewed Jim a couple weeks ago about these 2 small trimarans, which were really among the first ones offered via plans for self-builders. Both were successful designs in that they really sailed well.

Speaking as a multihull historian, Jim offers a unique perspective that can only come from one who was “there” during the development of these classic boat designs. (By the way, you can go here to find out more about Jim’s collection of multihull audios).

Also here also are a couple links to multihull sailor / boatbuilder Richard Fraser’s website, where he has a couple pages dedicated to Arthur Piver’s multihulls. The illustration of the “Frolic” is linked to from this larger image on his site. The first webpage is here … and the 2nd webpage is here.

The picture image below features both a Frolic (on the right) along with the larger Nugget (on the left).

Depending upon the PC or mobile device you’re using to view this page, you can listen to part one of my interview with Jim (mp3) either on the audio bar (if you can see it)…

… or by clicking directly on the following download link address:
Click here to download the audio to your PC or mobile device (Right click and choose “Save As” to your device.

Below is volume one of Jim’s memoir “Among the Multihulls” on Amazon…

Gary Dierking sent me a nice note via email this past weekend. It included the following 2 photos. Gary is now a boat designer himself, of course, with 2 popular websites about outrigger sailing canoes.

Wrote Gary:
“I really enjoyed hearing Jim Brown’s talks on the Nugget. I traded a beautifully built Swedish monohull for a Nugget owned by a friend of mine back in 1970. What a revelation and what a great time I had in SF Bay and around the coast. It convinced me to build one of Jim’s 37′ Searunners and I never looked back. The photo of my Nugget was taken by Jim Brown.” (Click on the images to enlarge).

Gary’s Nugget:

Gary’s Searunner 37:

Gary’s websites:
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/garyd/ … and … http://outriggersailingcanoes.blogspot.com/

And you can check out a couple of our previous posts featuring Gary’s boat designs below…

http://smalltrimarans.com/blog/more-on-gary-dierkings-waapa-trimaran-canoe/

http://smalltrimarans.com/blog/building-an-ulua-tamanu-as-trimarans/

______________

Sailor Chuck F. is currently building a DC-3 trimaran. He kindly answered a few of my questions regarding his boat building project and also shares some pics with us here.

Background info about the DC-3 trimaran can be found on this page. Building plans can be obtained from John Marples, the designer.

I’ve been waiting for someone to build this model. Even though it technically fits our criteria for being a small tri (insofar as it’s trailerable), it’s a boat that will be capable of crossing oceans (in theory, at least).

Creature comforts aside, this is certainly a boat that would offer a couple sailors tons of fun for weekending adventures and camp-cruising during vacations. (Thanks for sharing this info with us Chuck! :-)

Here is my short Q & A with Chuck:

Q: — What attracted you to this particular design/model?

A: There are a number of things.
I think the size for building and sailing for one or two people is right.
The swing wing design is the hot ticket.
The “constant camber” design is very stiff and I think visually pleasing .
I’ve known John and Jim for 40 plus years and their plans are hand drawn and they are both better builders than I am, making the plans very easy to follow.
John is always ready with help.

Q: — What has been the most difficult part of the building process so far?

A: Nothing is really difficult , there are some skills to learn if you are new to vacuum bagging .

Q: — Anything particularly enjoyable about the building project?

A: It’s all fun.

Q: — What has been the most unexpected part of it?

A: How hard it is to find suitable wood.

Q: — How has the “constant camber” method worked out so far?

A: There are a lot of pluses, almost ideal shape with minimum spilling and once the skills are learned it’s fast . I built all the panels alone.

Q: — Where do you plan on sailing it after it’s built?

A: No specific plans, of course all the local islands off the SoCal coast .
Maybe down the Mexican coast and up the Baja and trailer home from San Carlos. I would feel comfortable sailing anywhere, I believe it’s the almost perfect size.
This will be my sixth trimaran and I also owned one catamaran.

Making Constant Camber Panels for the Hulls …

Amas (floats) …

Vaka (center) Hull …

Check out this video posted by Gary Dierking featuring a single outrigger Ulua sailing canoe. The emphasis here is on the sail itself.

Whenever I see something like this I always think about what Gary D. says about trying to “get the biggest bang for the buck.”

In this case, it would be more like trying to “get the most performance from an economically created sail that is also one of the easiest to reef.”

Watch the short video clip and see for yourself.

What’s not to love :-)

Sailor Frank Gorden has built a beautiful double outrigger cailing canoe in NZ. An Ulua design, by Gary Dierkding, to be more specific.

Frank named the boat “Hikurangi.” According to Wiki, “Hikurangi is a settlement in Northland, New Zealand.”

Very cool.

He shares a few pics with us below and also links to a couple pages on flickr, which showcases a couple nice videos of the boat under sail. These vids show the boat sailig in Coromandel Harbour.

The iakos (crossbeams) also fold for convenience when trailering. Again, very cool. Click on any of the images to enlarge. (Thanks for sharing these pics and vids with us Frank!)

Flikr Video LInks …

https://www.flickr.com/photos/39922183@N03/25219914923/in/photostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/39922183@N03/25736759261/in/photostream/

The following info comes to us from Toby Johnston, CEO of Ezifold Yachts LTD, regarding the E3 Bazooka Trimaran. Toby sent me a couple links to Ezifold’s facebook pages. It has to do with answering inquirers’ questions about Bazooka updates that are currently being made.

I’ll quote some of what is on those pages, but encourage readers to click the links to see the posted images on each page. Their first facebook page is here and the second one is here.

— begin quotes

“This week everything at Ezifold HQ has been about the E3 Bazooka range of Trimarans and the new beams across the Intro, Active and Excite range.

These have been through the prototype stages and are about to be signed off for production.

Like everything we design these beams have many hours of design and engineering refinement poured into them both in house and with our engineering partners Gurit, ensuring they are able to be efficiently production built on time and on budget.

Everything is finished at the infusion stage, release the part from the mould trim along the scribe line walk away job done!!!!

Thanawat is proving himself a valuable Team Ezifold member. He has been busy ensuring everything is perfected at CAD stage, Aerofoil and ergonomic shaping, glue relief buttons for exact repeatable production tolerances and many other subtle things throughout the design and development stage.”

“The E3 Bazooka Trimaran production mould’s are back in the mould shop under the office this week.

All 23 are in to be stripped resealed and waxed up for the next stage of developments before heading down to the heat and humidity controlled workshop for the next lot of parts to be built.

We find it an excellent set up having the two separate dust and temperature controlled development workshops under the Ezifold Yachts LTD Christchurch office and design studio.

The design and development team are never more than a few steps away to make sure everything progress’s as designed for production before being released to the main workshop where theory becomes reality.”

— end quotes

Here is the main information page about the Bazooka trimaran on Ezifold’s website.

Here is an even closer look at the ulua double outrigger sailing canoe named HIKURANGI. Our previous post about this boat is here.

Sailor Frank Gorden shares a few more pics along with links to a few short videos of the boat under sail. He also clarifies the meaning of his boat’s name.

Frank writes:

“Been out sailing and hardly had any time for any thing else. Just come back from a 24 km trip down the coast from Te kouma to Manaia. The waka is running well in the ocean. Here are some more pics (click on images to enlarge):

Hikurangi is a Maori word for “fishtail” and that is the name of the wife’s land in the Manaia Harbour.

Below are links to three videos (a series) on flickr. A trip up the coast to Manaia Harbour from Te Kouma and back. We were sailing and using the 2hp outboard this day, it was a gentle day.

Video Links:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/39922183@N03/26037255592/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/39922183@N03/25857289510/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/39922183@N03/25528058413/in/dateposted-public/

[Also included is a snapshot of Frank’s journey log].

Our friend Stefano recently sent me the link to the following trimaran article (in pdf). It’s written by multihull designer Tony Grainger.

Tony is one of the boat designers that I interviewed in the book, “More Small Trimarans.”

A lot of readers might find the article’s content very interesting … or even just a plain good ‘ole read. (I hope so anyways.)

If you’d like to check it out then click here in order to open the pdf document. The link will open up a new window on a PC.

And you can also check out a couple of Tony’s websites: one here … and … here.

(Thanks for the link Stefano :-)

The Seaclipper 13 trimaran is one of the newer small tri models designed by John Marples. Sailor Don Thompson is almost finished building one in Ottawa, Canada.

It’s a very nice looking one too. Don was kind enough to take a whole bunch of pics and share them with us.

These photos reflect 7 months of work. Don estimates he has put about 400 hours into building the boat so far.

The boat will hopefully be on the water by mid-May. Perhaps we’ll be able to do a follow up and share a bit about how sea trials turned out. (Click on images below to enlarge).

The Alien trimaran is a unique sailing craft that perfectly fits into the DIY category of boats we’ve seen a lot here on smalltrimarans. I think you’re gonna like it too!

The following was sent to us months ago and I somehow forgot to post it :-(

My bad! (Very bad, actually … sincere apologies to sailor Mike Schreibman, who both constructed and sails this beauty).

As Mike shares below, this is a very successful sailboat in terms of both performance and budget (considering it’s a sleek-looking speedster on the water at times).

…………….

Introducing the ALIEN Trimaran
by Mike Schreibman

Here is the ALIEN.

A-cat floats, aluminum akas custom center hull, prindle 19 mast and rudder, Intercat dagger board, sunrise tramps, Whirlwind main, GM self- tacking jib, doyle screetcher. Honda 2.3 OB. and 2-part epoxy paint finish.

A total blast

Original hulls were built by Chislett boats, before he was the builder for Maratime marine. Since these pictures were taken, I’ve added stainless (instead of aluminum) chain plates, Sunrise tramps, Harken jib furler on black JM sail, Whirlwind main, and running backstays.

I also raised the hull in the center cockpit to be self-bailing and bought a new daggerboard from Intercat and built a foam crash box behind it. (The bottom comes up fast sometimes on San Carlos at 25 knots!)

I painted the hull snow white with 2-part epoxy. I bought a Doyle, screecher, with Harken roller furler and cleating snatch blocks from an F18 cat. The bow pole is from a wind surfer.

I applied to SW Florida PHRF for a rating and was assigned minus-18 seconds. I have yet to sail to those numbers, but Alien is very fast.

Here are a few more early pictures. with hobie main. My investment in the entire project is under $10,000, but you couldn’t buy a better boat for 3 times that!

— Mike Schreibman

Gary Dierking sent me a nice note via email this past weekend. It included the following 2 photos. Gary is now a boat designer himself, of course, with 2 popular websites about outrigger sailing canoes.

Wrote Gary:
“I really enjoyed hearing Jim Brown’s talks on the Nugget. I traded a beautifully built Swedish monohull for a Nugget owned by a friend of mine back in 1970. What a revelation and what a great time I had in SF Bay and around the coast. It convinced me to build one of Jim’s 37′ Searunners and I never looked back. The photo of my Nugget was taken by Jim Brown.” (Click on the images to enlarge).

Gary’s Nugget:

Gary’s Searunner 37:

Gary’s websites:
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/garyd/ … and … http://outriggersailingcanoes.blogspot.com/

And you can check out a couple of our previous posts featuring Gary’s boat designs below…

http://smalltrimarans.com/blog/more-on-gary-dierkings-waapa-trimaran-canoe/

http://smalltrimarans.com/blog/building-an-ulua-tamanu-as-trimarans/

______________

Sailor Chuck F. is currently building a DC-3 trimaran. He kindly answered a few of my questions regarding his boat building project and also shares some pics with us here.

Background info about the DC-3 trimaran can be found on this page. Building plans can be obtained from John Marples, the designer.

I’ve been waiting for someone to build this model. Even though it technically fits our criteria for being a small tri (insofar as it’s trailerable), it’s a boat that will be capable of crossing oceans (in theory, at least).

Creature comforts aside, this is certainly a boat that would offer a couple sailors tons of fun for weekending adventures and camp-cruising during vacations. (Thanks for sharing this info with us Chuck! :-)

Here is my short Q & A with Chuck:

Q: — What attracted you to this particular design/model?

A: There are a number of things.
I think the size for building and sailing for one or two people is right.
The swing wing design is the hot ticket.
The “constant camber” design is very stiff and I think visually pleasing .
I’ve known John and Jim for 40 plus years and their plans are hand drawn and they are both better builders than I am, making the plans very easy to follow.
John is always ready with help.

Q: — What has been the most difficult part of the building process so far?

A: Nothing is really difficult , there are some skills to learn if you are new to vacuum bagging .

Q: — Anything particularly enjoyable about the building project?

A: It’s all fun.

Q: — What has been the most unexpected part of it?

A: How hard it is to find suitable wood.

Q: — How has the “constant camber” method worked out so far?

A: There are a lot of pluses, almost ideal shape with minimum spilling and once the skills are learned it’s fast . I built all the panels alone.

Q: — Where do you plan on sailing it after it’s built?

A: No specific plans, of course all the local islands off the SoCal coast .
Maybe down the Mexican coast and up the Baja and trailer home from San Carlos. I would feel comfortable sailing anywhere, I believe it’s the almost perfect size.
This will be my sixth trimaran and I also owned one catamaran.

Making Constant Camber Panels for the Hulls …

Amas (floats) …

Vaka (center) Hull …