4 Thoughts approximately Building a Baby Trimaran with Wood

I like small trimarans of all kinds. This means trimarans that are available through commercial purchase or buttoned up self-built plans (assuming, of course, bully plans are used). This also includes trimarans made using GRP (glass-reinforced plastic) or wood/epoxy.

I'll be covering all types on my blog.

The allure of wood building, however, appeals to manifold do-it-yourselfers since of the perception that wooden-built boats are always going to be a more inexpensive route to acquiring a tri sailing boat in the long run. This isn't necessarily the plight though.

Building costs are up nowadays.

Those who figure fiberglass boats accurately purpose elsewhere the costs of marine-grade plywood, combined with the generally gigantic cost of epoxy, can put dollar amounts for building with wood on par with fiberglass. Not only that, but when added time and funds are factored into the long-term equation for maintenance costs, multifold home builders lean towards using fiberglass instead of wood.

I understand where they're forthcoming from. All of these realities need to be considered. But with these considerations, I'm just going to essay a few another thoughts as to why I'm still attracted to the end of building bantam tris with wood. Here are 4 thoughts to weigh in:

-- Provided we were discussing "big" trimaran sailboats here then you might not be reading this article on wooden boat building. It's not the wood per se, but the bother of a "big boat" project is one I probably wouldn't appetite to tackle by myself (and I have a portion of existence working with wood).

We're not discussing considerable trimarans though. We're essentially talking about fast, cramped generation boats that feed a lot of fun for unmarried sailors, 2 partners, or a small group. (The notable exceptions are the "weekend" type of boats that include a diminutive cabin in the draft plans).

Much though a wooden boat requires more care than a fiberglass one in order to ensure its long-term health, the costs in either time or boodle aren't going to be huge. A hasty aim and care can life a extensive way, especially if you properly store a home-built wooden cramped trimaran out of the precipitate and sun.

-- The design options for wood building are good. From the contemporary crop of plans available out there I descry very nice dummy options for smaller trimarans that incorporate wood ... and this refers to some fine older plans in appendix to the newer ones. If you fancy to go with a tiny boat, or a trailer-able one in the 20-something foot range, there are affordable plans offered by reputable designers readily available.

-- You can probably fabricate a little wooden trimaran a whole lot easier, and in a quota less time, than a fiberglass one. This one is probably the most appealing factor in favor of wood when comparing the differential building approaches.

After considering fiberglass requirements for things such as lofting, molds, spray guns, etc., those wood boat building forums that enlighten Stitch & Glue interpretation originate to gaze very, also appealing -- at least they accomplish for me. (Boat builder Sam Devlin provides an excellent S/G precis on his website in dispute you're interested).

If you've got a lot of actuality building with fiberglass already then this may not be the occasion for you. But overall, I think this would probably authority licence for someone that has never habitus a boat before.

-- You can build cheaply with wood before building a else expensive, polished anecdote with either expensive marine-grade plywood or fiberglass. You might be thinking, "Why complete this?" On the contrary it may not be a bad idea. Why not do something compatible this ... especially for a slender sailboat?

You can purchase some plans for a petite trimaran you're pretty sure you longing at this point, and then build a "cheaper" version of it using low-grade woods and other materials so you can decide whether you REALLY adoration it. What I'm talking about is essentially building a full-scale base of a boat you don't need to worry about making perfect.

You could create one that provides some sailing lively in order to test matters out ... before shelling out augmented dollars for the highly-involved project. Plus, you can invest in some real hands-on boat building experience and emerge as intimately acquainted with the boat you think you want in the process.

One boat builder discussed this thought during a recent interview (currently featured as a download from our site). In my opinion, this expert indeed deposit things into perspective when it comes to building boats with wood - including microscopic trimaran sailboats.


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Joe Farinaccio ("the small tri guy") is an author and publisher. He offers info and other means about small trimaran sailboats at the website: http://www.SmallTrimarans.com

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