GENERAL (see below for: 'How to find things on the site')
The aim of this site is to provide sound technical advice to help users, builders and potential buyers of small sailing multihulls, come to a wise choice for their particular personal needs. 'Small' in this case are multihulls under 10m.
It aims to provide reliable data, with methods by which issues such as stability, safety, strength and speed can be assessed.
It will also review various building materials and construction methods, plus the pros and cons of optional features, such as folding and de-mountable systems and more.
It will attempt to provide reliable answers for technical questions submitted by readers, and those considered to have broad interest will be published here under the appropriate subject heading.
There will also be reference to other technical articles deemed to be of relative interest and the various pros and cons of tris vs cats may be included.
Overall, the site aims to be a prime source for all things technical associated with this specific subject… and I invite boat, material and equipment suppliers to link to the site, submit their products for review and also for building material suppliers to do the same.
I will be neither selling or representing any particular product (other than my own technical reports and possible designs) so aim to remain as unbiased as possible in my reviews and opinions. All revenue from plans sold is thrown back into 'the world of trimaran sailing' through additional articles of design and towards offsetting the many hours spent in free guidance for those who write in for advice. So yes, this is most definitively a Non-Profit effort ;-)
I remain open to any developing ideas relative to this subject, and invite readers to use the Questions & Comments form for this purpose. ENJOY ... it's Free! My way of thanking all those who, one way or the other over many years, taught me!
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Added 2022 ..... a warning to use creditable sources for information as info sites are springing up with non-science-backed information that can be misleading at best and sometimes, just not correct.
Back in the 1950’s there was no internet. Virtually no one was preaching non-truths to a broad audience. Students of any specific subject read books of ‘generally proven facts’ that were written by people with advanced university degrees and seldom less than 30 years of experience, practicing and refining their specialty. Even then, prior to publishing, the work was always peer reviewed by other experts in the same field, so the final result was pretty solid data that could be relied on.
Today, post 2000, that’s all changed and the bulk of students just go-on-line to find the answers they look for. Sadly, with easy free access to everyone who wants to hear and see their own voice, as much as 20% of this ‘knowledge’ is just not accurate and sometimes just plain false, as it’s not peer reviewed by anyone!
In the boating/sailing field, there are Forums full of debate containing equally as much error in non-science-based information and there are several regular contributors to on-line sail-related articles and blogs who clearly enjoy to write, but present themselves with a degree of expertise that is just not backed up by sound, technical study … but is more likely to be a collection of thoughts and ideas they picked up in conversations at some yacht club bar. Although I am confident they mean well and believe in themselves, its advisable to double check what you read there, as there are frequently statements made that are just not science backed and can even be, dead wrong!
So the reader is urged to ‘go back to the library’ and dig out some of the old books on design and naval architecture to get your data from reliable sources and from individuals with a life time of knowledge and experience. There ARE some good websites from PROVEN designers, but if on line, check your source carefully.
It’s for this reason that the author started this website, realizing there was little reliable reference stuff out there for a specialty item such as ‘Trimarans’. Yes, the author could well have written 3 or 4 books by now with the 200 plus articles now posted, but felt that having this on a website would better allow the data to be kept reasonably up-to-date, something particularly important as new materials can have a major effect on new design possibilities … carbon fiber being one prime example. The author only started to share this knowledge at 75 years of age, starting with the base of a masters degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, but also having previously lectured applied science, mathematics and ship design as 3 different colleges, accumulating experience from tank tests, and spending a particularly analytical lifetime of over 70 years of sailing, designing and ship/boat building .... so it’s safe to say, this is material that can be relied upon, to the extent that it applied at the date written or last updated.
And it’s presented FREE for all.
If there’s something you need to know that you feel is not already covered, try sending in a Questionnaire. If it's not within my knowledge base, I will tell you. Otherwise, use the Search panel to see what is available here. (see Home Page for both of these)
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HOW TO FIND THINGS ON THE SITE ... learning how it works will add to your pleasure.
Everything you need is accessible through the HomePage if you know where to look. Here is a short guide. If you are more of a Graphics person .... then check out the image below ;)
On the LEFT HAND side, there are two very important panels. First a white SEARCH panel specifically for this website, where you can just type something you want to check, (such as: "Lightning"; "Hardware Mounting"; "Reefing" etc) and it will take you to a link that includes whatever you typed in.
Below the SEARCH panel, there is a YELLOW panel marked "Latest Postings". Clicking here will bring down a list of the most recently added articles, with the month it was posted. This saves an avid reader from having to look through previous articles and subjects, just to see what's new and so far, unread.
Below this again but still on the LEFT, are TWENTY main (top level) topics (in white on blue), so that if you are searching for something 'design related', you can click on Design Issues or the same for say, Construction Issues or Folding Systems etc. These top level subjects are 'the doors' to find and open some 200 more specific links.
Please note that for all content on this site, this represents just 'my personal professional opinion', but while not everyone can be expected to agree with me, its based on knowledge, training and experiences accumulated over some 70 plus years, over half of which has been as a trimaran owner and designer.
Below these chapters, is the current TOTAL NUMBER of Articles published on the Website, and then an access link to write to me. Below that again are links to different Small Trimaran Reports.
Down the center column of the HomePage, is first the W17 MAIN PAGE giving some 50 links to cover all aspects of the boat, design, construction & operation, with snippets of comments from a small sample of owners and/or builders.
To complete the center column, there's a link to the multipage "WATERS EDGE", a blog-like chatter including news from other builders, followed by a link to the W22 Main Page (also with multiple links) at the bottom.
The RIGHT HAND Column, covers links leading directly to popular articles with a clear title .. such as "Wing Mast" or to "Published Articles".
Hope this helps .... and again, ENJOY and SHARE. And if there's an article of specific interest to you that is not yet published, please let me know and if there's enough need or interest, I will see what I can volunteer on the subject, but only if it's within my range of knowledge and experience.
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