Trimarans

REVOLUTIONARY DAY BOATS

ASTUS 16.5
Exciting, open-cockpit, Sports trimaran.

ASTUS 16.5
NEW & exciting trimarans

ASTUS 18.2S
Exciting, open-cockpit, Sports trimaran.

ASTUS 18.2 & 18.2S
NEW & exciting trimarans

ASTUS 20.2 & 20.2S
2 berth trimaran

ASTUS 22
4 berth trimaran

NEW ASTUS 24
Cruising trimaran

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Click to view video of 20ft Astus trimaran sailing in Cardigan Bay

Multihulls

MULTIHULLS HAVE REVOLUTIONISED DAY BOATS

The traditional day boat has been superceded. With its dead weight of ballast, be it water ballast or concrete or a keel or even two keels, holding it down in the water and with its short, fat, single, displacement hull it is inevitably slow and uncomfortable and also difficult to launch, recover and trail behind your car.

But now you can enjoy the exhilaration of sailing trimaran day boats of between 16ft and 24ft. Explore the coastline and offshore islands secure in the knowledge that it is safe for your family and friends to share your adventures.

Not enough wind today? Use your engine to pootle up river. These boat are for all occasions.

WHY MULITHULLS?

With a multihull you rely on the width of the boat, be it a catamaran or a trimaran, and the buoyancy of the outer hulls to keep the boat upright in the wind. The outrigged floats (amas) of a trimaran act like a child's bike's stabiliser wheels. This means that the boat is much lighter and the hulls are much narrower and sharper and more efficient so speeds are easily double that of the classic day boat. This means you can travel further in a day! You can visit places further afield in your normal cruising ground. And it makes harbour hopping much easier, especially if each harbour has a bar! This is partly because of the speed and partly because of the shallow draft of multihulls, so you are much less likely to hit the bottom. And, of course, multihull day boats are more comfortable than monohull dayboats.

Trimarans

WHY TRIMARANS?

At the size of the day boat, typically 18, 20 or 22ft it is only with the trimaran that one can combine the speed of the multihull with the comfort and space necessary for day sailing. There is room for storage lockers or modest cabins, enough for a weekend or even a whole holiday!

Once we get up above 10m the catamaran provides more comfort and space but these are not day boats, rather cruising cats. Small beach catamarans tend to involve a lot of scrambling about on your hands and knees. And booms tend to be low down to reduce the likelihood of a capsize and keep the sail area to a maximum.

In a trimaran you can sit down comfortably and the boom will still be well clear of your head.

In addition trimarans with centreboards possess greater agility, are easier to tack and they point better upwind than catamarans.

Trimarans - are fast yet safe
Trimarans are naturally buoyant and if ever capsized, provide a convenient raft for the crew. Whereas monohulls, with all that heavy ballast, have a tendency to sink leaving no trace and often, no crew!
Stiffness - or the lack of heeling in side winds, gives multihulls acceleration that is the envy of monohull sailors. Monohulls, in contrast heel right over in gusts spilling all the wind and losing the propulsive power that the wind could have provided.
Taking the ground - safely is something that boats with single keels do not do. People who know they are going to do this sometimes choose monohulls with lifting keels or bilge keelers (with two keels). But they are still blunt monohulls with ballast and consequently cannot compete with multihulls for speed. Bilge keelers rarely get above 5 knots.
Trailable trimarans can easily be taken to new places so when somebody asks you, "Where is your home port?" or "your usual cruising ground?" you can answer that you have neither one nor the other or that they change each time you go sailing.

Why Trimarans are so FAST

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