Help Deciding on a Tri besides Dragonfly & Corsair

[esarratt]

Thanks, The TNT is sweet!

I am grateful for your posts. A lot of this is in French and not accessible (recognizable) to me as someone from the USA.

Many thanks!

[esarratt]

[QUOTE=GaryMayo;1043549]Looked up PYO from the hull number, company out of business 1988

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Seems odd there were two of these at the same marina unless they made a bunch of them in 5 years. Made in Houston./QUOTE]

Cool boat. It is a Pyramid Eagle 20. I found a couple examples by searching for the name. I'd trade my NACRA for one of those. I am getting my balding head burned by the sun and am now needing something with a permanent bimini. The Tilley hat just isn't cutting it.

Yep, it is a Farrier design. There is a good Popular Science article that pulls up when you search the boat's name.

[esarratt]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

Why afraid? I have owned 3 Dragonfly tris (still own my third). Very nice boats.

I just would like to see more market to choose from. I like Dragonflys a lot.

[Sand crab]

The Dragonflys are great boats and really expensive. The Contours are a nice balance.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by esarratt

I was afraid of that. Thanks for the info. Seems like there would be a market for light + fast + stable + luxurious. Odd.

There's an old saying:
"You can have Fast, Cheap, Big."
Pick Two.

Or something like that...

[tamicatana]

The small boats pictured look like early farriers namely farrier "tramp."

[Sand crab]

Here's a review of the Contour 34. Scroll down.
Sailing Magazine

[Coops]

"Tramp" is correct, at least in Australia, designed by Ian farrier, built by John Haines. In America they were also known as "Eagle' i think and also Ostar Tramp/Eagle was a later model. Great little sailing boat with a huge cockpit, no interior but over here a camping top was available to allow sleeping in the cockpit. Would like one myself, ideal for the shallow waters around here on the Gold Coast.

Coops.

[Factor]

Had a tramp, best value for money boat I've owned. And yep, Haines Hunter Tramp, Eagle in USA and Ostac Tramp.

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by esarratt

Hi! I would like to know of Trimaran builders besides Corsair and Dragonfly (I know about them). Any country is fine. I want to know of the smaller shops and good custom builds. I am aware of Farrier (they are high on my list). The features I am looking for are: 1) livability--few weeks to a few months 2) trailerable--foldable, not mountable, amas 3) 27-38' (31' seems about right) 4) SAN/ATC Core-cell construction (No PVC, no divinycell, no balsa. Carbon fiber is good.) 4) Nice interior. Pacific Seacraft or Morris nice. If I have to I'll take it to a refitter or a builder to have them redo/create the interior that is OK though. 5) New build. Many thanks!

I have been looking for a boat with features similar to those you listed for probably six months or more.

As a result I have come up with an additional feature, 6) Available for purchase, hopefully in North America.

The result is I keep coming back to a Corsair C31 CC. I would like more room and the ability to carry a larger load. The Telstar I saw simply did not have the fit and finish I was looking for and the rope system used to extend the amas worried me. A Dragonfly is harder to find than a unicorn and I am not sure how easy it is to trailer.

Without question there are more Fboats and more factory Corsairs around than any other tri you can cruise in. They have a good reputation for speed, ease getting on and off the trailer, and they are easy to sail. I have been to races and seen guys set up and take down their boats in less than 40 minutes, while the guy next to them took over two hours. I would say it should take around an hour to get the boat off the trailer and at a dock ready to load the ice chest, food, and other goodies.

But the biggest advantage of a C31CC for me is that I can actually find one to buy.

[senormechanico]

The reason Dragonfly trimarans are hard to find is that nobody wants to sell them, mine included...

If you CAN find one, they wouldn't be any harder to trailer than other boats.
Mine's not trailerable, but the 920 and smaller ones are.

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

The reason Dragonfly trimarans are hard to find is that nobody wants to sell them, mine included...

If you CAN find one, they wouldn't be any harder to trailer than other boats.
Mine's not trailerable, but the 920 and smaller ones are.

Actually a few do change hands every year, but most are sold before they hit the open market. If you want to be "tuned in" contact Richard at Dragonfly USA he generally knows who's considering a sale, and he's a great guy to deal with.

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

Actually a few do change hands every year, but most are sold before they hit the open market. If you want to be "tuned in" contact Richard at Dragonfly USA he generally knows who's considering a sale, and he's a great guy to deal with.

Originally Posted by senormechanico

The reason Dragonfly trimarans are hard to find is that nobody wants to sell them, mine included...

If you CAN find one, they wouldn't be any harder to trailer than other boats.
Mine's not trailerable, but the 920 and smaller ones are.

The point I was trying to make was not that Dragonfly tris are not very good boats, rather that there is a difference between liking a boat and buying a boat.

My background is in real estate and there is are a couple of terms like "motivated seller" and "location, location, location" that come to mind. As I posted just in terms of sheer numbers there are a lot more Fboats, and by implication a lot more of them for sale, some by very motivated sellers.

While my experience is somewhat limited I have been involved with putting Fboats in the water, sailing them, and putting them back on a trailer. This experience convinced me that it was a task I could easily do single handed.

I have no personal experience with a Dragonfly in this area and it is unlikely I would get this type of experience anytime soon; simply because they are so hard to find.

Please don't take this as a knock on Dragonflys, just that realistically there is not much chance I will be able to buy one.

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

snip
Mine's not trailerable, but the 920 and smaller ones are.

For clarification, the 920 is not easily trailered like the Farrier designs are. You would need about three or four hours to set up or take down, and it would require at least two people and a fork lift, or three people without one.
Photos, Dragonfly 920 Trimarans - User Forum

The Dragonfly 28 is trailerable, but considering it is a new model there are probably very few (if any) on the used market.

All that said, my first trailerable sailboat when I was in my 20's was a West Wight Potter 15 (mast that could be held by hand and fixed with simple tripod standing rig) and even that was too much work to trailer every time I used it. I'd even go so far as to say "intolerable" when the weather is hot, humid and sunny. Yes there are people who trailer F-boats regularly and swear it's easy, but most of those people sell them for a living and you should consider the source when listening to what they say.

If you're thinking you'll trailer it and launch every time you sail, that's not a good plan. If you're thinking you'll trailer it to vacation spots once or twice a year or home for winter storage, that's more realistic. Probably best to restrict your search to Farrier/Corsair boats or ask Dragonfly USA if there will be any Dragonfly 28's coming on the market.

Also, the OP talked about "cruising". To be clear, trailerable tris are OK a few weeks at a time, but they are "boat camping" and those boats don't make comfortable or roomy long-term cruisers.

[tomfl]

Finding a tri you can trailer and cruise on is a tall order. One reason I like the Fboats in general and the C31CC in particular is it comes closest to those features.

I have extensive kayaking experience and have camped for three weeks once while kayaking in the Ten Thousand Islands. Compared to a kayak the C31 is more than comfortable.

Another consideration is a C31 and trailer comes in at under 5,000 pounds which makes towing a lot easier and allows many other vehicles to tow it. I looked at some C36/C37 tris and while they have much more room than the C31 they do require much more effort to put on or take off a trailer, not to mention a more skilled driver and larger tow vehicle.

A lot of how easy or hard some of these things are depend on the person. To a backpacker who is use to camping a C31 offers a lot. To someone use to a condomaran it is really bare bones, and I expect the same would be true of a Dragonfly. No tri can come close to matching the comfort of a cruising cat till you get over 40 feet or so.

The real question I have to answer is how I will use a boat.

I am not the kinda guy who likes to go out for a couple of hours afternoon sail, or even all day. I also dislike weekend sails because the weekend seems to bring out the drunk stink pot guys and the hot rod guys on jet skis.

A C31 (or maybe a Dragonfly) can be put on a trailer for storage or moving to a cruising area. Even if it takes me a couple of hours (realistically I am including moving food, water, clothes, dive gear, and my other toys from the van to the boat) this is reasonable if I am cruising for more than a week. If the cruise lasts longer than a month it makes even more sense.

But once the cruise is a month or longer a condocat (Seawind, PDQ, 105 or similar) would be much more comfortable than the C31 or Dragonfly. Problem is you have to keep the condocat and most like the Dragonfly in the water most of the time.

Everyone seems to agree all boats are a compromise, you just have to figure out how you are going to compromise.