Does stretching of a Trimaran makes sense ? When and How ?

[Skip JayR]

Just with curiousity it comes into my mind as seen this "stretched ORMA 60" which was pro-longed to 73 foot (with outriggers of 72 foot) and 60 foot beam... beautiful boat !

More details about this uniquely Trimaran with AC flair here.


Most interesting for me is the question for stretching looking at older Trimarans... with traditional bows, like this Cross 18


Actually we have modern Trimarans with Wave piercing bows, e.g. the Raw30... a Tony Grainger design built in Asia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIERJU0qBm4

Not really new... as seen during the America's Cup campaign by Swiss Alinghi team... such "reverse bows" already existed many decades (more than 80 years) ago on war ships.



When does it make sense to stretch an "old Trimaran" ? - And how ?

[Skip JayR]

This thematic came up for me not when seeing the stretched ORMA 73... it came up when I fell over the Trimaran Pipeline3 ... slipped back into the water after a refit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1-8jeN1ExU

Originally its a 46 footer (LOI: 54 ft.) and a Kurt Hughes Design...


I love Kurt's beautiful designs. Especially looking from front the main hull of this boat has wonderful curves flowing into the beams...



So I got interested in this boat which is heavily overpowered by a 72 Foot carbon mast with 44 foot beams, 6 berth and a total displacement of 11 tons. Length over all is 54 Foot inclusive bow sprit.


Pipeline3 was stretched... better known and sailed before it's refit in 2014 as Trimaran "Faamu Sami"


... as you can see between following both pictures the relevant difference: The bow of the ama has been changed from a traditional profile into a "reverse bow" for better 'wave piercing'.

Old...


New...



The boat bilder company Lyman-Morse (LM) in Maine (USA) did this great job to give Pipeline3 in 2014 the wave piercing bows. Originally the boat was built in 2001 by Dick Vermeulen of Maine Cat in Bremen, ME.

Here the way how this job was done by LM...












Back to the water with new wave piercing bows...