Living aboard a Farrier 31foot trimaran

[CruiserPete]

Hi all,

I'm underway with my plans to live aboard a Farrier (or similar ) 31/32 foot trimaran.
I've been a monohull sailor for many years but these last 20 years I've not sailed, thus I bought an Investigator 563 trailer sailer to get back into sailing as my goal has always been to progress (financially and knowledgeably ) towards living aboard.
However, my focus of vessel changed from Monohull to Multihull, more specifically trimaran.

Hence, I promptly sold the Investigator and got a Farrier TT680 trimaran. I felt I needed tp 'learn' the ropes on a trimaran because of the different dynamics presented in sailing a tri. The Farrier TT680 is my stepping stone to learning how to sail a trimaran whilst I save funds for a larger trimaran, a Farrier or similar 31/32 footer.

There is only me, so it will be solo sailing so....
I can make faster passages in a Tri as a solo sailor
I don't need huge amounts of living space as a solo sailor
I like the flat sailing of a tri
I like the speed of a tri
I feel confident on a tri because I'm learning the ropes on a smaller tri

my question is:
Can a Farrier F31 or similar be regarded as a safe ocean going tri ?
I simply cannot afford a 36 Foot Farrier.... Oh, why also a reference to Farrier, as i do not need a folding / trailerable tri, I just need a liveaboard one. The Farrier tri's are a proven design and a proven boat. Ian Farrier recommends his 36 Footer as being appropriate for water sailing">blue water sailing but I'm thinking his 31 footer will also be ok. Maybe I'll email him lol

Cheers, Pete

[s/v Moondancer]

I sailed my F31 UC over 5,000 miles and crossed the Gulf Stream several times. I could have easily lived on her but my wife could not.

As for 'Blue Water' it depends on your plans. I have sailed my 55 ft keel boat over 25,000 nm throughout the Caribbean and the US East Coast and on only one night would the F31 have been unable to survive. However, I push the keel boat through wind, weather and current that I would never have subjected the tri. That single bolt per ama would make me very nervous.

I would not cross the Atlantic or Pacific in an F31 but I would have happily taken her down Island from the US to the Caribbean I would be conservative, pick weather windows and not do long legs off-shore like I do in the keel boat.

While the speed is great when you 'over cook' Corsairs they are very easy to flip. I never let her get faster than 10-12 knots off-shore. I frightened the hell out of myself several times and had her within inches of flipping at least twice. However, that was in Biscayne Bay flying the chute not off-shore.

At night, off-shore and single handed you would have to be very brave or foolhardy to run her fast...A sudden squall would have you upsidedown before you could react!

I also had her rigged for bad weather. I raised the boom 22 inches so I had a full bimini and I had a smaller 3 reef mainsail rigged so that I could reef quickly from the cockpit. The standard rolling up the boom method is just too slow for off-shore work in bad weather.

Good luck.

[CruiserPete]

Hi Phil and thanks for the reply.

I've emailed Farrier Marine and will see what comes of that.

Thanks for the great information and advice, so I'll certainly take that on board.

I doubt I'll want to take on long passages, however I'll need to make some reasonable passages but as you mention I will need to plan my hops between islands big and small. I would imagine my passage planning for a smaller trimaran will be a lot more conservative and more considered towards island hoping than outright longer passages.

Farrier Marine offer an "Ask the designer' consultation for a small fee so once I'm clearer on my direction I'll certainly seek their expert advice. Farrier Marine may well indeed have a solution or be better placed to offer a solution towards making a F32 more seaworthy, e'g. strengthening the Float beam connectors and the like. The folding system may allow strengthening whilst still retaining it's folding capabilities.

Cheers for the advice, Pete