I would like to thank you for your time and effort to provide us with all this useful information.

Inspired by your website I decided to “built” a small trimaran to spent sailing time with my son.

In the following pictures you can see the result of a “unique” compilation .

Kayak: Wilderness systems Polaris 180 (very seaworthy boat)

Sails: Falcon sails (in my opinion the best in the market)

Inflatable Amas: custom made (length 3.65)

Crew: A tall guy (1.95) and his 10 years old son.

I can’t thank enough Vasilis http://www.funocean-kayak.gr the dealer for Wilderness kayaks and Falcon sails in Greece, for spending many – many hours in the process of making this “crazy” idea become true. Many thanks also to Patrick https://www.falconsails.com/ for the knowledge and support provided long with these great sails, and of course, a Big Thank to you for all this useful information in this incredible small trimarans site!

Building a sailing trimaran was a dream that came true.

Additional details for someone who would like to give it a try:

The 2 (red) amas total cost was 850 euro.

For the akas the easy but expensive way is to buy two sets Hobbie stabilizers in order to have akas ready made that allow amas to have three different height positions.

The amas don’t touch water, so no drag, but if leaning your body against the wind is not enough then comes the help.

The “captain” can paddle like in any other tandem kayak, nothing changes, the one in front, my son, 10 years old uses, paddle for canoe. If no wind (and no waves) we can cover max 20 nm during a full day.

With the 2 small (Falcon) sails (2 x 1.4 m2) you have to paddle in 1 – 2 bft, in order to achieve a cruising speed of 3 knots.

In 3 bft (approximately of course) you sail in a relaxing mood looking for radio stations, drinking coffee, dreaming what would you do one day… Very dry for the captain, a little wet for the one in the bow.

4 to 5 bft, no need to reduce sail, full speed (as a “dispacement” hull less than 7 knots) captain little wet, boy in the front more “swimming” than paddling Great stability and feeling of safety as small sails and carbon rigs allow for fearless steering – control of the boat.

My weight is 100 kg and my son 45 kg and sometimes I sail solo, so problem with weight distribution.

One solution I am comfortable with is to put sandbags for gym, 2 x 4 kg (Amila) in the bow and 2 ? 10 kg boulgarian bags (very steady inside the cockpit) in the front seat when solo sailing (low center of gravity, very good with “big” waves).

For daggerboards and for rudder I used plastic oars. More drag than other solutions for sure but easy conversion and cheap. After all it is closer to a motorsailer than a low flying sailing boat)

The crew:
Panagiotis from 10 months old (2012)

3 years old – after a big day (Tarpon 160 – trimaran )

Cave in Paxoi island 2018

Relaxing – eating it’s safe, it’s a trimaran

Night sailing at Poros island after Christmas 2020

9 years – 230 full days paddling and sailing.