Farrier and Dragonfly TrimaransF

[castaway]

Been giving some thought to these fast Tris lately as an alternative to my present boat.

Ive looked at there web sites etc., but is there anyone out there who could give me a more subjective view?

Performance looks fantastic (as is the price), Are they worth it? I would be looking at the 27-28ft which are asking around 35k.

Alternatively what other multies are there that would give a really stimulating ride and some sort of accomodation.

Thanks Nick

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.yachtsite.co.uk/fairweather>http://www.yachtsite.co.uk/fairweather</A>

 

[daveking]

I'd be interested in any feed-back as to how these tri's sail as my other half hates having to walk on the cupboard fronts when I'm out having fun.
regards David

 

[extravert]

I don't know if you know the situation with Farrier and Corsair. Farrier is the designer of the F range of trimarans, from F24 upto the F39. here. Here's a picture of one of Farrier's designs never made by Corsair, the F36...

I don't know of any new major manufacturer though. Corsair are popular in the US, less so here. There is no UK importer at the moment, the nearest is in Holland, contact here...

jandeboer.catamarans@worldmail.nl

Another mainstream tri manufacturers are Contour of Canada, but there is little European activity. I have never seen one. There is a good website though This is the manufacturer's website and Teddy Bear Boat

 

[castaway]

Thanks for all that John.

Lots of interesting stuff. I can see that there is clearly a big price to pay for all that performance and would require a bit of a rearrangement of my thought processes

Oddly enough I nearly bought an X99 "Lynx", just before found "Fairweather". 10yr old but dry sailed and as new. Lovelly boat. Someone got a bargain at I think 22.5k.

Id love to hear more about yr Dragonfly, are you planning to sail her back?

Regds Nick

 

[snowleopard]

tri sailing

first rule of fast tri sailing is keep the weight down, so is the second, and third.

this means that loading up with stores is a nono. if you can keep weight down the performance is fantastic.

yes, they sail upright but they follow the surface of the sea unlike a mono so they sway and bounce a lot. if you're considering the comfort of the crew, don't get out your wallet until you've had a trial in open water.

small fast tris have very limited space below, anything less than 30ft and you're camping not cruising.

before going for a tri, consider the option of a lightweight cat. for new, try dazcats at plymouth. for used, multihull world, thorney island or multicull centre (next door to dazcats)

 

[Jacket]

>I've just bought it, and got to figure out how to get it back from Sweden.

If you can afford the time, sail it back. It's a wonderful trip, and with such shallow draft you'll be able to go inside along the Dutch coast, so you'll have a much nicer time than those of us stuck with lead mines.

 

[extravert]

Sailing back sounds great, and I have thought about it, but the boat comes with a trailer, and as this has to come back by road anyway, I might as well have the boat on it when the trailer comes. Best quote I have had by road is £2.5k. Ouch!

Adventures of the <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.xrayted.fsnet.co.uk>Teddy Bear Boat</A>

 

[chippie]

Thanks for an informative post. I have thought of the Farriers when (someday) I upgrade from my old Piver stiletto. There seems to be quite a following of Farriers in Australia , but here in NZ they seem quite pricey for what you get.(probably just the difference between old and newish boat prices.)
What engine arrangement does the F31 have? The F36 looks really nice but probably out of my league price wise.
They all seem quite fast for tris that arent dedicated racers and have had quite a few racing successes in Australia.

Cheers

 

[extravert]

The F31 has a 10hp outboard. All the small tris seem to use outboards, to keep the weight down. The Dragonfly 10m and 12m versions have inboard diesels.

Adventures of the <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.xrayted.fsnet.co.uk>Teddy Bear Boat</A>

 

[snowleopard]

outboard power on multis

an invention of the devil! derek kelsall is very keen on it as it keeps the weight and cost down but it must be regarded as an aid to manoevering in harbour only. my first tri had an outboard and it wouldn't power the boat in more than f3 as it kept cavitating. recently watched a walker wingsail tri with twin outboards failing to get alongside a windward berth. i also met a wharram owner who had crossed biscay in a calm and spent over £500 on petrol!

outboards are ok for whizzabouts but for cruising it's a diesel every time.

 

[extravert]

Re: outboard power on multis

It's horses for courses. A small tri is for zipping around at the weekend, not long distance cruising. Thus the smaller Dragonflies and Corsairs that fall into this category have outboards, the bigger Dragonflies and Contours suitable for Biscay crossings have diesels.

Fuel costs, even of Biscay crossing proportions, are small beer compared to the cost of engines on sailing boats. I am seriously disaffected by marine diesels after my experience last year. My 10hp Bukh died in January and the replacement took 6 months to arrive, and cost £5k. Consequently it cost a lot, and to add insult to financial injury I lost a large part of the sailing season as well. If it had been an outboard, a replacment would have cost £1.8k and I could have popped down Dickies' showroom, bought one ex stock, and been going again by the end of the day. You get a large amount of miles in a sailing boat even buying expensive petrol for a £3.2k difference in price like that. My first 7.5hp outboard boat would do 20mpg. For the £3200 price difference I would get nearly 1000 gallons of petrol, which equals 20,000 miles. Could nearly motor round the world for that! I doubt whether any leisure sailing boat motors that distance in its whole life.

For me the reason for having a sailing boat is the sailing aspect. Motoring is simply an unavoidable convenience when sailing is not possible, ie harbour manoeuvres and windless days. For this an outboard is suitable for the sailing I do. I've had both, and I'm not sorry to see the back of the diesel with the newly arriving Dragonfly.

Adventures of the <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.xrayted.fsnet.co.uk>Teddy Bear Boat</A>

 

[snowleopard]

what did it for me..

was trying to get up the medina against a southerly f6, 39ft tri. 2 on board. prop kept popping out so we had to short tack through moorings and weekend traffic. not even time to change into brown trousers!

 

[Guest]

a friend has a 10m farrier tri which i sailed last year in the bristol channel. it was a gusty day (up to 25 knots and down to 5) but the performance of the boat was very very impressive. we reached 16 knots quite easily, under full sail and more importantly under full control. that was the most interesting part of the day - the boat handled under sail without vice, but at twice the spead of an equivalent mono.

the ride was dry and not at all bumpy - the boat sliced through the wind over tide chop we get down here.

motoring wasnt bad - this particular example had a small diesel since it was a home built epoxy boat. the difficulty if any was that it was so easily driven that it did 3 knots at idle.

the folding arrangement worked ok but it was a 2 person job, and when folded the amas rolled over though 45 degrees meaning fouling on a mooring above the normal water line. the dragonfly system is better here

accomodation is much more limited than a cat of the same length or even a mono. but even a lightweight cat like a dazcat is unlikely to sail as well because of the much larger wetted area.

very weight sensitive - not suitable for cruising with wife and all her luggage.

pm me if you want to talk to an owner

 

[TonyMS]

Have had several informal races between my Dazcat 9.2 and a Dragonfly 920 in the club. Honours are about even so far.

But the Dazcat has much more commodious accomodation.

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