If I were to buy a multihull ....

[Tomahawk]

Saw the dragonfly 32 at sibs I knew I had to be prepared for a small interior but I couldn't live with it ..... perhaps as boat number 2

We did the same..

Which is why we are very happy with our choice... We have prety good performance, and enough room for two... on a 40 foot cat

 

[AngusMcDoon]

...the boat still heels, safety is not as good as either cat or mono and the boat is only faster, comparing like with like, if you are into flying two hulls.

I've never flown my main hull, nor heeled by more than 8 degrees, yet can reach speed through the water of >20 knots.

If you don't want one or even want to sail on one, that's fine. I can understand and accept that. But why post misinformation that is blatantly untrue?

 

[AngusMcDoon]

Dragonflys don't fly the main hull when they whip past everyone at 15 knots.

Takes a F4 to get even the windward hull fully flying.

 

[lw395]

Saw the dragonfly 32 at sibs I knew I had to be prepared for a small interior but I couldn't live with it ..... perhaps as boat number 2

That's also true of a 'performance' monohull.
An open 60 has about as much living space inside as a Hunter Medina.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

That's also true of a 'performance' monohull.
An open 60 has about as much living space inside as a Hunter Medina.

All boats are a compromise of comfort-performance-price (apart from A22's of course ). Trimarans take one of those criteria to an extreme and say s0d-it to the other two. That should be obvious to everyone. Quite why so much negativity and misinformation follows baffles me. Nobody is forced to have one, or even step on one. I suspect that quite a lot of people here have never sailed one.

 

[snowleopard]

Takes a F4 to get even the windward hull fully flying.

My tri was configured so that in theory both floats just kissed the water at rest. In practice that meant that it flopped onto one side or the other and when someone walked across the deck it would flop from one side to the other which was a pain if you were down below. As a result, the windward hull was always out of the water at sea. If I built another I would make sure it sat level on 3 hulls at rest but lifted the weather hull once under way.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

My tri was configured so that in theory both floats just kissed the water at rest. In practice that meant that it flopped onto one side or the other and when someone walked across the deck it would flop from one side to the other which was a pain if you were down below. As a result, the windward hull was always out of the water at sea. If I built another I would make sure it sat level on 3 hulls at rest but lifted the weather hull once under way.

Dragonflies at rest have all hulls in the water and don't flop.

 

[snowleopard]

Dragonflies at rest have all hulls in the water and don't flop.

Seems like the best way of doing things so long as the weather hull lifts pretty soon as you don't want to be dragging an extra hull through the water in light winds.

 

[BruceDanforth]

Wrong. The tri has all the disadvantages of both multi and mono. Accommodation is pokey , the boat still heels, safety is not as good as either cat or mono and the boat is only faster, comparing like with like, if you are into flying two hulls.

So that cat of yours would be a better sail then?

 

[lw395]

My tri was configured so that in theory both floats just kissed the water at rest. In practice that meant that it flopped onto one side or the other and when someone walked across the deck it would flop from one side to the other which was a pain if you were down below. As a result, the windward hull was always out of the water at sea. If I built another I would make sure it sat level on 3 hulls at rest but lifted the weather hull once under way.

I think that would be a compromise between practicality on the mooring and wetted area drag in light airs.