24-foot Sailing Fishing Trimarans

Tim’s boatshop in the Marshall Islands built three of these in 1986-87 for customers wishing to do small-scale commercial fishing but not have to pay for gas. They were 24 feet long, of simple marine plywood construction with a thin skin of fiberglass and epoxy resin on the outside to waterproof them, a 400-pound capacity insulated fish box in the center of the main hull, and two fishing cockpits, one in front, and one in back of the fish box.

The sailing photos of these boats we thought we had, have disappeared into the lagoon somewhere; but they had a 28-foot long stick with a 3/4 rig, one forestay and two aft shrouds/backstays that went to the outer end of the aft crossarm. They had a battenless dacron main and a roller-furling jib about half the size of the mainsail. They tacked easily, and made about 95 degrees good between tacks because of the leeward resistance created by the long skeg on the main hull.

(Below) The main hull for one of the 24-footers under construction.

(Below) The same main hull outside the shop; now waterproof and ready for the elements.

(Below) You can see the simple design and construction of this fishing trimaran; it was lashed together the way all Oceanic canoes are. The boats had kick-up rudders, a long skeg on the bottom of the main hull for windward ability and keeping the boat from damage if put on the reef (which there was a lot of out there), and for beaching the boat without sustaining damage. She was light enough that six husky guys could easily pick the finished boat up and carry her above the high tide line on the beach.

(Below) With slender hulls, lightweight and streamlined, she was a little pocket rocket, and would sail 4 to 5 knots in 5 to 6 knots of wind.