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• Sailboat Guide

Arthur Piver

Arthur Piver played a large role in the growth in popularity of the cruising trimaran through his various marine plywood designs aimed at the amateur builder using lumberyard and hardware store materials. He launched his first trimaran, the 16 ft (4.9 m) FROLIC, in 1958. His best known designs include the NUGGET 25, NIMBLE 30, LODESTAR 35 and VICTRESS 40. Piver created an entire industry of the amateur built trimaran during the 1960’s with ads that appeared in ‘Popular Mechanics’ and other publications. Thousands of Piver designed trimarans have been built around the world by amateurs and professionals alike. Additionally, Piver conducted extensive research in this field and published four books: ‘Trans-Atlantic Trimaran’, ‘Trans-Pacific Trimaran’, ‘Trimaran Third Book’, and ‘Navigation by Simulous’. Adding validity to his yacht designs, Piver crossed the Atlantic twice and the Pacific once in boats of his design. In 1968, Piver disappeared off the California coast while testing a new trimaran. A collection of his drawings is available at the Mariner’s Museum, Newport News, VA, USA.

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Jim Brown on Arthur Piver’s Frolic & Nugget Trimarans – Part 1

by Small Tri Guy | Mar 17, 2016 | Self-built Small Trimarans , Small Tri Info - All , Small Trimaran Audios , Trimaran Design, Rigging, Construction Info/Links | 0 comments

I interviewed Jim a couple weeks ago about these 2 small trimarans, which were really among the first ones offered via plans for self-builders. Both were successful designs in that they really sailed well.

Speaking as a multihull historian, Jim offers a unique perspective that can only come from one who was “there” during the development of these classic boat designs. (By the way, you can go here to find out more about Jim’s collection of multihull audios) .

Also here also are a couple links to multihull sailor / boatbuilder Richard Fraser’s website, where he has a couple pages dedicated to Arthur Piver’s multihulls. The illustration of the “Frolic” is linked to from this larger image on his site . The first webpage is here … and the 2nd webpage is here .

Depending upon the PC or mobile device you’re using to view this page, you can listen to part one of my interview with Jim (mp3) either on the audio bar (if you can see it)…

… or by clicking directly on the following download link address: Click here to download the audio to your PC or mobile device (Right click and choose “Save As” to your device.

Below is volume one of Jim’s memoir “Among the Multihulls” on Amazon…

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4,000 years in the making

Unforgettable sea stories, the sights and sounds of history, welcome to beyond mainstream, take 4,000-year-old technology, add a group of 1950s radical sailors and genius engineers and you get a movement that defied sailing convention and redefined freedom. sailor, marine designer, adventurer and author jim brown has been on a 70-year high seas odyssey capturing the characters and culture of the modern multihull movement. the beyond mainstream project is cataloging and gathering jim’s vast library of photos, videos, articles and podcasts into an accessible form to share with all. and, coming soon, a documentary dedicated to this movement and the amazing cast of characters behind it..

Join Jim’s Friends And Help Share The Stories

This website will continue to catalog and organize Jim Brown’s and Scott Brown’s vast library of photos, videos, articles and podcasts, and also add new material as Jim remains a prolific storyteller! Additionally, work has begun on a documentary with a release date planned for late-2024. Experienced filmmakers Michael Frierson and Kevin Wells are turning hundreds of hours of interviews and archival footage into a 90-minute feature film documenting the development of multihulls and the amazing cast of characters behind the revolution!

You’re signed up!

Thank you for joining Friends of Jim Brown in our mission to organize, catalog, and share the amazing story of multihulls and one of the movement’s renowned pioneers.

I’ve known and admired Jim for a long time. This is why I and a couple of others in his circle have come together to pursue this project. If you are interested in supporting Beyond Mainstream or have questions, I’d be happy to talk. Send me an email and I’ll get right back to you.

And thanks again,

Andy Zimmerman

Email Andy at [email protected]

Get Jim's Books

"During a particular period in the 20th century a bunch of non-traditional engineers and tinkerers started thinking quite differently about the traditional craft of boatbuilding, and about the conventions of society. These guys jumped right out of the western tradition, grabbed some principles from a totally different genus (aircraft) and invented a hybrid vessel with hybrid vigor. I’ll never have the wherewithal to own a J-boat, a downeaster, or a Gloucester fishing schooner, but I can own a trimaran, because it was designed for people like me to build, own and sail. That’s a pretty amazing concept in this world of specialized manufacturing, oven-baked carbon fiber race boats and the growth of the indentured class."

"Part memoir, part adventure story, part travelogue, totally compelling.”

— From reviews of Jim’s memoir, Among the Multihulls

Friends of Jim would like to give special thanks to Scott Brown. Without his help and support, none of this would be possible.

© 2024 Friends of Jim Brown

October 26, 2020

An Interview With Multihull Pioneer - Jim Brown

Jim Brown got his start designing and building sailing trimarans from friend and mentor, Arthur Piver, near Sausilito, CA in the late 1950's. Jim's foray into his career as 'trimaran test pilot' is well documented in his entertaining book, 'Among The Multihulls: Volume I'. In this Dream 10X podcast episode, however, we learn more about the story of Jim's early childhood leading up to the story in this book. I think this as-of-yet untold story of his early youth is just as fantastic and entertaining as his book!

The real skill in pioneering, as in business and life, is survival. Jim Brown, Among The Multihulls: Volume I, Pg 46

Finding Your Passion

One thing I wish I could ‘teach’ my own kids is how to find your passion in life and how to follow it. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that is something that can be taught, but it can certainly be felt and even witnessed in other people’s lives. One case in point is the life of Jim Brown. It’s not hard to look back over Jim’s life to see how his simple pursuit of his singular passion for boats and the ocean took him on extraordinary life adventures. When he essentially flunked-out of college mostly due to his poor eyesight, he decided to continue pursuing his passion for boats by heading off to Miami to jump on the schooner Janeen, which in turn led to events that positively impacted the arc of his professional and personal life.

In other words, he didn’t know what his life held for him when he dropped out of college, but he knew he had an interest in boats and the ocean so he jumped in (or on a schooner) with ‘boat’ feet not knowing where things would lead him.

One of my favorite movie quotes is from the movie ‘Cast Away:’

And I know what I have to do now. I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring? Chuck Noland, Cast Away

It would seem that finding your life’s passion can be rather simple. Take action and keep moving in some direction - any direction. You never know what the tide will bring!

Continuous Learning

Jim exemplifies the idea of continuous learning throughout life. Since he was a college drop-out, it is evident to see that his genius and knowledge is not a product of an institution of ‘higher’ education. In fact, it would seem to me that Jim had an adequate knowledge toolkit available to him since childhood: a burning curiosity about things, an ability to teach himself answers to his own curiosities, and simple naivety in not knowing that he could not do things others might have said were impossible. Jim’s child-like curiosity and naivety in all things nautical have allowed him to constantly innovate in his profession throughout his fascinating career, and have afforded him the relative luxury of hanging-out in metaphorical littoral zones between modern western ‘civilization’ and the ‘wilder,’ less civilized, parts of the world.

A Closer Look Into Jim’s Life Adventures

The following video contains a slide-show narrated by Jim Brown himself, which he did just for us at Dream 10X!

Relevant Links

• Jim’s G-Man Father, Ralph
• Curtis JN-4 Jenny Biplane
• Jim’s Outrig Media Project
• Jim Brown and John Marples Trimaran Plans
• Jim’s Son Russell Brown’s Website
• My Favorite Video Of A Seaclipper 20
• WindRider Trimarans
• Chesapeake Light Craft
• Race To Alaska (R2AK)
• The WoodenBoat School

James Caple 2020-10-12 BLOG podcast sailing trimaran multihull catamaran arthur piver jim brown walt glaser woody brown dick newick Chesapeake Bay Virginia environment ecology marine architecture innovation design adventure microadventure

Dialogue & Discussion

Professional BoatBuilder Magazine

The voice of multihull pioneer jim brown.

By Dan Spurr , Jul 10, 2017

No, the famed multihull designer and builder won’t be appearing on the popular television show anytime soon, but you can hear him tell seafaring tales on a growing series of recorded podcasts and videos.

By way of background on Jim Brown, he gained attention in the 1950s by building an Arthur Piver–designed trimaran and cruising it extensively. This formed the basis of his series of Searunner trimaran designs, which were intended for home construction in plywood. To advance his affection for multihulls he wrote several books, including The Case for the Cruising Trimaran and Among the Multihulls . He also helped develop the Constant Camber method of hull construction, in which identical plywood panels are formed over a mold by gluing precut strips of wood veneer, similar to cold-molding. Brown exported his methods to developing countries to help fishermen build simple working watercraft. So you might say he’s seen a thing or two. Search the PBB online index for articles with his byline, the most recent of which was the Parting Shot “Foil Train Coming,” in PBB No. 156, where he shares his enthusiasm for Peter Johnstone’s large foiling G4 catamaran.

Jim Brown aboard the  Scrimshaw . This screenshot was taken from a video he narrates about living aboard his famous Searunner trimaran.

The most recent of Brown’s 30 podcasts, posted on outrigmedia.com is titled “Stranded on a What?!” The 28-minute yarn recounts a 1981 cruise aboard his and his wife Jo Anna’s trimaran Scrimshaw , in which they decide to cruise from their Virginia home to Nova Scotia. The guitar prelude and Brown’s folkie talking style reminds one of preambles by folksinger Pete Seeger. Serious fog is encountered off the coast. Wouldn’t you know, there’s a large commercial fishing fleet working the banks. And the crashing waves are indistinguishable from the sound of breakers on the treacherous rock ledges. After three days of playing cat and mouse with steel hulls, they decide to head offshore rather than make landfall. If you’ve ever been off the New England coast in fog and attempted to ascertain your position with a radio direction finder (RDF), you’ll appreciate his account of fumbling with that thankfully now-obsolete device. Before GPS, that’s all we had. Eventually Jim and Jo Anna make an anchorage in St. Margarets Bay, whereupon they meet an unusual cast of characters living in a shanty while building what’s described as a castle for the owner. As they get to know one another, of course they tell sea stories, one of which is about a man stranded on a dead whale, his boots sinking into “stinking, decomposing blubber.” Yes, you read that right.

Besides outrigmedia.com , the source of these podcasts and a place to buy books and CDs about Jim Brown and other multihullers, check out Brown’s own website at www.outrig.org , dedicated to preserving the history of mul tihulls.

Brown’s growing multimedia output also includes videos that he narrates on multihull pioneers, and a series about sailing and living aboard his famous Searunner trimaran Scrimshaw, such as the one posted above. To see a list of more videos, visit http://www.outrig.org/outrig.org/Videos.html .

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How It All Began - Part 2

CHOOSING A FAMILY CRUISER

My first thoughts were for a safe cruising monohull. Multihulls prompted thoughts of my first Hobie regatta. Being oblivious of sailing rules, on my very first race I fouled a Flying Dutchman on some port/starboard rule only to be met by a loud bellow: "RETIRE – RETIRE IMMEDIATELY". Having just driven 450km to attend this regatta I just steered well away and continued sailing, obviously I was very good at surfing, but bad at racing

Surfing the surfers_0001

DUNCAN JNR & DAD SURFING BRUCE'S BEAUTIES

At the yacht club that night, I could clearly hear a group of flying Dutchman competitors describing Hobie Cats as the "new fangled sailing contraption" that should be banned from serious races. This did happen shortly thereafter, wherein the racing of catamarans and monohulls had separate starts, first by hours and later by weeks.

Years before marriage I had put my name down for an Arthur Piver Diadem Trimaran. On paper it looked ideal with lots of space and fast. In those days multihulls developed a bad name, as the materials used to keep the boats light did not have the strength and endurance to hold the separate hulls together.

Arthur Piver himself went missing on one of his trimarans and my dream boat forgotten.

In my quest to find a safe cruising boat, I spent many hours looking and sailing monohulls. Using my Hobie I often visited any yacht that anchored or sheltered in St Francis Bay. Giving them a plastic bag holding today's paper, a loaf of bread and a pint of milk. There I would generally hang around until invited onboard. Looking for good points that I may use.

photo20_0001

MONOHULL TESTING

photo22_0001

My final choice was narrowed down to a Compass 47, designed by Angelo Lavranos who has an excellent reputation and it was built in South Africa. This was ideal, having a building company all I needed was the hull, deck & bulkheads and a couple of good carpenters from my building sites.

I would have my ideal boat.

We quickly built a 15 x 25m brick barn, started negotiations for a Compass hull, deck & bulkheads, made an appointment with management to see their factory, gave the date & time my flight would arrive in Cape Town expecting to be met by the factory owner. Having waited a reasonable time, I phoned the factory, the owner was out, so I hired a car, found the factory (very basic, but quality looked good).

START OF ST FRANCIS MARINE, LATER DOORS HAD TO BE WIDENED TO ACCOMMODATE CATAMARANS

Finally tacking the owner down at home we started negotiating. The price was now different, certain extras were now not included and delivery date had changed.

Checking in at a hotel I pondered my next move. Angelo Lavranos, the Compass 47 designer whom I had never met was living in Cape Town. A phone call secured an appointment for the next morning. That night I wrote down all the features wanted to take the family cruising and importantly a redesigned modern Compass 47.

Angelo's home incorporating his office is situated in the sought after area Oranjezight at the foot of Table Mountain, overlooks the city of Cape Town and all of Table Bay. You would have to climb Table Mountain for a better view.

He was very patient, listened to my requests. Asked what I do and sail. When I mentioned Hobie Cats he said: "Have you ever considered a catamaran?" My answer was: "Aren't they dangerous? I want to take the family cruising." "No", he answered. "Not if they are designed correctly." Thus started a couple of months discussing & reviewing plans.

Angelo Designing

DISCUSSING PLANS WITH ANGELO LAVRANOS

At first my idea was more for speed, rotating mast, centre boards, single engine. Then as the plans progressed reality set in. The rotating wing mast fine for powerful sailing, but overkill on a cruising boat with a young family onboard. Centre boards/dagger boards a good idea in going to weather, but very difficult to raise under pressure, you virtually have to stop the boat first. Gunk holing around strange islands not ideal, as when retracted the deepest parts of your boat are the engine props and rudders.

Single engine saves weight & increased sailing speed, but reduces redundancy.

The final configuration was to go for fixed keels ± 360cm deep. These reinforced keels are designed to take drying out, wherein the yacht would comfortably sit on these while supported aft by reinforced balanced spade rudders. This proved very useful, as in the early days I would sail up the Kromme River on a high spring tide.

Let the boat dry out on top of a couple of scaffold planks. Then redo the anti-fouling & replace engine sail drive, anodes, etc.

photo21_0002

KROM RIVER AT LOW TIDE

We kept our heavy equipment amidships. Engines, batteries, water in the keels, fuel tanks level with the mast. This meant that the engines had a gravity feed. A good safety feature, as any leak in the feed pipe is soon discovered and the fuel pumps never suck in air.

Keeping the weight out of the ends makes for better sea keeping by reducing the pitching movement. Weight in the extremities builds up an inertia, which increases pitching.

Another feature that I discussed extensively with Angelo was that catamarans and especially Hobie cats pitch poled (dig their bows in, while the stern continuous over the top) far more than them turning over sideways.

This was overcome by adding additional buoyancy forward in the hull and adding the traditional aesthetic raked bow, thus moving the lifting moment forward, as the bows are depressed.

The design completed, Charles Ellis, a very talented artist and my building foreman was shown the plans. All carefully drawn to 1:25 scale, which required lofting all the bulkheads etc. to full scale before we could even start. Later our 50' plans were all computer drawn to full size, saving a tremendous amount of time.

Charles Lofting

CHARLES ELLIS LOFTING

• Breaking Tradition
• Restoring a Classic

Piver Mariner Hull Number One

Arthur Piver's 25 Cruizer Racer restored and resting comfortably on it's custom trailer. One of Arthur's most successful and famous designs. Legendary as the largest trailer capable tri-vessel without special size restrictions or wide load requirements. It provides a balance of portablity and Ocean fairing capability.

Piver Mariner: Maritime History Museum

Considered the Fathers of the Modern Trimaran, Arthur Piver is a star attraction in the National Maritime History Museum. His designs and concepts changed the course of modern sailboats; multi-hulls sailed in the face of traditional ship building and battled against prejudice of yacht culture. The performance was undeniable and the achievements the stuff of legends.

  The fastest boats on the planet owe their heritage to these two pioneers of boat design.

History of the Modern Trimaran

The Modern Sea Fairing Trimaran is surpisingly recent addition to a very long history of human aquatic navigation. In less than 70 years (a blink of the eye in shipbuilding history) the Trimaran was born against overwhelming criticism to become the fastest sailing craft the world has ever seen. Under the power of water and wind the modern multihull acheive speeds that even the most powerful combustion engined vessels in the world stuggle to compare.

Dedicated to preserving the history and lore of the Multihull History. We will continue to preserve the past for future generations.

Thanks, Kent

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Interview with Kurt Hughes of Multihull Designs

• Post author By Diane Selkirk
• Post date April 5, 2023
• No Comments on Interview with Kurt Hughes of Multihull Designs

Diane interviews legendary multihull designer Kurt Hughes. It is a huge honor to talk to him. This discussion is quite technical, and everyone will enjoy and learn from Kurt’s knowledge. He gives an excellent history of his experiences in design and how Hughes designs are special.

Read more from Kurt and get in touch via www.multihulldesigns.com and www.multihullblog.com .

This is Diane we’re at CatamaranSite doing another interview. This time we have designer Kurt Hughes with us. Kurt can you give us a little bit of background about yourself?

I first found out about multihulls reading Arthur Piver’s books and I got my degree in architecture.

But when I started architecture school, I started building my first boat, and actually I sailed it the week I graduated. It turned out to be the fastest boat in Seattle, which blew everybody’s mind. It was a 31-foot trimaran. I was still working as an architect when I sold some plans and one thing led to another. Pretty soon, that’s all I was doing.

That’s very cool. Are you mostly doing custom design or stock plans?

Probably 50/50. There was an interesting thing that happened when I started out. If I would have gotten my naval architecture degree, it wouldn’t have helped because of the coming change. Only later did I figure out that Seattle had a unique convergence going on. Something called MaxSurf came out, which was a lines drawing program running on a Mac. It was about five thousand dollars a seat, and a friend of mine, Dave Vicante, wrote a Dos-based program and sold it for fifty dollars a seat. Those drawings would port into AutoCAD, or somebody started generic CAD in Seattle, and AutoCAD was three thousand dollars a seat, and generic AD was forty nine dollars. Aldis, which became Adobe, had the best EPS format and generic CAD wrote an EPS format to Aldis. We’re all using the local Microsoft DOS.

So I gave a lecture in Southampton, England. What I’d done is I’d set up my camera to take slides of the progress on the screen. From the lines drawing program, to the CAD drawing, to renderings, and I took pictures of all those. After that lecture, the self-declared leading computer wizard in boat design came up to me and he said, “We can’t do that! How do you do that?” I realized something unique had gone on in Seattle.

It sounds like you were really at the cutting edge when you first started coming out with the designs.

No naval architecture program did that back then.

Well that’s cool! So you kind of learned by doing. What’s happened with your plans since then? Where are they being built?

They’re being built all over the world. Some in India going on now, I had some in Tunisia, Japan, Brazil, every European country, and of course Australia and New Zealand have always been favorites.

They’re certainly “sailing” all over the world. You have some beautiful designs. What are some of your more popular designs for people who are specifically cruising them?

There’s a 42-foot catamaran that was one of my earlier designs. In fact, I had a thing when I started out. I did something called cylinder molding, which hadn’t been done before, using full sheets of plywood. I was able to develop hull shapes in just a couple of days using cylinder molding, but it was building from the outside in, rather than the inside out.

I figured everybody wouldn’t know how to do that, so I had something where I said, “If you pay for my airfare and my board, I’ll come build your hulls for you.” An Australian in Perth took me up on that, and [I] built his hulls. He later sailed it around the world. In fact, two of those have gone around the world. That’s one of the more popular ones. A 42-foot catamaran.

That’s really interesting. What are some of the elements of your design that make them stand out to people? What are some special things?

I like boats that sail well, so no fat hulls, no fat boats.

Yes, we had a low-volume catamaran too.

I like it set up for short-handing. For a while I had a Formula-40 trimaran, and it was set up for short-handing. The first time I reefed it, the wind was too strong. I reefed in about 20 seconds by myself, and that’s because everything was led to the helm. So I really think it’s important if you’re going to be short-handed, to have the deck hardware aimed at the helm.

Do you sail all of your designs yourself, and get out and test them that way?

The more work I’ve done, the less I can sail.

That’s fair enough.

I’ve sailed on a lot of them but, certainly not all of them.

I think about 20 years ago, my office manager said, “You know, you’ve got a thousand designs under construction.”

I said, “Really?”

But that was back when they had a database. Everything goes out to PDF now, so there’s no mailing, there’s no database.

I know you also designed trimarans as well as catamarans, is one more popular than the other?

It depends on what you’re going to do. If performance is what you’re interested in, then a trimaran is probably better. If you want a living room, a catamaran is better. Occasionally, I’ve had a design that was a big trimaran that had a cabin like a catamaran, but that was like a 79-footer.

That would be that would be tricky to get into a lot of marinas I guess.

You told me that one of your important considerations is speed, and performance. What are some of the other important considerations that you take into account when you’re designing a cruising boat?

Well certainly sea-kindliness. The fast hulls are more sea-kindly because they don’t get heaved as much in the waves. Of course good short-handings setup, and also having the designs reflect what the people want. If everything’s on CAD, it’s pretty easy to change a stock design to fit somebody’s individual needs, and I think that’s important.

That makes sense. How have you seen multihull design change through the years? I know the boats are quite a bit different than they did initially.

They started out being a lot fatter boats, with no emphasis on performance. Certainly, many of them have performed better than mine and performed better than most. Then also, carbon fiber has become popular and that has improved the breed even though it’s more expensive. Things like reverse bows give a better ride. That’s pretty much it.

What about the future? Where do you think it’ll go in the future?

Gold-plated naval architecture jobs, our offices will start doing catamarans. People wouldn’t let us tie up to their boats 10 years ago.

Well, okay.

Instead of being five or ten prominent designers, there’ll be hundreds of them. They’ll be designed during virtual reality, so that you can see what your boat is like in real life.

That’s kind of cool to think about. You could walk around inside the boat.

Designers can see things as they go. if somebody’s interested in chatting with you about a boat, how do they reach you what’s the best way to reach you.

www.multihulldesigns.com

Sounds good. Is there anything else you’d like to tell people about your designs, or about what you’re doing?

www.multihullblog.com

Sounds great! Thanks so much for your time, Kurt. It was fun talking to you.

Good talking to you!

• Tags Catamaran Designers , Catamaran Interviews

By Diane Selkirk

I love to travel and have spent the past seven years sailing with my family aboard our 40 Woods Meander catamaran - traveling from B.C.'s north coast, to the west coast of the US, Mexico, the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, across the Indian Ocean to South Africa and on to St Helena, South America, the Caribbean and Central America.

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Dock Find: 1992 Piver Trimaran Multihull Sailboat

The auction ends soon for this donated oddball of a boat, known as a Piver Trimaran, a multihull creation from the mind of entrepreneur Arthur Piver. The company pioneered this novel design, and demonstrated its ability to perform cross-continental journeys via high-visibility competitive events. The founder also encouraged DIYers to buy boat “kits” for final assembly in their own garages and backyards, like any other Kelmark GT. This example is a donated vessel offered here on eBay with no reserve and bidding to $2,300 at the moment.

The auction is set to wrap up later today, so get your bids in soon if a Piver is on your list of boats to someday own. The history of the company behind this method of boat construction is almost entirely wrapped up in the founder, the aforementioned Arthur Piver. He started out building three-hulled plywood yachts and began sailing them extensively, venturing across the Atlantic Ocean and later wandering out to New Zealand via the Pacific in a different trimaran that he also built himself. This confidence in the boat’s abilities led him to sell his boat assembly plans to enterprising DIYers who wanted to build their own trimaran.

Unfortunately, it was this faith in self-built boats that led some in the community to question Piver’s concept. Just like a kit car, some of the boats were crudely finished, and certainly not over-engineered for open water passage. But those boats that were built to a high level time and again demonstrated the viability of the three-hulled design, with owners of “strong” boats heading out to warm Caribbean waters in vessels built using the plans Piver provided. The listing for this donated example is limited in background information, and understanding how the owner approached construction would be good info for the next caretaker to have.

Strangely, the Piver trimaran has a somewhat tragic history as it relates to boaters who struck out on extraordinary missions only to end in heartbreak. Piver was one of them, lost at sea after borrowing a customer’s boat to perform a qualification run for the prestigious “Observer Single Handed Trans Atlantic Race.” Other Piver boaters faced similar misfortune a short time later, with two attempts at cross-ocean ending in one wrecked boat and another that floated aimlessly after its captain disappeared, with the trimaran now a deteriorating wreck on Cayman Brac. A colorful history for a most unusual boat – should this one be restored and taken out into the vast, open ocean?

Auctions Ending Soon

Trans-oceanic? Yes. Intercontinental? Sure.

But not you’re not going “cross-continental” in a sailboat, unless it’s being towed.

this boat appears to be a Piver Lodestar. 35′ in length and 18′ wide. lived on it a few years in the florida keys. these boats are basically plywood with a skin of fiberglass, they handle well, don’t tack upwind too well but they sail fast off of the wind if you don’t overload them. plywood + fiberglass has advantages and disadvantages: reasonably easy and cheap to repair with handheld power tools, but being wood; they rot. you can cut out a rotted section with a sawsall in 15 minutes and create 2 weeks worth of work. you have to break this boat up to make it sink as it carries no ballast. I sank mine on purpose when I ran from hurricane Andrew in the 90’s and the boat was perfectly fine once I pumped her and dried her out. The boat I owned was the QueeQueg; built by a man named Quenten Cultra in the late 60’s in the Midwest. he motored down the Mississippi, went thru the panama canal and proceeded to sail around the world. I bought it in the late 80’s and had to rebuild her. sailed her to Mississippi in the 90’s and sold her in the early 2000’s; she was destroyed in hurricane Katrina..RIP Queequeg. buy this boat and expect a lot of work excising the wood worm. but it is worth it

Correction: I did NOT live on this particular boat! sorry for the typo!!!

This feels like the Donald Crowhurst story.

Exactly!!! He lied about his abilities, his progress in the race and eventually went crazy. This boat will make you crazy!!

I must be the only person never to have heard of Donald Crowhurst. Wow! In death he seems to have become the success that eluded him in life as the basis for a “Donald Crowhurst Industry” of stage, screen and literature. Crazy world!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Crowhurst

Fiberglass over plywood stitch ‘n glue, no doubt abandoned at the marina when the PO realized the fiberglass has water intrusion and so the plywood core is slowly rotting away….

Break Out Another Thousand

if it has a running engine it might be worth the price of admission

Where is this located? What country? If U.S., what marina, what State? Can it stayed docked where it is at? What is the dock fees?

While beauty is always in the eye of the beholder this thing is a floating Quonset Hut. As Mr. Robbins notes above…

As a life-long boater, I remember Piver’s boats when they were new. It is my opinion multi-hull boats are not suitable for ocean-crossing. They are fast sailboats but the compromises make the interior cramped and the light-weight construction make them venerable to various risks. As to restoring any old boat, often the cost involved exceeds what a well maintained boat can be purchased for. Like cars, boats have gotten much better over the years. There is no cheap way to get into boating.

Great points Mark.

There is one way to get into boating that is not too expensive. Get a good deal on a used trailer and boat that is in pretty good shape, and learn to be proficient in performing maintenance, minor repairs, and upgrades. As long as you have a place to store it for free, such as your driveway or yard, then the costs can be kept in control.

Boating is the best thing, ever.

I owned a ’74 25′ Piver for several years. Was pro built in a yard in the North East. Overall, a pretty nice boat. Added a 10′ x 2′ keel to it. Made a world of difference in the way it tracked.

I once owned a Piver 36′ ketch rig which was one of the high end ones, professionally built, in the Oakland Shipyards…like a “dixie cup in the wind. A strong enough boat, and i had no problems with it. The one main engineering flaw was the tendency to “pitch pole” in heavy seas which could be disastrous to say the least…This sloop, especially from the standpoint of windage, appears to be rather sloppily built and it’s use should be confined to inland waters ..the helm in the basement is interesting…

When I logged in last night I had to check the URL. I thought I found Boat Finds! I mean where’s the engine? An old speed boat with a Hemi, yea I could see that but a sailboat?

A definite near coastal boat. I find the catamarans very comfortable for coastal excursions, depending on the length, the shorter the less favorable. Kind of like sailing a cinder block, bigger is better with these. That being said, I’ve seen too many news clips of these floating upside down in remote seas to make me want to leave sight of land on one.

Ended:Oct 13, 2020 , 4:00PM Winning bid: US $3,450.00 [ 62 bids ]

14 comments, 1 hits the nail.

It seems in every field the good points are also the bad. ANY multy-hull is inferior to the mono as once upside dwn – dwn side up is too difficult to achieve ∴ life’n limb R @ jepordy…

650 mi out to sea we survived the huracan in our 30 ft yawl simply due to being itself (not cat, tri or any other).

Its a Piver Nimble it was built by Contour Craft LTD in England and sold by Cox Marine. Still has the original name plate on the main bulkhead. It was first registered in the USA in 1992. It was Sailed from England spent 8 years off the coast of California. It was Sailed to Hawaii 2 times and Asia once. Its Old Name Was Trisum and the second owner still owns a sailing School named after the boat. Trisum Sailing out of Texas. I bought the boat for 3500. from E-Bay. It does not leak and has no dry rot but needs a lot of work. My Family and I are very happy with the boat. it has a hole for an outboard motor which I will glass over and install an electric motor. The inside helm is weird, will relocate it outside on the back of the cabin. Of course the list goes on. But i will say I will not be Sailing it to Hawaii or England. Whoever did that on this boat is much braver than me.

Hi Fred, please give me a call about your Piver Nimble ASAP when u can. I have a Nugget and desperately need to get some expertise from you. 530-440-3893. Today is July 25th, 2021

My uncle Alex Grimes with his crewmate Roy Garside in 1963 sailed a Piver Nimble built by Contour Craft, from England to New Zealand. You can read the story at https://grimesinc.neocities.org/ That’s something like 13,000 nautical miles with only an old sextant for navigation! The trimaran survived (with a few repairs) and was sold after reaching New Zealand.

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Trimaran Third Book Hardcover – January 1, 1969

• Language English
• Publisher Pi-Craft
• Publication date January 1, 1969
• See all details

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0007FZAQ2
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pi-Craft; Second Printing edition (January 1, 1969)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.38 pounds
• Best Sellers Rank: #6,408,599 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books )

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Blueprint Plans - Trimaran Yacht by Arthur Piver

A nicely decorative original blueprint of building plans for a Trimaran yacht by Arthur Piver, dated 1965.

Approx. Dimensions: L: x D: x H: cm

Sourced: Southampton

Circa:   First  Quarter of the 20th Century

UK Delivery £10.00 

Collection by Appointment:  Farnham, Surrey

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