Multihulls are now one of the fastest growing segments of the sailboat market. They have circumnavigated the globe at record speeds, and are rapidly becoming the family cruising boat of choice as more is learned about their many other advantages. These include level sailing, unmatched stability, deck space, unsinkability, shallow draft, comfort, and just the sheer fun of sailing a fast and responsive cruising boat.
Farrier trimaran and catamaran designs combine all of these advantages, to be the perfect sport cruisers. They are a unique and practical combination of easily handled fun cruisers for families, and exciting performance for racers.
The unique Farrier Folding System™ also provides ‘take-it-anywhere’ trailerability, and the ability to use any marina dock. It has forever eliminated the old problem of what to do with a super wide trimaram
Farrier multihulls are now well proven, having evolved from over 30 years of constant development, hands on building, and sailing. With well over 3000 production and home built versions currently sailing world wide, performance and reliability has been demonstrated beyond doubt.
The basic design philosophy has always been to provide safe, roomy, well engineered multihull cruisers with performance provided by design efficiency and good engineering, not at the expense of accommodation, structure, or safety.
All designs are thus light to medium displacement multihulls, with conservative rigs, while scantlings and safety factors are on the rugged side, for strong, durable, and safe boats. They are also unsinkable, due to construction materials, and NO LEAD or other heavy metals being present.
INTERIORS
The roomy interiors have been designed with the cruising sailor in mind, and with heel rarely exceeding 12 degrees, all facilities can be easily used while underway – stoves not even needing gimbals.
On deck, there’s a huge amount of deck space, and this combined with low heel angles make Farrier multihulls one of the safest boats afloat for children. The comfortable wing or bow nets make an ideal spot to relax and sunbathe while the water zips by below.
EASY TRAILERING
With no heavy keel needed, Farrier trimarans sit low on the trailer and are light and easy to tow. This will allow you to discover and explore many previously out of reach cruising grounds, or race in exotic venues far from home. Trailering offers significant savings in slip fees and maintenance that can even cover most of the ownership costs.
Rigging and launching can all be done single-handed in around 30 minutes or just 15 minutes with two – no difficult assembly or heavy lifting is required.
Launching is always done folded, using no more space than a conventional boat. Stability afloat is excellent and the floats are normally extended while motoring away.
Marina docking while folded is as easy as any other craft, and the minor problem with long term docking of growth on the folded float sides has now been eliminated by new ‘HydroHoist’ or dock liner systems. However, the high expense and maintenance involved with keeping a boat in the water can be avoided by the ease of trailering.
EASY AND FUN TO SAIL
Took my first sail last weekend in my new (used) 1990 F-27 “Serafin”. My crew consisted of my wife and 9 month old son. Needless to say I did not have a lot of help. Awesome boat!!! It sets up and launches easier than my Tornado cat, is nearly as quick and handles like a fast dingy and the family was dry and comfortable the whole time. Truly a magnificent craft, Ian has really covered all the bases. After 35 years of sailing I feel like a kid again!!!
Steve, Kim, Zachary and Sandy Schulz, F-27 Serafin, S. California, USA
All Farrier multihulls are designed as easily handled, roomy and safe family cruisers, that are fun to sail. They also just happen to be fast, which comes as a no cost extra. It’s even possible to tow a waterskier under sail on some models!
Actually these boats sail back wards really well. We were on a charity race with a couple of mono cruisers, we would get ahead and turn back to meet them when my step son asked if the boat would sail backwards – so I pushed out the main, backwinded the genoa and had him steer and we passed the mono cruisers going backwards. Not much wind but it was fun
Rod Tharp, F-9A and now building F-32AX, Olympia, WA, USA
The ‘ease of performance’ is most notable, this being the option to go fast effortlessly, while still maintaining comfort and a feeling of security for the crew. Cruising range is greatly increased making many previously out of reach anchorages a reality.
High averages can be effortlessly maintained, and this was well demonstrated by two F-27s averaging an incredible 17.9 and 18.2 knots for the 44 mile course in the 1993 Miami – Key Largo race, while blitzing the fleet. Not everyone wants to go this fast, but it is easier to slow a fast boat down, for ultra-safe effortless cruising, than trying to make a slow boat go fast.
Helm is always light and responsive at any speed, while tacking is dinghy-like. Even continuous 360 degree turns are possible with trimarans, helm hard over, without touching the sails.
The lack of sailing vices makes any Farrier multihull very suitable for shorthanded sailing with just one or two. There is never a need for a large crew just to keep things upright and under control. They are thus a great practical cruising boat for the family, perfect for the idyllic sail, with a visit to that distant secluded beach for lunch, and trailerables can be safely back on the trailer before nightfall, all with minimal effort.
