No doubt many future sailors would love to own a small trimaran. And while there are many commercial trimaran sailboats available, they can be expensive for many in the market who want such a boat.

More than a few people are looking for trimaran sailboat kits nowadays. There isn’t much on the market right now in the way of pre-packaged kits (although I’d love to discover an option or two available in this line).

However, there is another good option for those who want to have their own small trimaran sailboat. And that is buying plans for a trimaran that have been drawn up by a renowned designer. Buying such plans can actually be better than buying a trimaran sailboat kit per se.

Because?

Because while it would probably take less time and work to build a trimaran from a pre-packaged “kit”, there is also less control and less room for error in assembling the parts.

When it comes to glue and epoxy, it’s often best to start building a new boat as simply as possible. You want to do it right, of course. But there is no substitute for experience. So why not, for example, first build your first boat out of some scrap wood? Why not build using cheap materials to get the hang of things first?

The ships are not that difficult to build. You have to follow certain steps in a certain order.

Some people buy ship blueprints but never start building them due to lack of confidence. They could actually build a trimaran sailboat if they didn’t overthink the process and get overwhelmed. By breaking a construction project down into a series of small incremental steps, the process could move forward and be completed over the course of a few months.

There’s no reason most people who want a small trimaran can’t build one themselves if they find a plan for a model they really like. And that shouldn’t be too hard.

A popular modern boat building method for wooden boats today is called Stitch and Glue. it is very effective. And when done right, it can result in an excellent performing sailboat that costs less than most small commercial trimarans.

For more practical advice on building your own trimaran, visit the SmallTrimarans.com website and download a written copy of my recent interview with the editor of Duckworks magazine. He shared a lot of great advice along with a lot of practical information on this topic.