DRAGONFLY Trimarans User Forum

Hi everybody, I've a 29 foot monohull. Jeanneu Sun Oddysey 29.2.

We enjoy with our boat in family, with daily and weekend cruises. During summer we can make 40 o 50 nm a day, and we always sail in Galicia (North West Atlantic Coast in Spain).

I dont know anything about trimaran, I've never sail a tri. But I've seen videos in Youtube, and I'm in love.

Anyway, I've got questions about trimarans.

Where I sail, we usually have during winter quite hard conditions. F6 winds, and 2, 3m waves are something quite normal from October to March.

How could a DF 920 deal with this conditions?

I'm very afraid about safety and capsizing. With waves in 2, 3 m is there a serious risk of capsizing?

Another thing that I'm worried about is life aboard. In my SO 29.2, space is perfect for two adults, and one child. I'm not sure if I could get more space un DF920.

Our saling plan, is family short daily cruising (10, 20 nm) and when we have time we spend a weekend with 40, 50 nm day. We also enjoy anchoring in nice beaches.

I have a 920 that I sail and cruise with my wife and 2 kids. In prior years, when my children had flexible summer schedule, we would do 4-5 2 and 3 day cruises typically about 12-18 nm from home. We would also do 1 long 10-12 day cruise about 100 nm from home. I also had 5 and 6 people on board for a weekend cruise in good weather. The extra people slept in the cockpit or on a trampoline.

We always packed all food with us. The only things we would get on shore are ice (every 2-3 days), fuel before heading back, and water (every 2 days). We never used marinas - always anchored. We also carried lots of water toys, kayak, dinghy with sail. Basically, the boat was overloaded.

Generally speaking, DF920 has about the same interior volume as a 27 foot cruising mono. On the other hand, DF has a lot of outdoor space - trampolines, cockpit. In good weather, it will be more comfortable than a 29 foot mono. However, in rainy cold days it is very cramped in the cabin. Even in rain, I cook only in the cockpit. There is just not enough room inside and I don't want to get any additional moisture into the cabin.

As far as safety goes, you have to be conservative and reef early. I've sailed in F7 and higher on the open ocean waters in larger tris and larger monos. I would not do it in 920. On my DF the maximum that I've experienced was 29 knots of wind in protected waters. I once had to come back from a cruise and experienced F6 that built up with 100 mile fetch for 24 hours that had 3+ meter waves. It was stressful! I would not knowingly leave for a cruise in anything above F5. However, for a day sail I would go out up to low F7 but only with experienced crew.