A multihull is a boat or ship with more than one hull, whereas a vessel with a single hull is a monohull. The most common multihulls are catamarans, and trimarans. There are other types, with four or more hulls, but such examples are very rare and tend to be specialised for particular functions.
A catamaran is a watercraft with two parallel hulls of equal size. The distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts resistance to rolling and overturning. Catamarans typically have less hull volume, smaller displacement, and shallower draft (draught) than monohulls of comparable length. The two hulls combined also often have a smaller hydrodynamic resistance than comparable monohulls, requiring less propulsive power from either sails or motors. The catamaran's wider stance on the water can reduce both heeling and wave-induced motion, as compared with a monohull, and can give reduced wakes.
A trimaran is a multihull boat that comprises a main hull and two smaller outrigger hulls which are attached to the main hull with lateral beams. Most modern trimarans are sailing yachts designed for recreation or racing; others are ferries or warships. They originated from the traditional double-outrigger hulls of the Austronesian cultures of Maritime Southeast Asia; particularly in the Philippines and Eastern Indonesia, where it remains the dominant hull design of traditional fishing boats. Double-outriggers are derived from the older catamaran and single-outrigger boat designs.
Arthur Piver was a World War II pilot, an amateur sailor, author, printshop owner and renowned boatbuilder who lived in Mill Valley on San Francisco Bay and became "the father of the modern multihull."
Dragonfly Trimarans is a line of trimaran sailboats built by the Quorning Boats shipyard in Skærbæk, near Fredericia, Denmark.55°31′11.97″N9°38′8.08″E
Randolph L. Smyth is an American competitive sailor and two-time Olympic silver medalist. He is a multihull specialist, who won two Olympic silver medals racing catamarans, and has won innumerable national and world titles skippering multihulls. In a 2003 profile on him in Sailing World magazine he was described as America's greatest multihull sailor. He was born in Pasadena, California.
VPLP design is a French-based naval architectural firm founded by Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot-Prévost, responsible for designing some of the world's most innovative racing boats. Their designs presently hold many of the World Speed Sailing records.
The F-27 Sport Cruiser is an American trailerable trimaran sailboat that was designed by New Zealander Ian Farrier in 1984–1985.
Lock Crowther was an Australian multihull sailboat designer. He grew up in Bairnsdale in the East Gippsland region of Victoria. Though his first name was Lachlan by birth, he insisted on being called Lock or Lockie.
John Marples is a multihull sailboat designer who collaborates with Jim Brown.
Jim Brown is a multihull sailboat designer who collaborates with John Marples.
Chris White is an American multihull sailboat designer.
Ed Horstman is an American naval architect and multihull sailboat designer based in the West Coast of the United States.
Jay Kantola was an American naval architect who is most known for his work designing multihull sailboats. He began designing multihulls in the 1960s. Kantola was an early proponent of a vessel construction technique called cold molding and cored construction. Cold molding involves bending strips of wood at room temperature to form a desired shape. The shape is then retained by gluing the wood together using epoxy. When the shaped construction is coated with layers of fiberglass saturated with epoxy, the final construct is termed a cored or composite construction. Kantola was one of several designers that worked closely with Meade Gougeon, Joel Gougeon, and Jan Gougeon. These brothers are collectively known as the Gougeon brothers. They also designed vessels and founded a line of epoxy products called West System.
The Searunner 31 is a trimaran sailboat designed by Jim Brown in the 1960s. It is the most popular boat in the Searunner series, which includes models from 25 ft (7.6 m) to 40 ft (12 m).
The Searunner 25 is a trimaran sailboat from the 1960s designed by Jim Brown. It is the smallest boat in the Searunner series.
The Searunner 40 is a trimaran sailboat from the 1960s designed by Jim Brown and John Marples. It is the largest boat in the Searunner series.
Constant Camber 26 is a 26 ft (7.9 m) cruising sloop trimaran sailboat designed in the 1970s by John Marples featuring berths for two adults and two children. The constant camber hull is constructed using a single master template to produce each panel, resulting in a design with unchanging curvature, imparting extraordinary strength similar to an eggshell. The panels are laminated using a vacuum bagging technique, as described in Marples' article, "Backyard Vacuum Bagging," written for WoodenBoat Magazine. A unique and appealing feature, aside from its modular construction, is that her cross arms fold up and in, reducing her beam to just under 8 ft (2.4 m), making this trimaran fully trailerable.
Constant Camber 3M is a 10 ft (3.0 m) cat-rigged solo harbor racer/trainer trimaran sailboat designed in the 1980s by John Marples.
The F-31 Sport Cruiser is a family of American trailerable trimaran sailboats that was designed by New Zealander Ian Farrier and first built in 1991.
