In an exercise of writer’s privilege I am going to jump ahead in the story. A number of people have inquired about trailering the Mana, indicating this is an area of interest for folks who might be considering the construction of one.
Before the boat kit even arrived in Canada, I had purchased a trailer. It had been previously used to carry a 21 foot pontoon boat until said boat was flipped in a windstorm and destroyed. Someone’s loss was my good fortune. The trailer is galvanized and features oil bath bearings. It had seen very little use and I considered my self very fortunate to come across it at a good price.
After my experience with the Tiki 21, I wanted to be able to assemble this boat on the trailer and launch it ready to sail. That criteria presents a challenge – the Mana when assembled has a width of 12 foot 8 inches and the laws of the land stipulate that a trailer and its payload not exceed 8 foot 6 inches in width. I remembered that Stiletto catamarans built in the 1980’s used a telescoping trailer to get around the problem. Fortunately another sailing enthusiast with whom I was friends on Facebook had recently purchased just such a boat and trailer. I asked if he could take photos of his trailer which he promptly did (thank you again, Jim). With something to copy, it remained for me to buy some steel and get to work.
That led to a rather humorous scenario. My purchase at the local branch of Russell Metals consisted of one 20 foot length of 1 1/2 inch angle iron plus one 24 foot length each of 1 1/2 inch and 2 inch square steel tube . A multi tonne hoist, clearly accustomed to lifting loads many times heavier, was used to lift and place my meagre purchase on the trailer so that I could bring it home.
The Stiletto trailers use rollers for the inside tube to roll on. Small bearings, purchased at my go-to place for odd ball items when I’m fabricating, Princess Auto, looked like they would serve that purpose well.
Once home, the fabricating work began. For the next few days I put away my wood working tools and got out angle grinder, welder and drill press. I went through quite a few thin cutting wheels in the process.
Bunks that mirrored those provided in the kit were bolted in place and braced.
It was time to add a boat to the mix. With the help of my sailing buddy and his very strong roommate, the hulls were moved out of the garage and loaded onto the trailer.
The next post will show the trailer in action, and I will discuss some of the changes planned to improve the launch and recovery process.
Village Rainbows 
September 18, 2018 at 9:54 pm
[…] Mana fits on the trailer very well, with the outside of the hulls sitting within the outside of the trailer’s wheel […]
March 19, 2019 at 4:32 pm
Hi, Thank you for your excellent blog. It looks like you have built a trailer that works well for your boat.
Could I trouble you for some further details… I am just about to build a similar trailer for a 24 ft Woods Strider Club. I have an old caravan chassis as the base and am having trouble working out the best way of constructing the telescopic beams. Do you have any slightly more detailed photographs of the expanding beams or a diagrams. Also, is there anything that you would do differently if you were building the trailer again. Thank you for your help. Best regards Paul
P.S. I’m based in the Portsmouth, UK – It looks like you have slightly better sailing whether where you are.
March 19, 2019 at 4:49 pm
Thanks for your comments, Paul. The photos used on the blog are the best I have right now. What part of it are you wondering about? This design should work well for your Strider and I expect the weights will be similar to the Mana. I used 1 1/2 inch square tube inside 2 inch tube and they seem to be strong enough to handle the weight. I have twice moved the trailer fully extended from the boat launch to a friend’s yard a mile away and so far the beams seem fine. There are two changes I want to make. The first is to change the cradles that the hulls sit in. I want to change them over to long rollers in the shape of the V so that the boat will move into place easier when retrieving it. Secondly, I still have not come up with a satisfactory means of preventing the boat from going too far forward, both when retrieving and also when trailering. At the moment, I am using ratchet straps to prevent the boat from moving forward when trailering but it is a cumbersome method. Perhaps others might have some suggestions?
March 19, 2019 at 4:38 pm
Hi, Thank you for an excellent blog, It looks like a great boat.
I wonder if I might trouble you for a few more details… I am just about to build a similar trailer for a 24 ft Woods Strider Club. Do you have any slightly more detailed photographs or a diagram of the expanding cross beams. I have an old caravan chassis and just need to work out the best way of building the expanding beams. Also, if you were building the trailer again is there anything that you would do differently.
Thank you for your help. Best regards Paul