Trika 540
Description
The Trika 540 is a 17.75-foot convertible trimaran designed by Klaus Metz in Germany, representing an innovative dual-purpose vessel that functions as both a large two-person kayak and a high-performance sailing trimaran. Built using stitch-and-glue plywood construction suitable for amateur builders, this design emphasizes versatility and portability with both outrigger floats (amas) storing inside the main hull for easy car-topping and storage. The boat features a free-standing mast with aluminum, GRP, or carbon-fiber construction options, complemented by a roller-furling jib on a forestay and a fully-battened fathead mainsail with reefing capability for varying wind conditions. Conversion between paddling and sailing configurations takes approximately 25 minutes without tools, while the design incorporates advanced features including foot-steering with a retractable foil rudder, NACA-foil daggerboard for optimal close-reach performance, and amas canted 5° inboard for proper heel orientation. The Chesapeake Light Craft offers complete kits with an estimated build time of 150 hours at advanced skill level, while plans ship directly from designer Klaus Metz in Germany.
Construction Details
| Designer | Klaus Metz |
|---|---|
| Builder | Home Built |
| Length | 17.750 ft |
| LOA | 17.750 ft |
| Beam | 10.750 ft |
| Max Draft | 0.778 ft |
| Min Draft | 0.417 ft |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | - |
|---|---|
| j | - |
| p | 13.46 ft |
| e | 5.62 ft |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | 13.46 ft | 5.62 ft | - | - | - | - |
Documents
Sails
Trika 540 - MAINSAIL
| Luff | 13.458 ft - (4102 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 5.642 ft - (1720 mm) |
| Leech | * 12.51 ft - (3813 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 81.79 ° |
| Diagonal | 13.83 ft - (4215 mm) |
| Head (inches) | 31.5 in - (800 mm) |
| Area | * 52.45 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator |
Trika 540 - JIBSAIL
| Luff | 11.25 ft - (3429 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 5.083 ft - (1549 mm) |
| Leech | 9.708 ft - (2959 mm) |
| Area | * 24.62 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator |
Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.
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