Astus 20.5: fast, fun and affordable trailable trimaran

Astus 20.5: fast, fun and affordable trailable trimaran

Boats that are small and light enough to stay in your driveway and path to where you want to sail make a lot of sense.

One downside, however, is that they tend to be slower than larger boats – especially if they are of a size and weight that allow them to be easily controlled in the short term, both afloat and on land.

If you want to sail from Poole to Weymouth for the weekend in a 20ft sailboat trailer, for example, it can take a while.

This is where fast trimarans like the Astus 20.5 come in.

When I sailed on its predecessor, the 20.2, about 10 years ago, we were regularly hitting 15 knots in the reach without sweating and maintaining an easy 6.5 knot climb upwind.

You can cover a lot of ground at that kind of speed.

I first encountered the Astus 20.5 at the Düsseldorf Boat Show in 2019. As this is a newer boat and designed by no less of a design team than VPLP, I had great hopes that it would offer even more than the 20.2.

Regardless of the boating potential, towing is as easy as it gets with a boat like this.

If you choose the resin infused shell, the Astus 20.5 weighs less than 500 kg (1,100 lb), or just over 500 kg with the standard solid laminate.

The lighter weight means you can use an unbraked trailer, saving money, maintenance, and even more weight, so you can drag it behind a normal hatchback.

Getting somewhere quickly under sail is one thing. Having a place to sleep when you arrive is another.

Although its cabin is smaller than a similar-sized monohull, the Astus offers seating, storage and space for a couple of companions to stretch out.

Then of course you have the trampolines on either side which you can pitch a tent on for more sleeping space.

The opportunity to sail the Astus 20.5 finally presented itself when Hein Kuiper of Boats On Wheels brought his first demonstrator to the UK.

We actually went out twice – first for a photoshoot in Poole on a warm winter day, and then a few months later in Chichester Harbor.

Ever since the boat arrived in Poole on its trailer, I’ve been able to see how it goes together.

Removing the hulls is fairly straightforward: their aluminum beams slide in and out of the fixed beams in the main hull. You can do this on land or afloat.

There’s nothing complicated about lifting the rigging either, and it can all be done with one hand.

The whole process, from arriving with the trailer to launching the boat, took Hein about two hours for the first time (comparable to a monohull of similar size, he estimates) but would definitely get faster with practice.

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Whether you choose the standard version or the Sport version, the mast is the same height.

The difference is that the latter comes with a square mainsail to give noticeably more sail area.

If you want to save as much weight as possible and make getting on and off the mast easier, you can have it carbon. A wing mast is another option.

The rigging and hardware do not appear to be altered in any way as a concession to the trailer-sailboat nature of the boat.

Here and there, the strange loop or ready-made strop would avoid fiddling with ends of the line.

All of this is forgotten as soon as you are on your way.

On our second outing, once the electric outboard pushed us out of Northney Marina – where the boat proved surprisingly manoeuvrable with the center plate fully lowered – we set off on a 12.5 crooked reach. knots in 12-15 knots of wind.

In most boats, 12.5 knots would be there. In this 20 footer, we felt perfectly relaxed.

Over the next two hours we covered all the gaits including, of course, the spinnaker.

With gusts rarely exceeding 16 knots in the flat water of the port, we weren’t quite able to break the 15 knots.

It was still not a bad speed / effort ratio.

The boat was rock solid the whole time, and I knew from the photoshoot in Poole that she could carry the kite on a beam with a lot more wind than we had in Chichester.

It’s hard to imagine that 20 knots are not perfectly achievable.

Upwind we maintained between 7 and 8.5 knots most of the time.

As you would expect, you need to keep the arc lowered a bit to maintain full power.

You should also purchase the 6: 1 mainsheet to maintain sufficient tension in the upper leech. It makes a big difference.

The tacking was pretty positive as long as we had enough boat speed to tack, and the leeway seemed minimal.

All in all, the Astus 20.5 was a lot of fun to navigate and easy to manage with two hands.

There wasn’t much for a third person to do other than enjoy the ride or help with the recovery moment by joining the coxswain on the windward trampoline.

If you were racing you can use a longer bar extension and toe straps to maximize the advantage.

Going up the harbor, we demonstrated the wind capacity of the Astus 20.5 by passing straight in front of a 15m (49ft) monohull.

The comfort of creatures aboard the Astus 20.5

Above decks, the Astus offers a large amount of space for sitting and lounging thanks to the trampolines.

At the bottom, the narrow beam of the hull makes things comfortable but you still find a seat on each side, space for a chemical toilet under the aft end of the bunk and a good amount of storage below and to either side of the bunk. lowering.

The centerboard is shifted to port to keep the middle of the boat clear.

The finish is simple and straightforward, largely to save weight. There would be a lot of possibilities to install a pull-out kitchen and to design lightweight storage solutions to make better use of the space.

Astus 20.5: the verdict of the tests

More than anything else this boat is a lot of fun.

She feels tense and sensitive to the sail. I found it took about an hour to start finding her highlights, but after that she just makes you want to sail her.

It inspires confidence and is also easy to handle. In most conditions you can do well on your own and for the cruise you won’t need more than two.

Then there is the speed. Whether or not you are in a rush to get somewhere, it is easier to slow down in a fast boat than to speed up in a slow boat.

Speed ​​is a pleasure in itself, and it’s hard not to enjoy driving past a monohull more than twice its length.

The niggles are relatively few.

I thought the rudder would need a bit more balance and I was not sure that the fixed end of the 2: 1 jib sheet was far enough back on deck.

Other than that, everything works.

The material is mainly from Harken and the spars are from Selden, so there is no skimping in these departments.

Would it be right for you and your team?

The Astus 20.5 will grab attention. Several people stopped to chat and admire her back in Northney after seeing her on the water.

If you are a dinghy sailor going up but not ready to slow down, this is a good choice.

Equally of interest comes from sailors from large boats going down or wanting a second, smaller boat that still has good cruising range. Few boats of this size go so fast with so little effort.

As for the inevitable monohull vs. multihull debate, there are towable and family boats of this size with a single hull that sail very well.

I passed 12 knots in one or two, but only under spinnaker, with good sailors on board and not for extended periods.

As long as you’re willing to accept that cruising at double-digit speeds regularly means sacrificing a bit of interior volume, the Astus could be the perfect fit for you. And for exploring the harbors and estuaries, motorhome and strolling on the beach, this is absolutely ideal.

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