Tinker sailor’s solo ‘tri’: Malaysian handyman builds a trimaran sailing kayak from scratch

Khoo first connects the pair of stabilisers with strong aluminium rods before laying them on the brackets on the kayak.

When handyman Gerald Khoo, who loves boating, had to stay at home during the pandemic, he kept himself busy by building a trimaran sailing kayak.

Like the name suggests, a trimaran has three hulls compared to the catamaran’s two, making it even safer on the water.

Khoo, 61, has been boating for over 30 years and even has a 30ft catamaran powered by a 175-horsepower engine, docked at the Perak Yacht Club in Sitiawan.

Being on a wind-powered sailing craft, however, is his special love.

“You glide across the water when you sail. It is efficient, smooth and peaceful,” he said.

Khoo spending quality time on his custom-built trimaran sailing kayak in the George Town bay area near Eastern and Oriental Hotel.

An imported trimaran sailing kayak can cost almost RM50,000. So, during the quiet months of the movement control order, Khoo started with a basic 2.9m sit-on-top single-seater kayak and started transforming it.

His handyman skills and boating knowledge proved very useful. A little over a year later and RM8,000 poorer, his trimaran was ready.

“I chose a small, light kayak so that I can easily load it onto my car’s roof rack. It makes no sense to need people to help me haul it since I want to sail solo,” he said.

His single-seater kayak is essentially a thin plastic shell, so at the points where Khoo needed to attached the outriggers and the mast, he immersed himself in a great deal of tinkering to reinforce the stress points, designing components himself and contacting blacksmiths to forge them out of aluminium or rust-resistant steel.

“I like tinkering and repairing stuff. It keeps my mind busy,” said Khoo, who spent his working years in a multinational IT firm. After retiring early, he focused on boating and sold watercraft as a hobby- business.

The strongest way to attach the stabilisers to the kayak and turn it into a trimaran is to lash them on with tough paracord.

Khoo bought the mast and sail, plus the outriggers, which were actually meant for dinghies and canoes, online from abroad.

Attaching the mast and the sail to his kayak was a big challenge.

“In strong winds, a lot of pressure will transfer from the mast to the kayak. So, I spent a lot of time working out how to distribute that pressure over as large an area as possible on the kayak,” he said.

To attach the outriggers, simplicity was the best answer – Khoo used paracord.

This lightweight rope withstands loads of at least 250kg. It was originally used as suspension lines of parachutes and was even used by astronauts to repair the Hubble Space Telescope in 1997.

“Weight for weight, a tight lashing with paracord is stronger than any nut-and-bolt attachment. If the pressure is too much, small nuts and bolts can break, but not paracord,” said Khoo.

He fashioned retractable sideboards out of wood in place of a sailboat’s keel to increase stability.

Khoo has launched his homemade trimaran onto lakes and the sea, but he is still chasing perfection. He next intends to replace the small single-seater kayak with a longer leg-powered pedalling kayak.

“A pedalling kayak has a propeller at the bottom and you power it with your legs, just like riding a bicycle. With the gear system, the propeller can give good propulsion. I want to be able to launch myself further out onto the water to catch a good wind and sail,” he said.